455 Olds Berkley Jet Question

[Propster]

Standard 455 cranks are really hard to find. Turning them removes the hardened nitrited layer, so machined cranks do not live too long. They can be renitrited after turning, but you would have to find a speciality heat treat shop to do it. A 425 might be a better motor for a jet. 425's have steel cranks. Also, most machine shops can install hardened seats and guides with little difficulty.

Not sure if resins will stick to pressure treated wood. Usually pressure treated wood is wet with the chemicals. Maybe after it dries out.

[gatahiti]

I have pretty much ditched treated wood. I am gonna just encapsulate plain good quality wood with fiberglass. I couldnt find anything straight enough in pressure treated anyway.

I am really considering the swap to Chrysler power.

Do the nodular iron cranks fair as bad as the plain jane ones?

Maybe I should reinvestigate the 68 engine. It could be a forged crank.

[Propster]

The nodular crank is better steel than regular cast cranks. The nitriding makes the surface even harder. I had a crank turned .30 under in one of the 455 's in my old jetboat and it did not live long. When I put it back together, I looked long and hard to find a standard crank for it. The motor never had another problem as long as I had it. One more thing, spot weld or glue the pickup to the oil pump. My first motor ran excellent until the pickup fell off. That was a bad day, no boat for the rest of the summer.

Chrysler power would definately be cool, but more intensive as you will need to get a different bellhousing (might be able to make one from an automatic or manual bell housing), flywheel coupler (or remachine to fit), motor mounts and exhaust.

[gatahiti]

The only horrible thing is the exhaust. I am stuck with through transom stuff because of noise. Glenwood marine still lists a bellhousing and pto in its catalog. The exhaust is listed as well but is hideously expensive for logs. I have seen some Barr manifolds for the big chrysler, but I do not know if these are performance oriented enough to work in a jet boat application. I think these were center dump. The factory Chrysler marine items were true logs with a plate on one end and the riser on the other IIRC.

I guess i should post on the wanted section for chyrsler parts. Who knows what may be lurking in someone's basement!

Of course the crank in the 455 I have may be standard/standard.

Still throwing around alot of ideas. The Cadillac engine is still appealing.
http://www.cad500parts.com/catalog/page9.htm
It will also bolt to my 3 point mount bellhousing


Their dyno numbers are decent on a relatively mild engine. The 451 mopar engine is also interesting as it is easily obtainable from off the shelf parts and can use a blown up steel 440 crank and a dirt cheap 400 B block.

Who knows...will probably end up with an olds for now. Gotta get stringers before i worry about that though :-D

[sleekcrafter]

This guy has about anything that has ever been made for jetboats
reach him at Jim Brock 818-890-1867 after 10 AM he wheels and deals in used jetboat hardware, If he don't have it he'll know where it is.