Was reading the specs given to to the SAE by Buick about their new V8 400/430 Interesting stuff. I always heard Buick made the main journals 3.25” to help stabilize the block, but in the handbook they tell the main journals originally were 3.00” and the crank would break, so they increased it to 3.25” Alway wondered why Buick put the distributor in the front using the timing cover on the V6’s and 350/400/430/455, guess it made casting the blocks easier without having another core for the distributor in the block. Interesting stuff!
Some of those 3" cranks must have made it to production. I remember towing a Buick ragtop off of Massachusetts 128 - now I-95 - with a grenaded engine. The crank had failed bigtime; the intake manifold was the only piece holding the front of the engine to the back.
