LilJayV10

iTrader: (5)

i posted this same question on the aftermarket board, but thought some people on here could help too, i dont know if everyone crusies all the boards or not.

well, i am gonna order rods this week for my 400. I decided to go with 5.7, everything i have heard or read says these are alot better than the 5.56 rods. i thought about the 6.0 rods, but I have heard there is alot of clearance issues. My first question is, how much clearancing is nessicary for the 5.7 rods, does it hit the block? the cam? if so on the cam, where should i grind? My buddy who works in a machine shop or my boss will help me put the engine together, but I want to get all the info I can on the right way to do this. The guy that works at the maching shop and I put a 335 stroker in camaro, there where all sorts of clearancing. but his hap-hazard ways of grinding rod bolts made me nervous, especially when he ground on a bolt down so far, it pulled through the rod when he tourqed it, i am surpised the thing is still together. now you can understand why I am asking these questions. my next question is this, what rods to get? I was looking at the SCAT 4340 rods one because of price 300bucks and because they where cap screw rods, which i have read there's less clearance issues. Then my dad showed me on EBAY motors(see my other post)and there is a distributer selling new EAGLE rods for a darn good price. There are 5140 I beam rods for 200, but arent cap screw rods, then there are 4340 h beam rods for 275, some SIR rods for 215. My question is this, what in the heck do i need? I will hope to have 375-400hp with the heads i have now, and 460+ with AFR's later down the road. Maybe, maybe, i mean maybe a 125 shot of juice, maybe. i wont be spinning more than 5800rpms. I want to build the short block once, and build it right, swapping cams/heads/intake whatever is easy, re doing the short block isnt. I thought about the 5140 rods for 200 cause of the price, and it says they are good for 550+hp engines, dont know if this is the truth of not. then with the 100 i am saving, will go towards balancing or something. Is it worth going with the h beam rods? or will I really need them? i apologize this is so long, I am finally ready to order parts, and I just want to make sure I get the right stuff. thanks so much for any replys.

LilJayV10

iTrader: (5)

anyone?

LilJayV10

iTrader: (5)

i talked to the guy at the machine shop this evening and was talking about what rods and such. he said that you shouldnt run a forged rod on a cast crank because the crank will break because the rods wont flex and that I would have to go with a steel crank. He also said that the engine wouldnt balance out right with a cast crank and forged rods. Is this true, I think this guy knows somethings, but I question him alot. I just dont want to take someones word at something and not investigate it thoroughly. I am going to try and find a more performance shop later this week to talk to and maybe call EAGLE. Thanks for anymore input. Jason

cac91

Hate to tell your machine shop this, but all stock chevy rods are forged.

LilJayV10

iTrader: (5)

i thought they where just cast

jwscab

all chevy rods are forged steel. otherwise, you would never see stock rods being taken to 6000rpm, cast rods would be way too weak, that is the biggest problem with cadillac 500 ci motors, they came with cast rods. To answer your question, I have a 400 with 5.7 rods, that I got as an assembly. it looks like someone took a small amount of material from the topside rod bolts and a bit from the rod itself. I would say that under most circumstamces, that is all you would need, this engine had a mechanical cam with over .540 lift at the time, and they only took a bit from that side(cam side) otherwise, it looks like they fit fine. The biggest problem will be putting the engine together, spining it around, then taking the rods back out and grinding them to clear, it takes awhile. hope that helps.