Conn. Rods and Cam Q's

[MaxFarmer]

I decided to ask this here to get some SOMEWHAT less biased answers than what seems to be going on at "the place" lately. Please bear with me.
Since I blew a head gasket, I wanted to put head studs in. Then I sent me heads to Guy (Trippin) for the stage 1 job. Now I'm thinking that maybe I should do the cam while the motor is out with nothing on it and the heads are off to take more advantage of the ported heads. The keyed slot in the cam is a given.
I ordered the ATS sticks (and only got nozzles--another story) to be put in since I'm on my origionals at over 130k miles.
I'm also thinking of putting on a GT40 Turbo.
SO, going this far, I know I need to do something about my rods really soon. How big of a job are they once the heads are off? I would ask the mechanic but it is Saturday. If I do the rods, how essential is it to do something to the pistons while I'm there?
None of these things are cheap! Its really hard for me to justify a lot of it b/c all my truck is really used for is farm work and tearing around on the local highways. I'm thinking about hooking up to some sleds this year, but its not a necessity.
Opinions? I hope you can decipher out some of my questions through all that typing. Sorry guys and Thanks in advance!

 

[MaxFarmer]

Maybe do rods first and turbo at a later point?

 

[MaxFarmer]

Dammit, I see now the thread I was asking about cams on "the place" got shut down---Like I was going to get a cam from that guy anyway--- I just wanted to see an answer and stir the pot a little!

From the Place:
Steve, Your method is a little more time consuming, but I can see that every cam you make SHOULD be identical in relation to the keyway. The way it looks to me, Guy's setup (which this thread was origionally (sp?) about) looks like there is LITTLE room for error, but not much----a lot less than what you are going to get with a f'ed up dowell on top of the "stacked" tolerances b/t the crank, crank gear, cam gear, and cam. With all those stacked tolerances and the sloppy pin, there shouldnt be much of a difference between your way and Eric/Guys, correct?

 

[Kat]

Maybe do rods first and turbo at a later point?

That is what I would do. But what the heck to I know:rofl: I will send the techie in here.

 

[bullfrogjohnson]

i would go rods first then turbo, like someone on here said i would rather have a 500hp truck capable of 800 than a 800 capable of 500, it would suck to have to build a motor twice

but then again you might be able to get away with stock rods on a gt40 but i think you might be living on the edge

 

[MaxFarmer]

i would go rods first then turbo, like someone on here said i would rather have a 500hp truck capable of 800 than a 800 capable of 500, it would suck to have to build a motor twice

but then again you might be able to get away with stock rods on a gt40 but i think you might be living on the edge

I've been doing a lot of thinking and am leaning more and more in that direction. I dont want to have to take the motor out again for while if I dont have to!

 

[McRat]

Safest approach is always going to be to put rods in.

Turbo-only might not require it, but max #2 certainly.

 

[MaxFarmer]

OK, so if I do the rods, what should be done with the pistons since they'll be out? I assume I'll need all new bearings as well---are there any aftermarket bearings yet?

 

[Kat]

OK, so if I do the rods, what should be done with the pistons since they'll be out? I assume I'll need all new bearings as well---are there any aftermarket bearings yet?

Guys going to knocks ours down to 15:1 and putting a coating on top. We are going to run factory bearings.

 

[MaxFarmer]

Are you still planning on going with forged pistons?

 

[Kat]

Are you still planning on going with forged pistons?

No. Using the LBZ ones that came out of the block.

 

[MaxFarmer]

How was Nasty able to use LBZ pistons in his LB7? I didnt think they swapped?

 

[TurboBeagleBuggy]

LB7 and LBZ short block parts can be interchanged, the heads are different.

 

[MaxFarmer]

Great, thanks! IIRC, isnt there something different with the crankshafts though?---not that it matters, just curious.

 

[TurboBeagleBuggy]

Not sure about the cranks, but you do have to use LBZ rods with LBZ pistons as the LBZ has bigger wrist pins.

 

[MaxFarmer]

That is good to know also. I assume you would also use LBZ piston rings....

Would it be pointless to have the compression lowered if I'm going to have to run on the stock turbo for a while? --- with the plan on going to a bigger turbo eventually?

 

[dieselson]

the truck has the GT40 turbo, and everything in the engine is just fine, and dual fuelers too.