Are aluminum rods a good idea to be used on a blown BBC? Or are they mainly for large nitrous doses?

 

They are a good idea for both blown and nitrous apps. They have a "cushioning" effect. But they need to be replaced at regular intervals b/c they don't have the fatigue strength of steel. If you're building a race only motor though, they are a good idea. You should also watch clearances more too b/c of expansion of the rod, and also b/c Al rods are much "fatter" size wise.

 

Certain aluminum rods are very reliable and do not need the constant replacement like others... At least from what the manufacturer tells me..

Check this out...

Ed

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Ultimate Aluminum Connecting Rod!

Aluminum Ceramic Composite Structure
Higher tensile, torsional, shear and bending strength.
Chemically inert, will not corrode.
Can be used with ANY type of fuel or lubricant.
70 Rc outer surface.

Infused Fluoropolymer Matrix
Gives a higher natural lubricity.
Allows tighter pin clearance.
Will NOT gall.
Non-wetting to reduce windage.
Provides improved protection against oil failures.
Allows tighter rod side clearances.

Splayed Rod Bolts
Provides dramatically increased cap stability.
Allows shorter, lighter rod bolts.
A1 Pro Stock Quality Bolts are standard.
Improved clearance on camshaft, block and oil pan.

Notable Features:
Deep Cryogenically Tempered
445 gram weight for a 6.00” small block type of rod.
3.480” to 9.120” Lengths Available
Increments of .005” Available

Prices start at $1000 per set

“UltraLite” Series for 500-1000 HP applications
“HD” Series for 1000-2500 HP applications
“PRO” Series for 2500+ applications
More Applications Coming Soon!!!

 

Who's making these rods? Do you have any pic's? I would like to check these out.

Thanks,
Chris Gelineau
Diamond Pistons

 

How do I post a pic???

I'm a computer dweeb...

Ed

 

Chris, the rods are made by Machine and Design. Kirk's website is www.machineanddesign.com. He has done a set of LS1's for a customer, I don't know what the weight ended up being. Like I posted before The Dept. of Energy has done the cycle testing and now the OEMS are knocking on his door. How about having an aluminum rod engine that will take a beating and run 100K.

Chris Straub
Stef's Performance Products

 

Posting pic's.....you got me there. I am no good at that either. I would be interested in learning more about these rods. I do a fair amount of aluminum rods engines and if these are as good as you say they are then that has me interested.

Thanks,
Chris

 

Chris, Kirks number is 423 913 2210, he is orignally from Michigan. Tell him I told you to call, he won't bust your chops for it.

Chris

 

No problem. I will try and call him today. Sounds very interesting, aluminum rods that will last that long.

Chris

 

Chris,

A "big" pic on my site under the "NEW PRODUCTS" section...

As you will be able to tell, I am not a good web designer and maintainence person...

Ed

 

I didn't find any pics on the site that I could post here.

Here is a basic "how-to" about posting pics. Lets say there is a pic on a website you want to post somewhere. To put it on here for instance. Right click on the picture. You'll get a menu bar go down to properties. Click on properities. On the 3rd line down it will say Address (URL): and it will have an address like this

https://ls1tech.com/forums/images/sm...ech/gr_sad.gif

At that point, you simply put your cursor over hold down the mouse button that and highlight the entire line. You can then let go of the mouse, and hold down the CTRL key and the letter V. That is the "shortcut" to copy it. Or, you can right click on the highlighted text and the box will come up with the option to copy. You can click on copy with your mouse and it will copy the address of the picture you want to post.

Now, to make them show up in your message you can either hit the little yellow icon right over the top of this message. It will come up with a dialog box which will ask you to type in the address of the picture. You can right click on that and hit paste, this will fill everything in, and the picture will be in your post.

Now, the other option is to simply paste the text right into the message by either right clicking and hitting paste. If you want the picture to show up you need a "tag" in front of the picture. The tag will have the word IMG in front of it. You need to put [] aroud the word. So to post a pic of thes sad smile next to us.

[img]https://ls1tech.com/forums/images/smilies/LS1Tech/gr_sad.gif [/im g]
If you remove the space at the end of the / img tag, it will show up as a pic.

To upload picture from you computer simply go down to the attach file below us. After you write your message and click on manage attachments. You'll get a box with a browse and upload button. Browse and find the picture on your local hard drive on your pc (Like if you downloaded some pics from a digital camera). Once you slect the file you hit the upload button on the right side of the box. That will upload the file. You can then hit submit reply.

Hope this helps....

Thanks for the good info on the rods.

 

They look great. Looks like they have a coating on them. Probably a oil shedding coating, I would guess.

Chris

BTW, who's pure street pistons and factory stock pistons are you using? You know we have a ultra light ford piston for those classes!!

 

oops...

Well...

CP pistons....

PM coming.....

Jarrod... I'll try that... but if the site crashes... it's your fault...

Ed

 

No coating Chris, in the transformation process the aluminum changes color. Note when Kirk took his engine apart for bearings and rings, he noted no. 2 rod was hitting the cam. The rod showed a ghost like mark, but the cam was indented. So an aluminum rod dented a billet camshaft.

Chris

 

Here are the pics... And the site didn't crash...

 

Well that sounds pretty strong then!!

 

He made that word up.

 

very interesting.. i would like to see more builders give the thumbs up on these.

 

Looks interesting, curious though as to what proof's these rods from the issues that have kept normal Al rods out of street motors? Is it the alloy (about all I can think of that could do it) - and if so, any more information on it?

 

I had been looking to make a BBC go 10.50 in a 3000 pound car and maybe eventually 10.00 flat. I saw that the aluminum rods offered in the jegs catalog were about 40 bucks cheaper than the forged steel ones, and wondered if it was a viable option to use the aluminum rods.