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NOOB time..Rod bolts and mains

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Old Mar 9, 2007 | 09:03 PM
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Default NOOB time..Rod bolts and mains

Okay while dropping the K member and having my car up on some tall jack stands (taking place shortly) is there anything that should make it impossible or impractical to change out my rod bolts and main bearings by dropping the oil pan from under the car? let me know if I am a lunatic or just otherwise stupid for dreaming this up.....thanks!
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Old Mar 9, 2007 | 09:47 PM
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im also interested about this as i have the same project coming up.. I believe you have to take the front motor plate off to get the oil pump off to take off windage tray..thats what i was told.. other than that its one bolt at a time and make sure you stretch/torque the bolts properly.
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Old Mar 9, 2007 | 10:42 PM
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Interested too. I'm thinking that getting the old rod bolts out and the new ones into place will be tuff. Anyone?
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Old Mar 9, 2007 | 11:42 PM
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Are you changing the bearings on the rods or bearings where the crank meets the block? Also, why are you changing out the bearings?
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Old Mar 9, 2007 | 11:43 PM
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while i have no idea on an ls1 i know you can do a complete in chassis main bearing swap on a diesel motor. i dont see why it would be any different for this motor.
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Old Mar 10, 2007 | 04:27 AM
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If you replace the rod bearings and bolts, you'd need to get the rotating assembly balanced. You might be able to get away with just replacing the rod bolts, but make sure you go with Katech's, and make sure you REMOVE the ferrules from the rods before installing new rod bolts.
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Old Mar 10, 2007 | 06:32 AM
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Originally Posted by baldurann
If you replace the rod bearings and bolts, you'd need to get the rotating assembly balanced. You might be able to get away with just replacing the rod bolts, but make sure you go with Katech's, and make sure you REMOVE the ferrules from the rods before installing new rod bolts.

get it balanced?? i've never heard of that before ... i dont have katech's i picked up the top of the line arp
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Old Mar 10, 2007 | 12:45 PM
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Can I do both? I was just wanting to change the main bearings and doing the ARP bolts including the rod bolts,to try to reduce posssibility of anything getting a little loose and causing a bearing to spin....I have a feeling I'm missing some part of the working theory here and this might not be a smart thing to try. Is there going to be a strength gain here or an actual decrease in the likely hood of loosing a bearing?
Originally Posted by Mike94ZLT1
Are you changing the bearings on the rods or bearings where the crank meets the block? Also, why are you changing out the bearings?
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Old Mar 10, 2007 | 01:18 PM
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No doing the bearings would be a giant pain in the ***. You would have to plasitgauge everything, and if the motor is still in the car forget it. And as far as the ARP bolts go, send em back and get the Katechs. You need to have the rod end resized with the ARP bolts, the Katechs are just as good and are direct replacements. I have Katechs in mine and its been north of 7 plenty times with no issues.
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Old Mar 10, 2007 | 02:00 PM
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Thinking of doing this as well. Going with a Futral F10, mild ported LS6 heads, Pacesetters, LS6 intake, pushrods, oil pump, blah blah blah, and a TNT F1 kit. I have heard the rod bolts can be done while dropping the pan, hell, I am going to have to drop it anyway for the cam and oil pump install.
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Old Mar 10, 2007 | 04:05 PM
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Originally Posted by Mike94ZLT1
No doing the bearings would be a giant pain in the ***. You would have to plasitgauge everything, and if the motor is still in the car forget it. And as far as the ARP bolts go, send em back and get the Katechs. You need to have the rod end resized with the ARP bolts, the Katechs are just as good and are direct replacements. I have Katechs in mine and its been north of 7 plenty times with no issues.
No you don't. The ARPs will be fine.

Ben T.
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Old Mar 10, 2007 | 07:40 PM
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Katech or ARP are fine. I have ARP.
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Old Mar 10, 2007 | 10:58 PM
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Originally Posted by Studytime
No you don't. The ARPs will be fine.

Ben T.

Yes, you do have to plastigauge if you are changing bearings...
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Old Mar 10, 2007 | 11:05 PM
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Well, a dial-bore gauge would be better anyway, but I was actually referring to what you said about you have to get the rods resized. You no more have to do this with the ARPs than you would with the Katech bolts. The important thing is that we are using a capscrew rod bolt and it's fine to swap them out.

Ben T.
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Old Mar 11, 2007 | 05:48 PM
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Well I guess the final thought on this would be that it doesn't matter if I change the bearing and rod bolts in the car, it's not going to keep me from the possibility of spinning a bearing unless I can get everything into proper tolerances anyway. Hell even blueprinted and forged assemblies are known to let go at over 7K rpm so what the hell, just keep my rev limiter @ stock and have a good time.

Some one had a comment that was like:
getting a forged bottom end for safety is like putting seat belts on the living room sofa

kinda makes sense. Thanks for the comments, that is the first I've heard of the resizing W/arps. How would you resize if this was the case?
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Old Mar 11, 2007 | 09:14 PM
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Originally Posted by sapper_daddy
Some one had a comment that was like:
getting a forged bottom end for safety is like putting seat belts on the living room sofa

Pretty much, if you aren't going to spray or put some kind of forced induction on there, you aren't gaining anything. I'd be too nervous doing something like swapping bearings with the engine in the car, like you said if the tolerances were off just a little bit its only a matter of time.
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Old Mar 11, 2007 | 09:17 PM
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If you want to do ANY bottom end work i would just drop the engine out. Not worth the risk to do it whith the motor in the car. All it takes is a little bit of dirt/grime to ruin the new bearings anyway.
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Old Mar 11, 2007 | 09:57 PM
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Originally Posted by sapper_daddy
, that is the first I've heard of the resizing W/arps. How would you resize if this was the case?
This is the result of people who have worked on and around SBC motors and not LS1s. A stock SBC rod must be resized after changing rod bolts (upgrading to ARP), but this is not the case with say, a nice aftermarket I-beam SBC rod or LS1 rod. Both have a "capscrew" rodbolt, and are interchangable without having to resize the rods.

How do you resize? A shop grinds the rod caps to produce an oval shape on the big end of the rod and then uses a rod-resizing machine to make them round again- not something you do at home.

There are a lot of people who have upgraded bolts on this site with zero issues. The people who have experienced issues could be folks who failed to torque a rod or for some other reason erred on the installation.

Ben T.
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Old Mar 11, 2007 | 10:58 PM
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Originally Posted by Studytime
How do you resize? A shop grinds the rod caps to produce an oval shape on the big end of the rod and then uses a rod-resizing machine to make them round again- not something you do at home.
You can't resize cracked-cap style rods this way (like the LS1). The only way to re-size them is to make the housing bore larger and go with a bearing for the new larger housing bore. All the major bearing manufacturers make a bearing for this. For the SBC/LS1 rods, they make a bearing for the resized .002" larger housing bore. I have used them quite few times on rebuilds that reused stock rods. Only slight problem is they are not offered in STD size, just .010, .020,etc., so the crank needs to be turned as well.

Jason
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Old Mar 11, 2007 | 11:05 PM
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See, even people who think they know what they're talking about don't
[me] . Jason, couldn't you mill the PM rod and cap and then resize?

Ben T.
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