Long time lurker, first time poster.

I decided to try my hand at rebuilding my 103 after roasting the crank shaft on a trip down south.
S&S crank assembly, mr103 cams, fueling cam chest kit and stock 103 wiseco pistons. Kind of regretting staying stock but the pistons are already ordered and the budget got tight quick. Has anyone noticed any performance increase over the stock crank?

 

You had a 103 crank, and are just replacing with another 103 crank, but an S&S? I wouldn't think a difference I got the MR103 cams and like them, but I have nothing to compare to. I kept pump and cam plate from my 96", not bored to 103.

Why do you think crank failed, and what was it doing that indicated it to you?

 

I doubt you can see a performance increase on any crank.
More a "piece of mind thing" that it's from S&S

 

Pretty much what I figured, Yes same crank but just an S&S. Looking forward to seeing how it feels with new cams. I probably would not have gotten around to doing them until this happened. Not exactly sure what caused it to fail as I havent split the cases and pulled it out yet. But it made a, If you could imagine, a metal on metal chirping sound.

 

Do the rods stick or slowly go down when you release them? Mine did that indicating bad bearings.

 

So the rods are sticky when rotating or have play? That bluing is the induction hardening of the rod end for the race.

 

They didn't seem to have a binding point but I also haven't gotten back to it and removed the head bolts and pistons to be able to test it more freely. I will have to report back with some pictures when I get to completely disassemble it.

 

I would say they had more play than having a sticking point. Unfortunately I was on my way to North Carolina from New York so quite a few miles led to that blueing up lol

 

What Max is saying, and he's right, the blue area you see is from the manufacturing process where they hardened the rod in that area. This is 100% normal.

Before you take the cases apart, you should check the crankshafts runout on the pinion shaft. If you have the tools also the sprocket shaft. Maybe the crank is ok.

Also a chirping sound can be the roller on one of the lifters going bad and not the crank. Check them thoroughly. Just because you're replacing them, you still need to know what is what.

 

How much play? Over 0.002" up and down?? Front rod can move side to side 3/32" and still be good..