318LA Myth's still being created!

My take on small block cranks from disassembling hundreds of them through the last 40 years. Wait, let me dig my foxhole a bit deeper first....:lol: Ok, here's what I've run across.....'62-early '67 poly 318's were all forged and would fit both auto and manual trans applications. '64-7 273's were all forged, with all machined for a pilot bushing for manual trans apps, and some made their way into automatic apps along with the ones that didn't get the final machine work for the pilot bushing. They were all made with the small converter register except for A100's which used 318 cranks since their automatic transmissions were all 727's. '67 LA318's were all forged. '68 started the cast cranks, both in the 273 and 318, with the same situation on pilot bushing machine work as the 273 forged. '68-April of '72 340's were all forged, and cast after that. 360's were all cast. Many truck and other heavy duty applications had forged cranks in their 318's, all machined for a pilot bushings on the ones I ran across. Some cranks have different weights and were balanced differently due to rod and piston weights. IMO, it's always a good idea to rebalance an engine if you change any internal parts that could change the balance. All bets are off on export vehicles. Ok, I've got my helmet on.....let the shelling begin! :lol: