I was thinking of adding some insurance to my stock LQ4 bottom end with some Katech rod bolts. Simple bolt in and says no need to resize the rods. Seems very popular over at LS1tech. Thoughts?

 

Well the correct way to do rod bolts is to resize the rod for them to allow for stretch but some guys have put them in with the motor in the car and have done ok.

My buddy did this with his 4.8L LSx turbo setup. He did one bolt at a time, torqued it 3 times before he left it in the rod. Then did the other side the same way. Torqued it 3 times in and out before leaving it in the rod.

That motor ran a single T88 turbo to 7500rpm peak shift point and made 700whp on stock bottom end other than the katech rod bolts....

So they can work

 

don't see how a katech being torqued at a higher ft/lb than an ARP bolt says they don't need to resize but yet ARP calls for it. I've done probably 10 ls based motors now with ARP rod bolts with no issues just following the directions and doing one bolt at a time.

 

You cant resize LS1 rods they are a cracked cap design which is also why you can swap out the rod bolts without issues because the cap and rod are a unique fit and always positively located. Anyways the Katech rod bolts are the highest tensile rated bolt out there. One of the die hard members on tech sourced out their supplier and it was one of the more exotic crank/rod/fastener places I just cant recall right now. I did the Katech bolts in my LS1 and buzzed it to 7K pretty much daily for three years with nary a blip. Another friend did ARP's in his LQ4 and so far so good. Hes at 644 rwhp too

 

Well I picked a set of the bolts up new but in the classifieds over on LS1Tech. Should be an easy install with the engine out of the car!

 

Yeah its easy just be sure to have a good quality torque wrench and burnish them a couple times first with some lube on the threads. Katech has how to info on their website concerning this iirc