LS1TECH - Camaro and Firebird Forum Discussion

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-   -   Carbon Fiber Connecting Rods (https://ls1tech.com/forums/general-lsx-automobile-discussion/1909791-carbon-fiber-connecting-rods.html)

CFMTEF 11-05-2018 02:05 PM

Carbon Fiber Connecting Rods
 
Carbon fiber rods that weigh 250 grams yielding a bob weight of about 1075 grams: Would these products be of interest to anybody?

Bazman 11-05-2018 03:06 PM

That's super light. What durability testing has been done on them to date?

Che70velle 11-05-2018 04:37 PM

In the late 70’s, a great friend and mentor of mine was running the Daytona 500. He was midpack behind Cale Yarborough, when Cale blew up. After the race, he was talking to Cale, and asked what broke. Cale said “we broke the rods”. My friend, who is an engine builder, was intrigued and asked “rods?” with an S. Cale said “yeah, we were trying carbon fiber connecting rods, and they didn’t work.”
Of course this was 40 years ago, and perhaps carbon tech has evolved. I’m just sharing an honest real life example of CF rods failing.

CFMTEF 11-06-2018 05:08 AM

None; hoping soon to start developing them and am curious as to how many folks may be interested.

Thanks,

Timothy

Kfxguy 11-06-2018 08:55 AM

Fellas, if carbon were to work in this application, one major advantage would be if it were to break, it kinda of shatters so it will likely not damage the rest of the engine. Think of them as a fuse. they would not bend either. This would really be cool if the price wasnt absurd. I'll be a tester in my turbo 5.3 if you want to send me some. i'll put them through their paces.

Kfxguy 11-06-2018 08:59 AM

Can you post some pics?

KCS 11-08-2018 02:22 PM

Too late bud. Carbon Fiber rods are already out and are competitively priced at just $18,000 a set.

sjsingle1 11-08-2018 03:15 PM

that all ? saving up my pennys......

Che70velle 11-08-2018 04:21 PM


Originally Posted by KCS (Post 19998972)
Too late bud. Carbon Fiber rods are already out and are competitively priced at just $18,000 a set.

Well there you go....

ddnspider 11-08-2018 04:53 PM


Originally Posted by Kfxguy (Post 19997796)
Fellas, if carbon were to work in this application, one major advantage would be if it were to break, it kinda of shatters so it will likely not damage the rest of the engine. Think of them as a fuse. they would not bend either. This would really be cool if the price wasnt absurd. I'll be a tester in my turbo 5.3 if you want to send me some. i'll put them through their paces.

Disagree unless they have carbon fiber pistons lol. If the rod is the fuse and let's go it means the piston will be free to hit the head or crank and do more damage.

Jenson 11-09-2018 11:52 AM


Originally Posted by KCS (Post 19998972)
competitively priced at just $18,000 a set.

LMAO!!! Technically they should not cost much more than a good set of billet Steel rods. You can make a "forging" from a clamshell tool that just needs some final machining (hopefully you can make them good enough to just need honing) after de'mold. Are you making them in a clave or a press?


KCS 11-11-2018 09:22 AM


Originally Posted by Jenson (Post 19999382)
LMAO!!! Technically they should not cost much more than a good set of billet Steel rods. You can make a "forging" from a clamshell tool that just needs some final machining (hopefully you can make them good enough to just need honing) after de'mold. Are you making them in a clave or a press?

I don’t make them.

Krom 11-11-2018 09:52 AM

hopefully this doesn't get dinged as a non sponsor link, but here is some info:

https://www.naimocomposites.com/our-product

https://www.lsxmag.com/tech-stories/...nnecting-rods/

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/l...o-composites#/

99 Black Bird T/A 11-11-2018 01:53 PM

CF rods would be very nice but the price point would have to be $1,500 or less for a set for a lot of us.

The crowd funding is closed for Naimo but it's an interesting read.

Reminds of when no one made long tube headers for swapping an LS1 into a 3rd Gen fbody. A dozen of us donated $200 each to a local shop that's business focus was 3rdGen f-body's ​​​​​to fab up a set and do a production run of 12 sets. The $200 would count towards purchase of a set of headers. About 18 months later Stainless Steel Works had the prototype set completed and was ready for production. Of course the shop was flirting with bankruptcy at this point and couldn't pay SSW to make the headers. The shop owner was full of lame excuses to the point I called SSW myself to find out the reason for the delays.

​​​​​​The shop owner was at a lose for words and held his head low at various car shows. Soon shop was out of business and thankfully Hawk's Motorsports stepped up and acquired the swap header rights / design. Hawk's got the product to market and it sold well. Of course none of the original dozen got headers or their $200 back from the other shop.

I suspect the route to crowd funded carbon fiber connecting rods might be more difficult than getting a set of LT/mid length LS swap headers created way back in the early 2000's.

CFMTEF 11-12-2018 07:10 AM

They'll be made in a press with unidirectional tape, laid up by hand and the goal is to sell them for less than titanium sets.

Timothy

Jenson 11-12-2018 11:58 AM


Originally Posted by KCS (Post 20000074)

I don’t make them.

Yes I know, just a great statement you made!

OP, my only concern with UD would be complete destruction from anything that comes along and hits them. 3K would only be marginally better. No plans to add some kevlar layers? What resin system will you use? Fairly high oil operating temps plus the oil itself could degrade it over time. Just curious

Kfxguy 11-12-2018 12:44 PM


Originally Posted by ddnspider (Post 19999021)
Disagree unless they have carbon fiber pistons lol. If the rod is the fuse and let's go it means the piston will be free to hit the head or crank and do more damage.

well without getting into great detail about every possible situation that could arise in an engine failure, if it just so happens where the piston is shot upwards into the head, maybe the damage to the head would be minimal and the block may not be harmed because it won’t have a metal rod beating against the block. Just my theory. I could be right. Or I could be wrong. Sounds good in my mind anyways:)

KCS 11-15-2018 02:10 PM

As seen at SEMA 2018:
http://www.speedhunters.com/2018/11/...arbon-conrods/

bttlfed lss10 11-15-2018 02:25 PM

I would be curious to see how they would do compared to an aluminum rod, id be willing to try some myself if the price was competitive with other high end off the shelf connecting rods.

Kfxguy 11-15-2018 02:51 PM



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