well I was thinking and the only way I'll know for sure is to try it myself, I have a spare engine block that threw a rod, I'll weld up the hole and use that with a spare crank and cut the counterweights off it.
the engine has 5 main bearings so it should have a good chance of surviving, but if it wont, well then I'll know
the book I read this in was some old soviet tuning book, called "automotive engine preparations for competitions - Sigurikdi E.G - 1974"
the text in the book said:
the main bearing inner crank diameter is turned down to 35mm, then the inner race of the roller bearing hardness needs to be at least HRC 60-65
loose fit of the bearings is unsuitable, assembly must be caried out after preheating the bearings and cooling the crankshaft.
after assembly the crank needs to be straight within 0.02 - 0.03mm measured from the ends.
the main bearing outer diameter in the block is bored to 80mm, and the connecting rod outer diameter - 72mm
boring the block should be done in one installation on the machine to maintain strict alignment
if properly done the crank should rotate freely, similar to a bycicle wheel, precisely assembled the crank does not need balancing, for checking balance it should be within 3-5g/cm
the roller bearings do not need pressure lubrication but it can be used but you have to drill the bearings for oil to get in with holes of 0.7mm diameter.
the first crankshaft like this was tested on rally "nevsky lights" in january 1971 on an NA engine, everything was fine, except the engine noise increased, which had an unfavorable and clear psychological impact on the riders, however the team got into the top three and the engine was running reliably, on other tracks lower gear ratios were used and the engine speed exceeded 7500-8000rpm for up to 10 seconds. after the rally engine was disassembled and there was only a slight increase in backlash on the con rod bearings, the crankshaft turned out to be quite unsuitable for further use, all together the crankshaft with rolled bearings turned out to be successful.
the crankshaft was made out of 18XHVA steel and weighted 14.5kg, originally 17.8kg, an updated crank was made from titanium alloy VT-3-1 which weighted less than 10.2kg.
to use a titanium crankshaft, roller bearings with an inner race were mandatory.
I guess they call succesful crankshafts ones that barely last one event
although top fuel dragsters do the same... just with 500x more power
