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Wyrmrider

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I just priced out a set of rods which were done but not picked up- family problem
ARP bolts, perfect sizing, balanced, maggged but no side grind and no (mil spec) shot peen
wheelabrator is NOT shot peening, nor is glass beading.

Import rods are torqued then machined and the take quite a bit off
you get the rod and take it apart and put it on your crank and loose the bottom end
why
because if you had put the rod between a couple of pieces of hardwood in your vice and retorqued it you would have found it out or round- maybe 2 or 3 thou
the major materiel removal changes the stresses in the rod (my theory)
so
take your new rods and dial bore them
then take them apart and clean and put them back together and torque or use the length method- do it acouple of times and measure again
if off you have a couple of choices
send them back or redoo
 
Had to run and did not get to finish
SCAT ( and their re-marketers) have been much better than the rest, getting better last several years
on the LY rods I figure with cores and ARP bolts I'm in them about $500 side grind takes some time but I do it for my own before mag, mil spec shot peen is also not free
I detail the machined stress riser behind the bolt foot with a small round file
On these rods customer supplied the bolts - I usually use SPS on non maximum effort builds I've had no problem with the bolts in the aftermarket rods- they seem to torque to the same stretch repeatedly - I would appreciate other observations
bottom line cheap aftermarket rods, as with heads, may not be so inexpensive since you have to go through them again.
Just re-torquing leaves the big end too big pinfit usually needs a touch up also but usually a touch up hone works If they need to be bushed to get the right size it's time for os pins or send them back (because os pins require pin fit the pistons) unless super light/ or strong pins are going to be installed- but then why are we fooling with offshore cores
 
I've said it many times over... the best connecting rods are the OEM rods that came in the engine. Even if they were not floaters your can open them up and put the bushing in them. They all have the pee hole to lube the bottom of the piston, no aftermarket do that I have seen. They are all forged from old US steel. They are all bigger than needed. I used to run the light 273 rods in 360 engines in a dirt track car race engine at 7000 RPMs. If anything is hard on an engine it is a dirt track car for sure. Never had a rod break. No need for anything else unless you need to change the rod length.
 
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Hellrats said:
I've said it many times over... the best connecting rods are the OEM rods that came in the engine. Even if they were not floaters your can open them up and put the bushing in them. They all have the pee hole to lube the bottom of the piston, no aftermarket do that I have seen. They are all forged from old US steel. They are all bigger than needed. I used to run the light 273 rods in 360 engines in a dirt track car race engine at 7000 RPMs. If anything is hard on an engine it is a dirt track car for sure. Never had a rod break. No need for anything else unless you need to change the rod length.
Click to expand...


The problem is the 3/8 bolts. New rods are so cheap it isn't worth doing OE rods any more.

FWIW I verify every rod by taking them apart, cleaning them, using my lube on the threads and then torque the bolts and verify the bore. I prefer the holes to be undersize. That way I finish them where I want them.
 
can you get them undersized? if not they do not turn out to be cheap
ever use 225 rods?
7 1/32 we snuck them in the stock car and did not get caught for a long long time
 
Wyrmrider said:
can you get them undersized? if not they do not turn out to be cheap
ever use 225 rods?
7 1/32 we snuck them in the stock car and did not get caught for a long long time
Click to expand...


Almost every set of rods like that I've used were undersized by .0005 to .0000 as I like it. I've never seen any come bigger than that.
 
ever see them go out of round after several retorqued
good to know your undersized comment- I'll check- thanks
 
yellow rose said:
The problem is the 3/8 bolts. New rods are so cheap it isn't worth doing OE rods any more.

FWIW I verify every rod by taking them apart, cleaning them, using my lube on the threads and then torque the bolts and verify the bore. I prefer the holes to be undersize. That way I finish them where I want them.
Click to expand...
Also if the side clearance is in specs. and the sides are evenly lined up, no problem!
 
side clearance is not a big deal unless it's too tight
important to hang and ALIGN the rods and pistons then flip them over and check again- find twist all the time- does not take much time
 
What is the side grinding for? Just for proper side clearance? The SCAT SBM rods' big ends are narrower than stock by quite a bit (like in the .0015-.020" range IIRC) so that is not an issue per se.
 
side grinding is not on the side of the big end journal
when the rods are forged the cut is folded over
you side grind to get rid of the side fold so the mag can see the actual side of the rod
then you can shot peen to dense up the surface
if you have to round the top or do other detail work like narrowing the small end do it before shot peen
some mag before detail work some after, some both- who wants to spend time on a bad rod
lucky with mopar we do not find as many bad ones as with brand x or y
the pink rods were better but old tech now there are better
 
Wyrmrider said:
Had to run and did not get to finish
SCAT ( and their re-marketers) have been much better than the rest, getting better last several years
on the LY rods I figure with cores and ARP bolts I'm in them about $500 side grind takes some time but I do it for my own before mag, mil spec shot peen is also not free
I detail the machined stress riser behind the bolt foot with a small round file
On these rods customer supplied the bolts - I usually use SPS on non maximum effort builds I've had no problem with the bolts in the aftermarket rods- they seem to torque to the same stretch repeatedly - I would appreciate other observations
bottom line cheap aftermarket rods, as with heads, may not be so inexpensive since you have to go through them again.
Just re-torquing leaves the big end too big pinfit usually needs a touch up also but usually a touch up hone works If they need to be bushed to get the right size it's time for os pins or send them back (because os pins require pin fit the pistons) unless super light/ or strong pins are going to be installed- but then why are we fooling with offshore cores
Click to expand...

Screenshot_2018-06-07-10-32-59.png
 
Yup. That's why I own a rod vise and never advise running rods without cycling them and checking the big end bore. 440Source rods have never passed that test and I always advise adding in resizing to the cost of the kit. Something like 17 years I've caught **** for that. Truth is if you run any parts out of the box you're already gambling and at best you're only losing power and longevity.
 
Yep cut the cap and check the rod for flat on a plate with some sandpaper- check the small end
reassemble and do the torque and retorque
resize the big end
big end determined by crank size
I do them on the tight side if no crank- and supply the number to the grinder
I can always open them up but hard to make them smaller
 
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