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GM 3.6 VVT

maybe with taking the part numbers and trying GM parts direct or some of the other GM authorized sites might have some luck finding one reasonable. new is always better than machine turned smaller.

speaking of cranks, years ago here in town there was a guy that restored old school rides and rebuilt engines (passed on now) that would take cranks and cut the lobes and polish them where it created a friction free inside the engine. rounded and polished the cast lobe areas on the cranks. when he was done, there entire crank looked like it had a chrome finish to them. he always said that it made a huge difference on race motors and also helped those old monster engine on fuel economy and power. have any of y'all hear stories like that?
 
Husker6.5 said:
Yeah, if you have a shop with a lift. Not that many people out there with a home garage with a two-post or four post lift in it and a cradle jack to lower out the subframe for that once in a great while procedure. Again, for a home DIY'er with a cherry picker and not the ability to get a vehicle 6' up in the air, nor the bucks to take it to a mechanic, the "short cut" is the way to go.
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We don't have a cradle jack. I put them on jack stands and lift the vehicle off the cradle. ALOT of modern engines will NOT come out the top because there is no room. There is no short cut on some of these newer vehicles that's just how it is. But hey I'm not going to dirty this thread up arguing with a key board mechanic like yourself.
 
dbrannon79 said:
lol I was thinking dropping subframe and lifting the rest of the car with the cherry picker 🤣
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1) How would you position the cherry picker (2T engine hoist) so that the legs weren't under the subframe you were dropping and yet able to lift the front of the vehicle up? Not from the front or either side.
2) In order to lift the front end high enough, the boom arm would have to be fully extended out, reducing your lifting capacity down to 500-1000 lbs (depending on the most common capacities of engine hoist you own), which is way below what the front of a vehicle weighs (remember, you'relifting everything from the rear wheels forward), even without the subframe. And then there's the factor of -
3) Height restriction. The vast majority of home garages, either those attached or freestanding, have an interior height restriction of 8' due to joist height from a standard height wall, the exception being if the garage was purposely built with either a vaulted-type or gambrel-style roof structure or side walls taller than a standard 8' height. Which leads to -
4) Using a chain hoist which has its own limitations. Most affordable chain hoists are 500 or 1000 lb rated. Then, can the ceiling joist to be used can carry the load centered at one point in its middle without failure, our will you have to either double/triple the joist or buy a steel I-beam to use? Or, if you have a real A-frame hoist (not a modified swing set!) there is still the height issues, too.

Now, if you're lucky enough to own/have access to a purpose-built shop that has enough height clearance and a two or four post vehicle lift or a scissors-style drive on car lift and all the necessary equipment like a cradle jack to lower the subframe assembly out from under the vehicle, then go for it and have fun.

Like my neighbor I used to work with back in the 90's who lives a few blocks away. He purpose-built a 2 stall wide by 2 stall deep 2 story, gambrel-roofed shop next to his house to build his gasser dragsters in. The back â…“ of it has stairs up to a second story loft where he has his "office" and parts storage, one front "stall" has a two post frame lift and the one next to it has a steel I-beam, one end sitting on the head plate of the garage wall 10' up and supported by tripled 2x6 wall studs under it and the other end on a vertical I-beam set in a poured footing coming up through the floor pour in the center between the two stalls and a 2T electric chain hoist on a trolly running across the beam at the front of that stall.

So yeah, he definitely has a "home garage" capable of doing something like what @ak diesel driver did. Not everybody does, so the cherry picker short cut for pulling a Camry motor without dropping the subframe is the trick of home DIYers (and a couple of local professional, factory trained former Dealership Toyota and Honda mechanics who have their own shop [and work on pretty much any make] and use that method, rather than dropping the subframe, when doing customer motor swaps).

It was nice when they swapped out the toasted motor on my 05 Camry and charged me the actual 15 hours they had it in the shop, rather than the 20 hours flat rate that 'by the manual' gives to do it by dropping the subframe. Their shop has five racks and four more bays, is always full and all five mechanics busy, and they use that method to not tie up rack space and also turn around customers' cars faster. They came highly recommended by not only some Toyota and Honda owner racer friends of mine, but also my mechanic, Kelly, because he was so booked up that he couldn't get the two-day turnaround I needed to not get fired from work. I helped roll my Camry into C&M's shop right after lunch on a Wednesday - after the freight company had dropped off the JDM long block motor I'd bought out of New York there that morning - and they called me about 10am Friday morning to tell me it was ready to be picked up! I was billed for the 15 hours labor to do the 'short cut' method, $1500, and they did NOT charge me for the new serpentine accessory belt nor for the fluids used like the antifreeze [I had supplied a new Aisin waterpump for the motor warranty, as well as a jug of 5W-30 synthetic and a new Wix filter]

My friend and long-time mechanic of over 30 years, Kelly, charges for the actual time over flat rate when there's a short cut that knocks time off of the flat rate because it's only fair to his customers. He also, after renting a commercial building with four lift bays in it for his auto maintenance shop for 25+ years and driving 10 miles across town to work, decided to instead build a Morton building next to his house on his acreage just outside of town, put in the three lifts for his mechanics, then in a separated stall adjacent to the corner office, a lift for himself to work on his own projects and long-time customers' vehicles in his 'home garage'. He's the guy that I happened to be at his old shop about 8 years ago, when a Dealership in town called and asked him for advice as they were stumped on something and couldn't get it figured out, and off the top of his head he replied, "Yeah, about three years ago Ford (figures) had a TSB about that, check this (whatever it was)." Kelly always drives a new vehicle, lets it be serviced under warranty so he can wrench on either customer vehicles, or his latest "pet" project, fully restoring a 1st Gen Bronco 4x4. Kelly gave up Sprint racing 20 years ago (when his daughter was 2) after a pretty horrific wreck that he unbuckled and walked away from. He endo'ed eight times (with four midair spins, he has a couple of photos taken mid-accident framed and on his office wall) down the back straight and over the Turn 3 wall out at Eagle Raceway (a â…“ mile dirt track, home of the â…“ mile Nationals). He kept the twisted frame/cage of it atop the office at his old shop, and the twisted frame now resides in the same spot at the new shop next to his house as a reminder of what's important in life.
 
ak diesel driver said:
Don't misunderstand, it took me much longer than that. I watched a video where it took 4 hours for a tech at a shop.
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Gotcha, I read your comment wrong in my head. I was about to offer you a job if you did it in 4 hours lol. We have been trying to fill an open position for almost a year now. Most guys only last a few weeks before they really F something up. One guy cost us a trans and a motor before he skipped town.
 
Could it be it said N/A that first time because you carted the last one, then when you cancelled it became available again. Computer inventory software can be goofy (or mickey mouse) sometimes.

Either way, hope you get a replacement crank in a reasonable amount of time and for a reasonable cost. Man, shipping to Alaska from the lower 48 has got to be a b*tch, especially heavy or oversized items. Then throw in this whole shipping backlog nutroll, hope you get a new crank before Spring Thaw!
 
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