Use stock 1970 340 rods in rebuild?

nm9stheham said

Or you can just replace the rods bolts and run them as is. I always got away with that.... never a rod problem yet, in many thousands of miles of hard racing. Mind you, this was with Opel and Mitsubishi and Ford small block rods and such. I do have a set of 340 rods that I will put in a 360 at some point, with just new bolts.

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The knurl on the bolt helps locate the cap to the rod. If the cap and rod are not properly aligned, it can create drag, in some cases can cause the crank not to turn or lock up with as little as .001" mis match...

When you replace the rod bolts, the new bolt may be in a slightly different position than the original one that it was machined with...

When you replace the bolts, it's best to have the bore re-machined so it's back to the proper size and alignment...