Drilling Crankshafts

So many shops skip this super critical step in overhauling an engine, drilling out the crankshaft plugs and cleaning the oil passages. Some people think that is should only be done when a crankshaft has been ground or polished but we drill out every one because you never know what could be in there. The oil inside the passages gets thick and contaminated with grit and will either plug the passages or release into the bearings causing rapid wear. An example of how thick this sludge can be, imagine the the drill bit spinning easily as it cuts through the steel plug only to stop once it gets through the plug and into the sludge!

We charge 10 hours of labor to remove the plugs and properly clean a Ferrari V-12 crankshaft so for under $1000 you can feel confident that you will not ruin over $1000 in rod and main bearings and all sorts of other potential premature wear and headaches.

We just got into an engine that had major wear to the main and rod bearings and found that someone had ground the crank to the second under size but never cleaned it out so within 1000 miles the journals were at the 3 under size! We sent the crankshaft to be built up to the standard sized journals and after cleaning and plugging the passages, she will be like new!