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A week or so ago there was a thread discussing the GM 396/427 forged steel crankshafts, forging ID 3856223 at Howards Cams. Joe had ordered 3 and reported they looked perfect with no flaws. I have one coming, it is in transit via UPS and I will have it Monday. I spoke today with a representative at Howards Cams as to their origin and history.
First, I did verify these (in conjunction with their sister company, Competition Products, both in the same facility in Oshkosh WI) are genuine GM crankshafts, there was concern raised they may not be of GM manufacture and this is not the case. In fact, they are buying these up in lots from GM directly, not a 3rd party source. They come in on the GM specialized crates just as they were handled internally in the engine plants. They had about 2700+ at one point, but they have drastically reduced their inventory. I don't know how long these have been out of production, but the rep I spoke with thought it had been at least several years. He indicated they were coming to them in lots from GM with some regularity, but the last they received was about 9 months ago, and they are just depleting the stock. One other interesting point, they do have a limited number that are tuftrided (nitride surface hardening) and these are not advertised directly but they will sell them for $239.95 each plus shipping. Competition Products is selling the tuftrided version for $299.95, and the standard for $249.95. However, Howards is selling the same units for $239.95 plus shipping for the tuftrided and $99.95 including shipping for the standard version. So thier is a slight riff going on between the two groups on that point. The blowout price of $99.95 including shipping is a loss leader for the new Howards Cams Website, they are using it to hopefully attract business (kind of like the free turkey at the grocery store around Thanksgiving if you shop at a store). Apparently there are not many of the tuftrided units left, but they do have some.
They basically clean up every crankshaft, removing the storage cosmoline from the journals, and lightly polish each journal to check it before shipment to a customer to insure there are no nicks, pits, or defects. Then they box it and ship.
They were very strong that these are genuine GM crankshafts, purchased by them directly from GM, and that Howards/Competion Products had jointly worked a deal with GM to buy up all remianing stock from GM when they discontinued the part.........Craig
First, I did verify these (in conjunction with their sister company, Competition Products, both in the same facility in Oshkosh WI) are genuine GM crankshafts, there was concern raised they may not be of GM manufacture and this is not the case. In fact, they are buying these up in lots from GM directly, not a 3rd party source. They come in on the GM specialized crates just as they were handled internally in the engine plants. They had about 2700+ at one point, but they have drastically reduced their inventory. I don't know how long these have been out of production, but the rep I spoke with thought it had been at least several years. He indicated they were coming to them in lots from GM with some regularity, but the last they received was about 9 months ago, and they are just depleting the stock. One other interesting point, they do have a limited number that are tuftrided (nitride surface hardening) and these are not advertised directly but they will sell them for $239.95 each plus shipping. Competition Products is selling the tuftrided version for $299.95, and the standard for $249.95. However, Howards is selling the same units for $239.95 plus shipping for the tuftrided and $99.95 including shipping for the standard version. So thier is a slight riff going on between the two groups on that point. The blowout price of $99.95 including shipping is a loss leader for the new Howards Cams Website, they are using it to hopefully attract business (kind of like the free turkey at the grocery store around Thanksgiving if you shop at a store). Apparently there are not many of the tuftrided units left, but they do have some.
They basically clean up every crankshaft, removing the storage cosmoline from the journals, and lightly polish each journal to check it before shipment to a customer to insure there are no nicks, pits, or defects. Then they box it and ship.
They were very strong that these are genuine GM crankshafts, purchased by them directly from GM, and that Howards/Competion Products had jointly worked a deal with GM to buy up all remianing stock from GM when they discontinued the part.........Craig
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