i am wanting to get better rods for my 406 build up, and since i am going to get new pistons, i thought about getting the SCAT forged I beam rods, 5.7 or 6.0. they are $250-300 depending if you get cap screws or not. how much clearence problems will I have? in JEGS it says a 400 piston with a 6.0 rod requires alot of clearancing, I am going to use KB silvo lite pistons. would there be less problems with a 5.7 rod, and would it help to use cap screw rods instead of a stock setup for more clearance? thanks for any info.

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Wide Open Till You See God...Then Brake

 

In most cases, an I beam rod (regardless of capscrew or nut/bolt or rod length) will require mods for clearancing. The crower is the only I beam I know of that will work out of the box. You local machine shop normally will know how much to take off. It requires about a .1 inch cut at about a 45 degree angle. They will do it for about 50bucks.

You can also get a reduced basecircle cam that can accomplish the same end result. My reduced BC cam was an extra 60 bucks over the normal price. Most are closeer to 20bucks extra.

 

there is something else besides rod clearance to look at there. if your driving it on the street alot, the 5.7 will be the way to go. the 6 inch rod moves the pin height up into the oil ring area and with miles can cause problems. it doesn't always, but can. aside from that clearancing, any shop can do for you fairly cheap and the 6 inch is the way to go.

 

I am pretty sure that scat rods are made in china or something. Makes me sort of uneasy.

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1991 Firebird
350 L98 (was a 305 TBI),T-5,Edelbrock TES and cat back,Accel manifold
NOS,subframes,jegster torque arm,MSD Digital 6
AFPR,Lakewood lcas
Hurst linelock,SLP cam (206 212 .480 .486),relocated battery,cold air,Hypertech chip,centerforce df,clutch
poly bushings and mounts
AFR 190s
Harland sharp 1.5 rockers
autopower rollbar

12.33 @ 114.83 juiced uncorrected

13.510 @ 102 non juiced uncorrected

 

A lot of rods are made overseas. Quality Steel can be found anywhere. I have a set of the 4340 scat capscrew rods and they are definately worth the money.

For light weight and good qualitry, the only thing that compares is spending more than twice as much for something like a oliver or crower.

 

the scat products are good stuff, im putting togeather a 400 myself and looking at all the rods, i've talked with scat and eagle and other engine builders, all agree if its a mostly power engine the 6" rods are the only way to go and they say it puts much less strain on the pistons at the high and low points and gives it a all around better running engine, im going with the eagle h-beams as they say they will fit in no problems and im spaying the engine so need something to handle it, but a 5.7 i-beam and hyperutectic pistons sound like it would be perfect for your setup.

 

The manufacturing process has more to do with the rod itself than the steel does. What is the best rod (import or not) for around 300 bucks?

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1991 Firebird
350 L98 (was a 305 TBI),T-5,Edelbrock TES and cat back,Accel manifold
NOS,subframes,jegster torque arm,MSD Digital 6
AFPR,Lakewood lcas
Hurst linelock,SLP cam (206 212 .480 .486),relocated battery,cold air,Hypertech chip,centerforce df,clutch
poly bushings and mounts
AFR 190s
Harland sharp 1.5 rockers
autopower rollbar

12.33 @ 114.83 juiced uncorrected

13.510 @ 102 non juiced uncorrected

 

probably these for an I beam
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cg...item=597164421

but these arn't too bad
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cg...item=597265226

and these for an H beam

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cg...item=597166709