My crank was fine...no taper and the journals were all within a couple of tenths of each other... it was the balance job that wasn't right along with the main bores were too tight in the block. My machine shop guy said the rest of the work on the block was spot on...it was just a brand new block and he said it looked like it had never been align honed and that almost all new blocks are on the tight side.

engine
 

I have bought 2 unassembled BBC shortblocks from Ohio Crank and have run them for about 3 years now and so far i haven't had a problem.

People told me the same when I was looking at a cranks and I was looking at ohio,rpm and hawks cranks. I bought the hawks and it is running now for almost a year with no problems. I also bought the forged h beam rods from hawks as well. I was told that hawks ohio and rpm are made in the same factory then sold to different companies that finish off the machine work. I don't know how true that is though, just heard and read it alot..

Don't be afraid of Ohio parts, there not the best, but theyre good parts for the average racer at a fair price. You wont be disappointed, just remember you usually get what you pay for.
good luck