I recently picked up a 327 for my new project for $225. my first idea was to pick up a 283 forged crank for my engine and build a 302 out of it but now my delima is that i have found that my 327 is a "medium" journal wich i think is the same as a "large" Journal because every one talks about 327 small and large journal but never medium so.... any way my 327 crank that was a back up plan has failed me because i want a forged crank so now my only choices are to find a 327 "medium" journal forged crank or a original 68-69 302 Medium journal crank on EBAY which should i build and does any one have a forged crank laying around???

the 302 steel crank for a large journal block will be costly as they are quite rare and in demand from the Z-28 restorers and cloners. You will probably have to go to the aftermkt for a forged 327-350 crank.

As stated, the foged 302 crank is in high demand. I have a friend who has one and he has turned down $400 for it. I think it's absurd, but that is what the market does to this stuff. I actually had three of them in my possesion at one time, ........oh well. Any time anything relating to the 67-69 Z/28's appear on E-Bay, it turns in to a free for all. I have even heard of a fellow paying over $500 for an air injection system off a 302.

Vince

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He has a small-journal 327 block for sale. If you can't find a 283 crank, I have one but it's a bit rusty & has too small a hole in the rear for a regular pilot bushing (it's from an automatic car).

I Have A 283 Motor I Rebuilt But Didn't Put Back Together. I Think It Is Out Of A 55-67 Chevy Truck.

If you exclude the 400 SBC with it's larger mains then small blocks are either large or small journal, never heard of a "medium" journal 327. A .030" over 327 aka "331" built with the same parts as a 302 Z-28 will rev just as high and make more power. "Back in the day" we saw it happen time and time again. Some hot shoe with his Z-28 would go up against a nearly identical 331 powered Camaro and get waxed and I saw more than one 396 fall victim to the "little" 331's as well. LJ 3.25" stroke cranks aren't exactly falling off trees but they're out there and a whole lot cheaper than the 302 variety. I have one but........ I have plans for it. Are you positive yours is cast and do you really NEED a forged crank?

FWIW. My source is "Chevrolet by the Numbers.'65-69"
It says all small journal 327 cranks were forged.
I don't personally know this to be fact, but the book says so.
Johnny

The 302 Z-28 motor was realistically rated at around 345 horses. The 327 'Vette motor with 11:1 compression and the .030"-.030" cam (same as the 302) was realistically rated at around 400 horses. And that motor didn't have the good hi-rise manifold that the Z-28 had.

I know which I'd build.

Which I did (327 with the Z-28 hi-rise intake manifold).

tom

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That is true, however a low percentage of the large journal 327 cranks were forged compared to the number of cast cranks. By '68 when the switch was made to large journal across the board the 327 was no longer the "flagship" small block the 350 took over those duties and to my knowledge only a relative handful of Hi Perf 327's were built for Vettes in '68. The majority of forged LJ 327 cranks came out of truck motors.

a large (or small I gues) journal 327 would be a screamer with a forged crank, good rod bolts and decent rods with a set of good slugs to match. Put some compression into it and ballance the motor, and you could easily see 6500 RPM on a regular basis. With the right gears and cam you could really turn some heads for really not a whole lot of money.

K

the 302 didn't use the 30-30 cam,it used the 3849346 cam,254/254 dur.,485/485 lift in 67,68 & 69.the forged crank 65-69 was reserved for all high performance applications including the corvette.

The cam I referred to was that cam. The lash spec is .030'-.030".

tom

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A friend of mine has an NHRA G/SA 69 Camaro(350). It has a cast crank that has been in the same short block for ELEVEN seasons without a problem. 7100rpm approx. across the finish line. Done right a cast crank can do you just fine.

All '65-'67 327's were small journal and had forged cranks regardless of application, or at least everyone I ever opened up has been and it's been a ton of them over the years. '68 and '69 large journal 327 forged cranks were used in high performance engines or "Severe Duty" applications such as trucks and school buses, my forged large journal 327 crank came out of a '69 Chevy school bus motor.

A friend of mine had a 69 Impala with a 2bbl 327. When he tore it down for a rebuild, it had a forged L J crank. I tried but couldn't convince him that I needed it worse than HE did.

tom

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