I've given up using stock style rods on my 383 project.
The cam I'm running is going to force me to use H-beam style rods.

I would like to use the pistons and crank I already have from the Powerhouse kit.

The problems are:
1. I haven't been able to find H-beam rods that will allow for a pressed fit wrist pin. (gotta buy new pistons too?? grrrrr)

2. The H-beam rods (Eagles) weigh 650 grams. My stock rods weighed 592 grams.

Does anyone know of any H-beam rods that allow for a pressed -fit wrist pin?

How difficult/expensive will it be to re-balance using rods that weigh ~58 grams more than what it was originally balanced with?
(Externally balanced crank)

Any other problems using H-beam rods and a cast crank??

Anyone know the weight of a Crowler H-beam rod (5.7")?

Anyone familiar with CAT (Cal Auto Transpeed) H-beam rods?

Thx..

 

it's been a while but are you sure the factory rods don't weight in more in the 730 gram range? maybe i'm confused again on this. if you decide to rebalance the rotating assembly, and i would, you're going to be paying for it all over again. i wouldn't even be looking for pressed pins or pistons to use them. most likely by the time you step up to h or i beam rods they're all going to be bushed for floating pins.

 

My old combo of cut-down 400 crank and 5.7 pink rods with TRW's didn't need clearancing at all and I used a off the shelf cam.

You don't have to use h-beams. There are 4340 I-beams if you want 4340 rods.

 

I used scat stroker I-beams with no problems http://www.flatlanderracing.com/scatibeam_popup.html from http://www.flatlanderracing.com/index.html

 

i used the scat 4340 i beam rods part 1cr25700p or somthing like that and talk about a pain.....

i had to order a small base circle cam and those damn things still had to be grinded to clear......... and they used the bolt screw not the stud/nut......

i would take your rods to a machine shop and have them weight matched to the old ones....... that way you stay in balance....

a few grams i don't think will hurt, i mean come on, factory gm motors aren't going to be right on like a good balanced one will....
so if your off a few grams i think you will be fine... maybe i'm wrong....

 

Ede: I weighed the rods using a sensitive postage scale (has .05 oz resolution), but have no way of knowing it's absolute accuracy.
The rods sent to me from Powerhouse are supposed to be reconditioned factory rods with ARP bolts. They weighed 1lb 4.90 ozs. using my scale. I converted that to grams and got 592 grams. Maybe something went wrong with the SAE-metric conv..

I was concerned that heavy metal ($$$) would be needed to re-balance using the heavier rods.

Looks like new pistons will be needed afterall. Bummer...


89gta383,e-man:
The I beam rods I've seen look a lot like the factory rods. I figured I would have the same issue since they use bolts and nuts just like the factory rods.
The Eagle advertisement said their H-beams would clear a 3.80" stroke crank.
The I-beams didn't mention any stroker eng/cam clearance benefits.

How much valve lift are you guys running?

I using a LPE cam with .530 and .560 lift (w/ 1.6 rockers). The factory rods (actually Powerhouse grinds them a little) cleared the cam, but I didn't have the .050" clearance I needed. By the time I had the rods clearing, I had removed a good bit of the rod bolt head. When I torqued them to 65 ft lbs (recieved bad info on the torque) the bolt shank and head started to seperate. After seeing this, I'm useasy abt grinding on the bolt heads at all.


Badgta:
I wasn't aware the Scat I-beams were avaliable with the "nut-less" configuration. I'll have to look into that.

Most of the rod sets I've seen mention the rods weigh within 1-2 grams of each other, so I'm thinking 50+ grams would be a problem in relation to the crank counterweights. Don't know for sure. I'll be calling up my machinest tomorrow and see what he thinks abt the increased weight of the H-beam rods.

 

I'm running the SCAT I-beams as well. Had to clearance them just a little bit. Those combined with SRP 18cc dish pistons gave me a real light bob weight. My rods are 6" as well.