Crane Cams started in 1953 when Harvey J. Crane, Jr. ground his first camshaft in the corner of his father's machine shop in Hallandale, Florida. Harvey was an apprentice machinist and was interested in "souping-up" his flathead Ford V-8 hot rod. Like most who had similar interests back then, he was greatly affected by "hot rod" magazines and ordered his first cam from a California cam company's ad. Harvey's first cam purchase performed well, but when he ordered another he discovered it was very different from the first, mainly because of manufacturing and machining errors. Harvey knew that camshaft design and accuracy had a direct effect on engine power and he also knew he had the ability to design and make camshafts, and could engineer more powerful, accurate and repeatable camshafts. Harvey's initial "home made" cams were accurately made and more powerful than anything he had purchased in the past. The word got around to local hot rodders and they began buying his camshafts. In 1961 Pete Robinson took his small block Chevy-powered dragster and a Crane cam to the NHRA Nationals in Indianapolis and won Top Eliminator honors, much to the surprise of the industry. Over the following years Crane made many advances including patenting roller lifter technology, introducing "Gold Race" aluminum rocker arms and innovating the use of computers to design camshaft profiles. Compared to the tedious and time-consuming methods that had been used to make camshafts up to that time, computer technology significantly reduced the time it took and greatly improved lobe accuracy. The result of this knowledge at Crane Cams was that Crane's design staff was able to investigate new designs in cam and valve train. Crane camshafts found their way throughout the NHRA and circle track racers. Eventually Crane Cams came to be trusted by the automotive industry and GM, Ford, AMC and Chrysler all made Crane Cams their choice for many racing and street performance products. About 20 years ago Crane Cams saw that their performance camshafts, valve train parts, ignitions and electronics could be applied to the Harley Davidson motorcycle market. Crane Cams valve train and ignition products are today some of the most popular among motorcyclists. In 1995 Crane launched the industry's first digital ignition, followed by the first digital "drop in" points replacement, the first adjustable distributor with 27 advanced curves and the first distributor to utilize fiber optics to send a trigger signal. Thereafter Crane's high-tech ignition systems began being used by many oval track competitors . With the largest camshaft database in the industry and an amazing manufacturing ability, as well as a highly qualified and experienced technical staff, Crane Cams is positioned to continue its innovative, high quality products and superior service, both on the track and on your daily driver, long into the future.
"Green" technology has become a popular catchphrase recently, but Crane Cams has led the industry in this area, launching the "Compu Cam 2000" series of C.A.R.B. certified camshafts for the latest generation of computer-controlled vehicles back in 1991. Crane did the research and development, as well as the testing in their own certified emissions laboratory. Crane Cams understands the importance of continuing innovations in this area into the future.
Crane Cams has a significant investment in research and development including a large number of cutting-edge CNC machining centers, dyno cells, Spintrons and a fully government-certified emissions lab. Crane Cams is able to not only manufacture fully digitized camshafts using Landis CNC equipment, but can also grind cams the traditional way, using production masters. Quality control is controlled with cutting-edge Zeiss optical and Adcole equipment.
