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I have just had an e mail from John Merriman which reads...
I gather you know about the new cranks we have available here-made legal a few years ago by SCCA.There are two sources-one is made by SCAT cranks in California and sold by the SCCA subsidiary"SCCA Enterprises"on a Chinese casting and the other is made in Germany for Dave Bean Engineering.The SCCA cranks can be soursed directly from SCCA or through any well known engine builder. I got one from J Ivey at Ivey engines in Portland Oregon for about $860. J preps then a bit more than he receives them, checks dimensions and balance and has them shot peened and he has sold over 100 of them. In general, the reports on the SCCA cranks are all positive, where as a great many negative reports have been heard on the Dave Bean cranks- mostly issues of dimensional inconsisencies.
If you go to the Dave Bean website,there is a long description of the metallurgy involved in his units and there is some discussion about"cast iron" vs "cast steel"-a topic which is covered on the old FFU site as well.I point this out only to make you aware of the subtleties of the definitions of cast iron vs cast steel which has been part of the process here.I believe the proper definition of the SCAT crank is "cast steel" but I am not 100% positive-without going back and looking up the various sources again myself.
I have been told by Jay Ivey that these new cranks should last for many years-perhaps ten years without a problem.The material is stronger and the radii at the jornals is more generous too.When the costs are being debated,many of us argued that even at$800 they were less expensive than OEM were because they would last three times as long and did not cost twice as much as the OEM.
You may know that we have a new rule on flywheel weight at 15.5 pounds,down from I think,19.5 pounds.This seems to make a considerable contribution to crankshaft longevity.Although there are those who argue that the lower weight results in a lot more power and quicker revsoff the corners,they are wrong!The engine is still "accellerating" 1,150 pounds of car and driver!!so the increased acceleration is miniscule anb cannot be perceived!!
I hope I have not been too long-winded to your straght forward quary!!!Please do keep me posted on your progress.
John Merriman
23rd Year in SCCA Club Ford
Member-SCCA Formula Car Advisory Committee
NER CF Committee
NER Lead Open Wheel Insructor
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