Cal

iTrader: (1)

Thinking about upgrading the rod bolts for better high rpm reliability. Just wondered if it's possible to drop the oil pan to do this without pulling the engine completely out of the car. I'm wondering if just unbolting the engine mounts and lifting it slightly would allow the pan to come off?

felton316

I was able to do it like that. But once you get the pan down about an inch, you will need to sneak a 13mm wrench in there and remove the oil pump pick up tube support bracket. The pan will get hung up on the pick up tube if you don't remove it.

ROGERSPERF.

Any time you replace rod bolts the rods should be checked to see if they stayed in spec.It is possible that the rod big end would end up with a diffrent shape. If you check this and find out it has changed the rod will need to be recondioned and since they are cracked rods you need to have over sized OD bearings.

Cal

iTrader: (1)

OK thanks felton that's what I'd hoped.

Cal

iTrader: (1)

Are you saying the act of changing rod bolts it's self could cause the rod caps to distort, or just that is something to check for due to normal wear? Since I only have 15,000 miles on the engine, I thought I wouldn't need to check that. Would I check them by squeezing some plasti-gage under each one? Or should I put the cap back on without the crank journal in there and mike the hole for roundness?

ROGERSPERF.

you would put the cap back on and check the hole for roundness with a mike.I have seen factory rods with low mileage be out of spec.Take nothing for granted when you do engine work.

1999_SS_M6

That's the craziest thing I've ever heard. Thats like saying that everyone should go drop their pistons and "mic" (mike is my uncle) their rod journals becuase the factory may have poor machining tolerances.. It's a fastener upgrade, not a tear down. Besides, if you have egg shaped rod journals, I would hope that the beating clunk coming from the engine bay would tell you that a tear down is a better idea than new bolts.

If your rods are out of round, you have bigger problems than swapping in ARP rod bolts for safer high rpms. I'm all about being thorough, but the idea of dropping the rotating assembly to do a rod bolt upgrade is hilarious.

Cal

iTrader: (1)

Felton, were you able to actually get the oil pan all the way off the car, or just drop it far enough to do the job?

felton316

I got the oil pan off the car. The second time I did it, it was much easier because I now have an aftermarket k-member. It will get hung up on the pick up tube. The pick up tube has a bracket that bolts to one of the windage tray studs. You have to get that nut off to remove the tube. Its on the drivers side, if you can get the pan down an inch, you should be able to see it with a flash light. Then I let the pick up tube fall in to the pan, then you just have to wiggle the pan out. I had the a/c dropped and the starter uninstalled to make more room. I also have SLP LT headers, so that might have given me a slight room advantage to manuever the pan out.

00 Firehawk

iTrader: (1)

But can you just put new rod bolts in and leave it at that?

C4VetteLS1

yes you can....its been done several times.

Cal

iTrader: (1)

OK thanks, guys. Since it's only $70 for a set of ARP rod bolts and I need to break the oil pan seal anyway, I was thinking about doing the upgrade.

VINCE

iTrader: (1)

How many rpm's are you planning on spinning up too? I use to spin my motor to 6900rpm frequently w/out problems with the T1 cam. Even though now I have ARP bolts with forged pistons I do not spin over 6900rpm.. If your horsepower peaks sooner than 6700rpm I do not see any need for the upgrade.

Cal

iTrader: (1)

I don't plan on reving over 6500 with the TR224, but I like to play it safe. I'm running a 9 inch rear with an engine that has stock internals; piece of mind. I've also heard of people breaking bolts at 6700rpm while others seem to get away with going nearly to 7000. If the rod bolts break at 6700 and I want to shift at 6500, that doesn't leave much of a safety margin.

JS

iTrader: (4)

Actually u should check it,U can put them in and tq them down and hope for the best but the proper procedure is to check the rod to see if it stayed in spec with the new bolt.

Thats the way mine are getting done.
The crush on the bearing can totally change with an aftermarket bolt.

Cal

iTrader: (1)

JS, by check the rod are you refering to checking the rod-to-journal clearance, or are you talking about checking it for roundness as mentioned above by ROGERSPERF.?

BurnOut

iTrader: (1)

The truly proper way to do it is to check the big end of the rod for out-of-round with the new rod bolts installed, but I think that this is one of those things were 99 out of 100 people can get away with just swapping bolts (one at a time, so "clamp" on the rod bearing is never completely released).

Personally, I had my rod bolts done when I had my H/C setup done... I figure an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure... my cam peaks ~6400, but the rev limiter will be set at 6800 and, as embarassing as it is, I have been known to mis-shift in the past... I just want to be as certain as I reasonably can be (on a stock short block, anyhow) that I'm not going to tear anything up if/when I do it again.

Magnus

iTrader: (4)

If you have a 99 you'd definately want to upgrade as well.