On my recent trip to the heart of NASCAR engine building territory in North Carolina, I saw something really interesting. The late, great engine builder, Smokey Yunick had a saying- - - -"It's only cheatin' if ya get caught!" Apparently, that attitude is still alive and well. I saw a billet crankshaft, one that's whittled out of a solid chunk of steel on a CNC mill, that had two different stroke lengths incorporated into it. The connecting rod journal that cylinders #1 and #2 shared had the standard 350 engine stroke, 3.48 inches. The other three journals were made for a 4" stroke! The idea was that even on a technical inspection engine teardown, it's most likely that the stroke would be checked with the #1 cylinder at the bottom of its travel. Sneaky, huh?
Jerry
