With over twenty years in the automotive crankshaft business, Joe Castillo, owner of Castillo's Crankshaft Service located in La Mirada, California, has established himself and his modest sized machine shop as a global powerhouse within the motorsports industry. For those not familiar with the name, Castillo has worked with such notables as Skunk2 Racing, Darrel Cox Racing, and Intrinsic Performance Solutions (IPS) - not to mention the hundreds of pro stock and NHRA drag race teams who take their high performance crankshafts to Southern California's premiere crankshaft machine shop.
The journey began in the fall of 1977 when Castillo was officially bitten by the automotive bug at the ripe age of 18 while attending an automotive machining class at a local community college. "The more knowledge I gained through my instructional classes about the internal workings of the engine, the more the crankshaft fascinated me," Castillo said. Taking a wide range of classes, Joe quickly absorbed the knowledge and know-how to begin working within the industry, quickly landing him a job at LA Billet Crankshafts. At the time, LA Billet specialized in sprint car and NASCAR crankshafts. "I worked there for seven years before I decided to open my own shop in 1986. We started Castillo's off with four simple machines: one crankshaft grinder, an air compressor, a tiny sized lathe and a magna-flux machine. In the back of the shop was what was called a zero blaster, which was used to shot peen," Castillo said.
Knife edging the crank is...
Knife edging the crank is mainly for increasing horsepower by reducing the windage loss in the crankcase while reducing the crankshaft's rotational mass, allowing for the engine to accelerate faster. Castillo claims that a normal knife-edge job can remove four to five pounds off a factory crankshaft.
The V-shaped crankshaft has...
The V-shaped crankshaft has been a popular design among customers who are hell-bent on pulling more weight out of the crankshaft. This specific type of machining will pull an additional 3 pounds off the crank over the normal knife edging process. Depending on the crankshaft and material of the metal, whittling away at the crank and putting the V cut on it has the ability to decrease the crank by eight to nine pounds over a factory unit.
A steady influx of consumer...
A steady influx of consumer demands on further lightening crankshafts called for Castillo's Crankshaft Service to release a special design called the "Castillo Wing". This specialized design reshapes the opposite side of the counter weight, successfully removing an additional two pounds off the crankshaft.
Whether you need to repair your crankshaft's journals due to a spun bearing mishap, or you're simply a horsepower junky looking to stroke or destroke your custom crankshaft for that ultimate short rod or long rod combination, Castillo's can do it all: "It's relatively similar for both repair and custom crank work because you're welding material onto the crankshaft. For those who are easily scared off with the idea of welding, I can honestly say the integrity of the crank when welding material onto the journals is just a strong as prior to the process. We've had real good success with it."
Prior to any machine work...
Prior to any machine work performed on the crankshaft, the unit is magna fluxed. This process ensures no cracks are present on the surface.
Once the crank has passed...
Once the crank has passed the magna flux-testing phase, it's then taken to the v-block where Castillo inspects the unit for straightness. "A normal crank varies from dead on to being bent by five thousandths. If the crank is damaged or encountered a spun journal there's a good chance it will be bent anywhere from 10 to 30 thousandths.
Joe Castillo on the v-blocks...
Joe Castillo on the v-blocks performing a simple technique of stress relieving the metal while straightening out the crankshaft to allowable tolerance. "A lot of guys won't do the stress relief and they wonder why their crankshafts crack prematurely on simple welds," Castillo chides.
As the grinders continually work at full blast in the machine shop, Castillo points out some key problems that overshadow the crankshaft industry, many of which are serviced by mass production crankshaft service centers: "The main reason why these altered or repaired units encounter premature cracks is the lack of stress relieve. Yes, you can straighten out a crank but when you go to finish grinding it out, the crankshaft can bend again. The problem is that same crank you're working on will keep relieving because it has internal stress within the metal from not stress relieving it. I wouldn't call stress relieving a secret but more of a common sense notion than anything. If I can help improve what some of these shops are handing back to the customers then I feel I'm contributing to the automotive world. The problem is so many of these guys won't stress relieve the crank because it's another procedure and considered time consuming. Some of them aren't willing to take the time to go through that process. They will cut that out of the process and cut corners ultimately affecting the quality of workmanship."