Got the rod bolts done tonight!!! I'm doing a cam/headers/intake/rod bolt swap. Over the hump now, just about everything from here on out is re-assembly!

Installed the ARP Pro series bolts. Anyone who is considering this, here's a brief guide...

I'm doing ALOT of things all at once here, so alot of accessories and stuff were already out of the way.

I already had the car on jack stands. Used an engine hoist to suspend the motor and put a 2x4 under the k-member with a jack holding it there. Unbolted a bolt form the steering column so it could slide off, the 2 motor mount bolts (alternator and a/c pump need unbolted and moved out of the way for the motor mount bolts to come out, thanks Justin), 4 shock bolts, 4 sway bar bolts, plus the extra bonus bolts on the driver side of the sway bar that hold a bracket there, and the 6 k-member bolts. Dropped the k-member down slowly. Just a few inches to allow enough room to get the oil pan off. Watch your lines and hoses and make sure you don't drop the k-member down too far. Then unbolted the 10mm bolts from the oil pan and the 2 bolts on the back that attach to the tranny, and the plastic pieces where the tranny and oilpan meet. Got the oil pan out of the way, unbolted the oil tube and windage tray. Now there's access to the rod bolts. One at a time, I used an 11mm socket to take them out, got the new bolt, applied the ARP assembly lube, then torqued them down to the recommended 40 ft/lbs and backed them out and re-torqued 3 times, as recommended, to get the stretch. You will need a 12 point, 10mm socket for the ARP bolts. ***Very important, take out and reinstall just one bolt at a time to keep the bearing from shifting.*** I had a buddy turn the crank over so I could get at the bolts on each journal when needed (Thanks Tyler). Then reinstall everything and go get an alignment done.

As for the tq specs, I've seen different people mention different specs. I used 40 ft/lbs as recommended in the ARP Pro Series bolt instructions. I've seen other use 45 ft/lbs. Don't know if 5 ft/lbs matters, but I went with the recommendation on the bolts I bought. I don't know if the other ARP bolts (the ARP "High Performance Series") use a different tq spec than the Pro Series or what.

Thanks to felton316 for the info on this install!!! I'm tired, so if I forgot anything, just add it or let me know. Thanks.

Hope this helps someone.

 

did you clean out the threads on the rids before you did it? Any oc-tite stuff on there? I will be doing that soon and want more info.

 

Didn't clean out the threads, the bolts went in smooth with no problems. No loctite. If these need to be done, I haven't seen them written anywhere and it wasn't written in the ARP instructions, but I can still go back and redo either or both. Anyone else know? I searched for days on this stuff and PM'd felton for most the info I got. Not much info out there on this, that's why I wanted to write this little guide up.

 

great info here . . . I want to do this asap . What did you pay for the bolts ??

 

gotta do that down the road also for this cam.

 

good info. thanks

 

The Pro Series bolts are around $70-75. The high performance series are a little cheaper. But for just a few bucks more, I recommend going with the Pro series, they have a higher tensile strength. Good luck to the rest of you guys, the hardest part was the k-member.

***Added to my original post, you will have to get an alignment done after dropping the k-member and bolting it back up.***

Anything else that should be done and was not mentioned, please post up for others future reference.

 

Hmmm, so a rod bolt swap should be cake on a C5 then, right? I haven't taken a close look but I don't believe you need to remove anything to get to the oil pan.

 

Never seen the bottom of a C5, but if the oil pan is easy to get to, then it should be a lot easier than this.

 

so buy installing new rod bolts, is it safe to rev yr engine to 7k rpms?? or will other problems arise?

 

You're much safer with good (ARP) rod bolts.

 

Glad to hear you got it done with no problems. I felt so much better (mentally) after swapping mine out.

 

Makes me want to change the bolts and get the trex cam. Then set the limiter at 7200.

 

Realistically, how high can you rev a stock LS6 with an ARP rod bolt change. And I mean consistantly.

 

I got to say I think this is a big mistake. I know for a fact if you measure clearances after torquing down GM bolts and ARP bolts on a big block you can measure over .002" different clearance. Im sure you changed the oil pump, rockers, pushrods and springs before revving higher too.
I hope it works out for you.

 

BBC and SBCs dont use rods like these. They use different style bolts because the rods arent fracture split. In an LS1, the rod caps are not located by the bolts, but rather lined up by the fracture. As for installing ARP mains like this...I wouldn't.

 

I plan to shift at 7000 and set the limiter at 7200. I might shift at 7200 a few times to see if that improves my times at all. But I'm thinking 7000 is as high as I want to take it. Don't know if the LS6 will be different from LS1 for this.

 

What are friends for.. Just remember someday I am going to come to you for a favor...prolly pretty soon if I ever get the old TA together, then it's ls1 time!

 

I know this has been dones several times without any incident by people on this board.

Yeah, definitely have the oil pump (ported LS6), rockers (Thunder Racing recommended stock rockers over anything else for this cam and 7000 rpm, said they are more stable at that rpm than current aftermarket offerings), pushrods (Thunder Racing heat treated chrome moly) and springs (Patriot Golds). Also got a Rollmaster heat treated adjustable double roller timing set and a Raptor shift light, along with a ton of other bolt-ons.

 

Well again, my opinion is stock rockers are junk at even stock rpm..dont agree with thunder.

Hope it works out for you..ive seen a couple people do it...I would never..just a band aid..and not good "mechanics"
Have you dynoed to see where your power falls off?