iron, (maltese) cross

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thanson_mopar

thanson_mopar

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strange qestion for you mopar guys, I never noticed it when i dissasembled the engine but when i dropped in the refurbished cranshaft when building my short block i noticed a iron cross, or maltese cross stamped into one of the counter weights. I have heard of chrysler stamping an iron cross into some of thier hp motors(early 60's i think) like the max wedge, but i dont know. Anyoneone know what the deal with that is?

Oh and if it makes a difference, the engine i rebuilt never was a hp chrysler engine, it was just a standard 360 from a 1990 dodge pickup, might not have the origional crank though???
 
maybe .001 undersized main bearings? that is wha tthe block stamping means.
 
It means it came from the factory with the crank undersized. It is a factory stamping.


Chuck
 
the factorys did regrind cranks and mark them as such rather than scrap them. The mark design and location is pretty much a "inhouse" program thus difficult to decode.
 
You would have to work in a machine shop I suppose. Easy to get out of tollerence, especially in grinding. Just a change in coolant can kill dimension or finish.

thanson_mopar said:
why would the factory want to regrind a brand new crankshaft?
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On the subject of ODD Stampings............What does a Diamond on a 440 ID Pad mean?

I have a 66' 440 Block with a <> stamped on the ID pad....it came out of a 66' Chrysler Town & Country Station Wagon....had a dual snorkel air cleaner with TNT 440 on it.

BTW I want to sell all of my Big Block stuff if anyone is needing good cores for buildups.
 
Wow, I've killed too many brain cells. :shock: Not 100% sure which was which but the markings meant undersize journals if stamped on the crank and overbore if stamped on the block. Think the Maltese cross was .010" and the diamond was .020". Anything over .020" went back in the remelt pile. May have these bassackwards but I'm sure somebody will correct me if I do. It gave the mechanics a heads up at rebuild time or warranty replacement, whichever came first.
 
thats cool, i didnt know the factory would would even grind down a crank, i thought they would just junk them if they werent perfect. Now that I think about it that would be a cool tattoo, a maltese cross with mopar above it:snakeman:. Thanks, ill let the machine shop guy know as he was as confused as i was to see the little cross stamped into the crank.
 
thanson_mopar said:
why would the factory want to regrind a brand new crankshaft?
Click to expand...


More than likely they are re-grinding warranty engines. They will try and salvage parts where & when they can. I'm willing to bet that's where all those MP crate engines come from....which would explain the over-bore and crank stampings. :angry7:
 
I have also seen that marking on the front of a 65' racing HEMI block and my buddy told me that he was told "and we all know how that works" that it was an experiment block and that they used that mark to identify those parts as such! I hope this helps but like I said thats what a friend of mine was told.
 
thanson_mopar said:
strange qestion for you mopar guys, I never noticed it when i dissasembled the engine but when i dropped in the refurbished cranshaft when building my short block i noticed a iron cross, or maltese cross stamped into one of the counter weights. I have heard of chrysler stamping an iron cross into some of thier hp motors(early 60's i think) like the max wedge, but i dont know. Anyoneone know what the deal with that is?

I was told in the early 80's from a older machinist when I took motor in for cylinder boring. The motor is stamped on block tang(C440 Iron Cross X)with HP on a second line below it. C=1969. 440CI. Iron Crossed with nickle & X=.010 Oversized main journals. He said for the service duty HP engines higher nickle content was used in casting along with a beefier steel crank. He explained this in a unique way. He took a large wrench & smacked the block. walked over to another block & smacked it. Then asked if I could hear the difference? The 1st one rang & carried on, the other block was more like a thud. Kinda like the difference in sound if u drop a snap-on & a harbor freight socket. He said they used a maltese/iron cross stamp on the crank to show it was reground & during re-assembly +.010 oversize bearings had to be used to compensate the grinding. The crank from this motor is steel & it has no stamps on it. It also came out of a 4 door coronet or satelite something of the likes you wouldn't expect a HP motor to be in.
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OTHER STAMPINGS:
Diamond = 0.008-in. oversize tappets
Maltese Cross = 0.001-in. undersized crankshaft
Maltese Cross and an X = 0.010 undersized crankshaft
A = 0.020-in. oversized cylinder bore
B = 0.010-in. undersized main and rod bearings
E = cast crankshaft
H = standard 4bbl
HP = high performance
LC = low compression
O.S. = 0.005 oversized valve stems
P = premium fuel recommended
R = regular grade fuel may be used
S = special engine
WT or TW = water test
X = oversized valve guides

ASSEMBLY PLANTS:
K = Toluca
PT = Trenton
M = Mound Road
T = Trenton (400 and 440 only)
MV or MN = Marysville
 
thanson_mopar said:
why would the factory want to regrind a brand new crankshaft?
Click to expand...


There are many things that can go wrong on a crank line trying to keep up with an assembly line. By running regrind cranks it helps buy them some time to get it back up running.

Sometimes the engines are not built right the first time, then sent to get torn down, then they recycle any parts that they can save, sometimes having to recut a crank if one of the journals got damaged.
 
thanson_mopar said:
thats cool, i didnt know the factory would would even grind down a crank, i thought they would just junk them if they werent perfect.
Click to expand...


They regrind the cranks instead of scrapping them. Would you like the scrap cost to come out of your pocket? Neither does the factory....

We're not talking about Saturn here... #-o
 
When I worked at a factory that built machine tools, every bearing in the big gearboxes they built was "fitted" to the shafts. They gave you all the parts on a skid with boxes of bearings in various under/over sizes. It was up to the mechanic (me) to pick the right bearings. In other words, they let the machinists make the shafts any size they wanted, within reason. Not exactly good "mass production" production, is it?
Also, I don't recall anything being marked. Must have been pure hell for the "next guy" that had to work on the stupid thing as part of a maintenance job or repair.
 
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