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well if you get new bearings installed, you have to check the bearing clearances and if clearances are out of tolerance, either the rods need to be sized for the bearing or a thinner bearing needs to be used. Either way, I would not recommend changing out rod bolts, but everyone does it on here, I run the hell out of my car and I have no intentions of switching out bolts unless the motor is getting a rebuild or I buy a new shortblock. But hey, that just me......
GMPP recommends changing the rod bolts in 97 - 00 LS1 motors that have upgrade performance parts. If the OEM makes the point that the rod bolts are suspect, then it's up to you to make a decision. Just because some guys run with the stock rod bolts (first generation) and get away with it, doesn't mean that you'll be that lucky.
Back in my H/C 346 days the first thing I had done was to change the rod bolts - that motor had over 35000 additional miles put on it with no rod bolt or bearing issues. It's either peace of mind or roll the dice - you decide!
if anyone knows about rod botls it'd be me. I blew my motor up on START UP in the driveway, didnt even idle. jsut cranked it over and KABOOM, stretched bolts, broken in half rod, busted piston and 2 holes in my block...
rod bolts, cheap insurance for ANY year LS engine
From what I recall your motor was exposed to the rain and was on jack stands with the front of the car raised. To me it sounds more like you had a hydraulic lock condition. With water in the cylinders - thats why your motor blew at start up.
no no when rods are reconditioned material is shaved off the cap so the diameter stays the same....the clearences you are describing are bearing to crank....you check this with plastigauge.....if they are to loose the crank has to be turned"machined"and a thicker bearing is used.....
Price parts and labor id say upwards of 800 bucks.....
unless your engine hasnt been maintained properly id say clearances will be fine....
Not on Lsx rods. Factory LSx rods are cracked cap design. During manufacture, they "break" the rod big end in half so it leaves a rough surface for the two ends to mate, kinda like a puzzle.
Therefore, you don't want to remove material from the parting surface. If anyone bought ARP rod bolts and read the directions, like I did, they would notice that ARP recommends honing the rod big end .002" to restore a concentric diameter. Clevite made a bearing for this, but I don't remember the part #.
New bearings on unpolished crank could be issue's bad vern, inproper clearance or not primed before start up on long sitting build, 435 km on lq4 oil changed ever 3000 miles since new zero engine codes other then intake gasket replace, 2200rpm over 50 psi
New bearings on unpolished crank could be issue's bad vern, inproper clearance or not primed before start up on long sitting build, 435 km on lq4 oil changed ever 3000 miles since new zero engine codes other then intake gasket replace, 2200rpm over 50 psi
Age doesn't matter ls, gen 3 and 4 builds are just as popular then as today, builders are farther ahead grabbing a junk yard ls then build their 350 or .30 over or 383 builds kits , mains strength, gaskets and cooling are miles ahead im just asking what people do
Even for this 12 year old thread I think this is worth adding.
1) 97-00 Gen 3 LS rod bolts are weaker than the redesigned 01+ Gen 3 bolts.
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a) spun my 99 TA to 6,800 rpm many times no issues. Limited to 6,500 rpm after learning about the rod bolt issue based on where my set up peaked. 18 years of use & 164,000 + miles no issue with rod bolts or bearings. Ported LS6 oil pump.
b) changing bolts without resizing the rods with a hone has some risk of getting the end out of round. Based on what I've folks get into trouble sometimes screwing around with an otherwise good stock bottom end on the 97-00 engines.
2) A few early 97-00 engines had oil pump failures. The LS6 oil pump seemed to be better and less prone to that than the early stock LS1 pumps.
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Hot rodding an early 97-00 LS I like to have the original stock oil pump replaced. At this point 20 years later most of the bad ones have probably already failed but I still like a nice ported stock oil pump or a Mellings
I've compared a brand new GM pump to my original 00 pump, they're the same. With a new pump, they have to be taken apart and the relief valve plunger bore cleaned with acetone or other solvent, to get the plunger to slide freely. Dirt/particles in oil could cause the plunger to stick.
07-07-2007, 09:24 AM
