Burnt crankshaft

I have 2 crankshafts that were stored in a building that burned to the ground. Both had been machined and were ready to use.
Obviously they need cleaning, machined again, etc.

My question is are they useable if they can be turned again (not bent)? I'm no metallurgist, but would the heat from the fire have caused any irreparable damage?
They are a forged 440 crank and an old crank from a mid/late '50s Chevy 283.

Meh, that'll buff-out. Honestly though, hard to know what kind of temperature conditions they were subject to including possible rapid thermal shock from a extinguisher. That said, if it checks out at the crank shop....good to go! I'd tap it and see if they 'ring' before delivering for machining FWIW.

I don't know how hot it got, but there was nothing left of that building but metal and concrete. Anything aluminum was reduced to a puddle on the floor.

Guess I'll clean them up and see how they look.

Probably junk.
They can be thermally normalized , and re-treated for temper.
Then re-machined.
By the time you spend that money , you are pretty close to a decent new piece.

Toss them in the scrap bin...

I bet there warped.

Probably no good anymore. Sorry man.

Thanks yall, I'll scrap them along w/ everything else. Fires suck.
Luckily this was the worst damage to a car...

way too close for comfort....................someone up there digs MoPars too.

Is that your car?

Yes. This is the first car my Dad and I fixed up. I put the old Indy headed motor that used to be in my cuda into it. Just never completely finished it to race, but it does run and drive.

Those cranks are way to easy and cheap to come by to take a chance. Just my two cents.

Is there a shop nearby that can test them for hardness?
If so I would have them check before tossing them

That hurts. I'm so sorry that happened.

Darn right that hurts. Chip i HOPE that is the only car damage you received? Demon, and Cuda good?

Thanks yall. It could have been a LOT worse. My dad's house wasn't damaged at all. His '69 road runner (the 4 speed 6 pack car) was parked at his house, so it is fine.
The cuda and the Demon were in the shop and they are perfectly fine...as is the shop. The fire burned around it...somehow.
We had 3 trailers all parked side by side, right beside the shop. My enclosed car trailer only had one tire damaged by fire, my open car trailer burned completely (all 4 tires burned to the rim, leaf springs flattened, deck plates buckled, etc.), and my dads smaller utility trailer suffered the same fate.
The '73 new yorker and the "old" '69 road runner were parked at the barn. The taillights will need replaced on both cars and the paint blistered on the road runner, but that's it.

Lawnmowers, three Honda 300 fourtrax 4 wheelers, and a bunch of car stuff got burnt up in the barn. Game room is a complete loss...pool table, weight set/workout equipment, more car stuff, etc.
My old Ford tractor and Case backhoe are fine. One front tire burnt up on the backhoe.

Luckily a family friend saw it and called me at work. I had that big Duramax running down the highway that afternoon! I work about 25 miles from home and I'm not sure how I didn't get a speeding ticket. I saw the smoke from about 8 miles away and my heart sank. You can't imagine the relief I felt when I saw the shop was ok.

Yes. This is the first car my Dad and I fixed up. I put the old Indy headed motor that used to be in my cuda into it. Just never completely finished it to race, but it does run and drive. [/quote


Tell the insurance company they were both Windbergs

What started the fire?. Sorry there was stuff lost. Glad there was stuff that survived.
Doug

It does not take a lot of heat to warp a crank. I spun a rod bearing (#3) on my 440, which is close to the center main/thrust cap. Crank is discolored at this journal area.

In disassembling, there was a tight spot when rotating the crank. I pulled the center main cap, and the thrust bearing inserts. Tight spot when away.

I left the front and rear caps on, and put an indicator on the center crank journal. I had 0.010 run-out on the center journal.

I have not had it checked out yet, but my thought is it will probably take as much to fix it, than buy a new crank.

John

B3422W5...LOL, it's a shame my "spare" aluminum block was right beside these cranks and melted!

DVW...possibly from a battery tender that was on a lawnmower.

Gearhead...you're probably right. Cost prohibitive.

Holy C Chip, I didn't realize this was your families property. Very sorry to hear and glad that some critical stuff suffered very little.

Chip I am so sorry for your misfortune....i hope no one was hurt. I wish i was closer and i could help out with any paint you going to need.

Awww. Chip..I am sorry to see this happen.. Good luck and thank goodness nobody was hurt..

Chip, Sorry for your loss and glad to hear no one was hurt. Mike

Sorry to see this.

Fires generally don't hurt cast iron blocks and heads. Cranks I don't know. Could be ok if you have someone look at them.

Damn Chip sorry to hear about that and what was lost.

That is one of my worst nightmare - a garage fire.

Glad your Dad/family are OK man.

Thanks yall. No one was home at the time. Dad was at a doctors appointment and I was at work...my house is on the other side of the property.
Investigators came out yesterday and concluded the fire started in the gameroom...likely from the battery tender that was on the lawnmower parked under the lean-to.

So if any of you use a battery tender on anything, keep an eye on them.

Sorry to hear about the damage but I guess it was just limited to the shop which is good. We had a house burned to the ground a number of years ago. Lost everything we owned. We were young and wife was in college at the time. I even got fired from my job for leaving work during my shift when my father in law called and told me the house was ablaze. Glad your damage was somewhat limited.

What kind of battery tender, if you don't mind me asking?

Al...that's ridiculous they fired you for that!!!!


jcastle...it was from Autometer. Probably at least 10 years old.

Battery chargers and tenders scare me. Glad your loss was limited, that is scary stuff.

Really sorry about the pool table!

Unbelievable. First Rhinodart loses his garage to a cordless drill battery and now you lose yours due to a battery tender. I'm seriously considering putting all of my cordless tool batteries in a fireproof paint locker when I'm not at the shop. Battery tender....don't know yet.

cHIP
I hate to see that.
A few stories of building fires in the last year. Now I am going to buy a bigger fire extinguisher for my garage/shop.

There may not be a way to know, but I doubt the battery tender alone caused the fire. Perhaps the wind or an animal knocked the clips off and gasoline fumes caught fire, then oil, etc.

Sorry Jim but a battery tender is known to cause fires. Had a friend's dad loose some cool old ford's to a garage fire caused by a tender. I'll never use one in my shop. I put a race car power switch on my junk and the battery never goes down

Thanks. Glad it wasn’t worse