Chrysler LA / NASCAR 355 cu. in. crank shaft
You all might recall that for a while, Mopar was casting race blocks that had "318" cast on the side, but it had all the good "race" stuff cast into it internally.
I believe the rods that rumblefish is showing were forged from the better 4340 material in the standard 340 rod design. I have one set left of the "lite" versions that used the 273 design. Both with aftermarket bolts too! ARP/SPS? But because of the material, they were all stronger than OEM rods or some aftermarket rods that used 5140 material.
Pistons for the 3.454" crank were available in a couple of other oversizes so racers could sneak up to the 355 or whatever max size was. But I'm sure there are some 340 pistons with enough deck thickness that could be milled to get a good compression ratio. Likely some of the cheaper, older, heavy versions since newer pistons are already thinner and more expensive. Or some low compression flattops that are close. As mentioned, I had some 355 pistons milled that worked well with a 360 crank years ago.
3.580" -3.454" =
.126" 3.454"-3.310" =
.144" (Only have to worry about milling 1/2 of those amounts from the pistons..)
Before this stuff, Mopar Performance/Direct Connection also had some "Hemi footprint" rods for a small block. Heavy as hell, but you wouldn't break one due to lack of strength.
