Connecting Rod Questions
 

Please tolerate my stupidity, I have a lot of questions lol.

Long story short, I bought LT1_8u's Trickflow 21* heads. I plan on sending them out to Lloyd Elliot at some point and seeing what he can do with them to better accommodate my build. I want to put them on a 383. I'm hoping he can open up the runners to 200-205cc's. I plan on making the car mainly a track car with minimal street time and topping the build with a 150-200 shot of nitrous.

My brother wants to get me connecting rods for the motor I'm piecing together as a Christmas present. I've been reading a lot trying to get information to do it all the right way the first time.

My questions:
6" H-beam or 6" I-beam rods? If H-Beam, will the machine shop have any problems making them fit?
My options seem to rather be 3/8" ARP 2000 rod bolts or 7/16" ARP 8740 rod bolts; I've read the 2000s are stronger, but I can't seem to get them on a 7/16" diameter bolt without spending an extra $200.


Out of the 3 rod choices which one is ideal for my situation? Or can I get a link to a better one in the same price range?
http://www.ohiocrank.com/hbeam_rods.html Part # H6000
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SCA-2ICR60002000/
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SCA-26000716/

Compstar 6 inch i beams.

^ :stupid: ^

Do they make a 6" I-beam? I looked for a while and only found h-beams.

Eh I can get my brother to half that with me but it's still a lot of money lol. Probably my best bet though, huh?

Ya. The 3/8ths scat's have a 2.000 inch rod journal by the way.

Oh I didn't notice that.

I might but myself a New Year's gift. Any suggestion on a crank? I was looking at one from Ohio Crank or the Lunati Sledgehammer but I'm open to suggestions. You guys know better anyway. (Please can we keep this one a little cheaper than the rods though lol).

I want my bottom end parts to be ordered by February so I can send the motor to the shop.

Well I would say compstar but they stopped making the 1 piece rms cranks. The lunati and ohio cranks are both good pieces. No personal experience with them but I wouldn't hesitate to get one.

Sledgehammer crank is no longer made FYI

Is the ohio crank 4340 forging for $495 any good? or the promax (assuming its 1 piece rms) for $570?

I have no idea what kind of build this is, but if you are trying to do it cheaply, re use the stock crank.

Doing a 383, plan on having LE port my trickflow 21* heads to whatever he thinks is best (probably a 200+cc runner if he can). Mainly track car with minimal street time (if any). Oh and a 200 or 250 shot in the future after the rest of the drivetrain and suspension is done.

I'm in no rush to have it together. I'd rather do it right the first time but at the same time I don't think I need to spend a thousand bucks on a crank.

If ur going to spray that much, I wouldn't cheap out on the crank. Callies compstar (if you can find one) and dragonslayer are both good choices. My dad has a lunati crank in his sbc in his vette and it had held up to 7k rpm since 03

I really don't see the purpose of using all those fancy top dollar rods and cranks when in the end you're throwing them into a stock block. I'd personally buy both Scat rods and crank. I've been beating the crap out of my cast steel scat crank and 6" I-beams for years without failure and according to those ET-to-HP calculators I'm making just shy of 700HP at the crank.

Becuase there is no other block alternative.

This.

Although, to be fair, you COULD buy a GM LTX perf block if you can find one and afford it.

Or, could perform a sin and wander into LSX land lol.

Well if he already has rods and a crank, a aftermarket dart SBC block would be better :mrgreen:

I'm saying why buy a rotating assembly that is stronger than the block it's going into? There is really no point in wasting your money when at any moment the block could fail and destroy all the fancy crap inside it.

A "cheap" Scat Forged crank and I-beams will be as reliable as the block they're in and cost waaaaaay less.

Then I guess people like Tony Shepard are stupid for stuffing their weak stock block with expensive parts and running 8s then ;)

Ok, so does the OP intend on filling his block with cement and throwing some splayed billet main caps in there as well cause I bet not a single LT1 guy running in the 8's has a factory unaltered block and if they do they are being very ballsy.

Factory unaltered as in...?

Yes the very fast guys run filled blocks, but a lot do not, and splayed mains are just a safe insurance when you are stuck with a 2 bolt main block.

Dunno why this is a hard concept for you.

I understand what he is saying. 99% of the street/strip cars do not have filler in them. The block is the weak link, even if I used a crappy aftermarket forged crank.

No need to argue. Figured out what I'm doing. Stock crank, h-beam rods, mahle pistons and just doing a 355 with a 150 shot. (Oh and I guess I'm lucky; I have a 4 bolt block).