Just bought these rods

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604B1duster

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7E3D6119-6E7A-4C7B-A5B0-0C690896E9F8.jpeg
 
Pic is from guy I bought them from in Tennessee. They are GRP 5301, 7.15
I bought a used Indy 540 megablock short block yrs ago that I was turning into a 540B1 but never finished. These are same sizes as the BMEs in it that have 150 runs on them, in a pulling truck, soo .... maybe I’ll finish it now
 
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Great rods.

Keep track of every heat cycle they go through. I count a warm up as a run. Aluminum rods don't like to be beat on cold. You don't need 200* water temp, but get some heat in the engine before making a full pass on them.

The big end of the rod will shrink over use. You may see the oil pressure go UP. When it does, you know you'll need to pull the rods, check the sizes and resize them as needed.
 
yellow rose said:
Great rods.

Keep track of every heat cycle they go through. I count a warm up as a run. Aluminum rods don't like to be beat on cold. You don't need 200* water temp, but get some heat in the engine before making a full pass on them.

The big end of the rod will shrink over use. You may see the oil pressure go UP. When it does, you know you'll need to pull the rods, check the sizes and resize them as needed.
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Very good info, thanks !
 
CB3611E7-972E-4C40-8FFA-32282615B8D4.jpeg

Any idea how these compare to same size BME426 rod ???
 
Most of the 426 forging so are for blown stuff and they are pretty bulky.

I love GRP rods but my favorite aluminum rods were from Groden rods.

He used flat cuts on the rod and cap and used two dowels on each side to locate the cap on the rod. That means you can pull the pins, cut the rods and cap and resize the rods like a steel rod.

I think he went tits up. Too bad because they were nice stuff.
 
Heard of groden, but have no experience with them. I’m going to put these side by side with the BME and compare. I almost passed on these because after checking grp website it looked like the 5301s were for higher HP stuff. Then I checked out some of the Indy crate motors offered and they now use the GRP 5301s.
 
I had set of 7 BME 426 castings that I got cheap. Gave them to my gearhead buddy who polished them even more and made tap handles out of them for his man cave. His BBQ had chrome headers for chimneys and his lighting was various taillight bezels mounted ti the walls. The bars footrest were polished oil well 'lifts' that were sort of a long helical cut shafts that spun and the oil climbed up them in stead of the traditional 'horse' wells.
 
pishta said:
I had set of 7 BME 426 castings that I got cheap. Gave them to my gearhead buddy who polished them even more and made tap handles out of them for his man cave. His BBQ had chrome headers for chimneys and his lighting was various taillight bezels mounted ti the walls. The bars footrest were polished oil well 'lifts' that were sort of a long helical cut shafts that spun and the oil climbed up them in stead of the traditional 'horse' wells.
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Hahaha, I actually have a partial set of 426s.
Going to have to do some decorating. The short block I got was from a 3 engine pulling tractor. It had twin Indy 540s and a hemi in the middle. I drove like 7hrs to Maryland for the short block. One of the 540s had spun a bearing and thrown a rod. The guy sold the hemi and both Indy top ends. I bought the good short block and the guy threw in the windowed short block. I had that block fixed, but the spinning assembly was toast.
 
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BME says you can run them on the street without the AL rod shortcomings...?
 
Edelbrock uses a high pressure casting method for some of their low run race heads that is way stronger than 356 now, stuff breaks bits!
 
604B1duster said:
I read that also, but I don’t know anyone who has more than a blast up and down the street
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I've had BME 426 forgings in my little street/strip 355 for a couple years now. No rev limiter, but shift lite comes on at 8300 and the window switch shuts the nitrous off at 8500. Rods are 473g, bobweight is 1492g. Was able to take quite a bit off the counterweights, the Scat F43 crank is down to 41lbs. Low compression flat top pump gas engine with a crossbar plate on 92 octane, car gets driven everywhere it goes. 4spd manual, 3.73 and 28" radials. At 2800-3000 rpm it still gets 20 mpg on the hiway, but the car only weighs 2525 with 200lbs of me in it.

Grant
 
weedburner said:
I've had BME 426 forgings in my little street/strip 355 for a couple years now. No rev limiter, but shift lite comes on at 8300 and the window switch shuts the nitrous off at 8500. Rods are 473g, bobweight is 1492g. Was able to take quite a bit off the counterweights, the Scat F43 crank is down to 41lbs. Low compression flat top pump gas engine with a crossbar plate on 92 octane, car gets driven everywhere it goes. 4spd manual, 3.73 and 28" radials. At 2800-3000 rpm it still gets 20 mpg on the hiway, but the car only weighs 2525 with 200lbs of me in it.

Grant
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Wow, very cool !
What is it ? Have a pic of your ride ?
 
yellow rose said:
Most of the 426 forging so are for blown stuff and they are pretty bulky.

I love GRP rods but my favorite aluminum rods were from Groden rods.

He used flat cuts on the rod and cap and used two dowels on each side to locate the cap on the rod. That means you can pull the pins, cut the rods and cap and resize the rods like a steel rod.

I think he went tits up. Too bad because they were nice stuff.
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I may be out to lunch here------I thot GRP rods were Groden Race Products , correct me if I`m wrong !! ?????????
 
famous bob said:
I may be out to lunch here------I thot GRP rods were Groden Race Products , correct me if I`m wrong !! ?????????
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I'd spell if for you but I'd get it wrong.

Groden went by Groden.

GRP is Gianonni Race Products and I profusely APOLOGIZE for butchering his name. But I *THINK* that's how it's spelt. I know it's how it sounds.
 
yellow rose said:
I'd spell if for you but I'd get it wrong.

Groden went by Groden.

GRP is Gianonni Race Products and I profusely APOLOGIZE for butchering his name. But I *THINK* that's how it's spelt. I know it's how it sounds.
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THANKS , I stand corrected ! Pictured rods are preeettteeee !
 
I worked on a 632 Top Sportsman motor about 10 years ago with MGP rods in it. Motor had less than 20 runs on it. All 8 rods were cracked where the rod to cap alignment serration machining left off in the big end bore. A very poor design IMO. We put BME rods in it, and after 100+ runs (when we told the guy to bring it back at 50) they were still fine.
 
skrews said:
I worked on a 632 Top Sportsman motor about 10 years ago with MGP rods in it. Motor had less than 20 runs on it. All 8 rods were cracked where the rod to cap alignment serration machining left off in the big end bore. A very poor design IMO. We put BME rods in it, and after 100+ runs (when we told the guy to bring it back at 50) they were still fine.
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Oh boy, Thanks, I was going to send the BMEs back for a check up but never got around to it. I’m sure they both would be fine in this application.
 
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