well, i know that the dot on the top of the piston has to face the front of the engine

i also marked each of my rods and rod caps (1-8)

is there anything else to it? does the rod have to face a certain way?

thanx

 

the big ends of the rods have a small chamfer(sp?) on one side and a bigger chamfer on the other. the large chamfer goes towards the counterweights.

 

thanx

 

Make extra sure the rod caps do not get mixed up.

 

yeah i know

i marked them with a number punch set

 

Mark main caps if the crank is coming out.

A piece of paper that came with my Eagle rods said not to stamp the rods. Not sure why.. Maybe it causes stress points??

 

I stamp the rod caps of each rod 1-8 and ALWAYS keep the rod cap with it's respective rod- never interchange them0 they aren't Tinker Toys. I also stamp the main caps 1-4 (5 is pretty obvious where it goes- at the back). The main caps come stamped from the factory with an arrow that ALWAYS points towards the front of the engine so you don't get them on backwards. So all you have to do is mark them 1-4 (again, 5 is obvious where it goes- at the back).

Rods only go in one direction but it's easy to know which way it goes even if you lose track of which way points forward: the "notch" that the rod bearing clips into on the inside of the rod ALWAYS points toward the OUTSIDE of the block on that bank if cylinders. 1,3,5,7 the notch on the rod points towards the driver's side of the block. 2,4,6,8 the notch points towards the passenger side of the block (make sure you keep things reversed in your brain if you are looing at the engine on a stand upside-down). Or stated another way- the rod bearing notches ALWAYS point toward the outside of the block for whatever side of the engien they are installed on. Make sense?

What if you screw up the rod cap and don't know which way to put it on the rod? Easy. The "notch" that holds the rod cap bearing shell is ALWAYS on the same side as the rod's notch is. The notches on the rod and the rod cap are ALWAYS on the same side- not opposite eachother.

There's a LOT of info in this post so print it out if you have to- so you always have a reference. This info is ALWAYS true on a small block Chevy.

And I NEVER say ALWAYS, but I'm saying it here.

 

did that already

not sure why eagle said not to

this is the way i learned to do it...........

i completely understand not to mix up the caps and rods

when each rod is cast, it is cast as one piece, then the cap is "cut" off of it, thats why its important not to interchange them, because it will throw off measurements and concentricity of the assembly