Not that i have much experience to go off of, but i find every time i say i only want X hp and buy a product for that number (turbo, injectors, trans, etc.) I end up wishing i went bigger. I did a stage 4 trans because i will never upgrade my turbo.. then i just wanted a mild turbo... now i want a bigger turbo. Just get carillos
LLY: what rods to use
- Thread starter wfc09
- Start date
The whole point is that if you are going to pull the engine to build it then put money into quality rods minimum or don't pull the engine. I have a Lly that makes 700 hp and is all stock except the turbo, tranny, exhaust and tuning. We just did head gaskets and studs. Since I had the heads off I wanted to see if the rods we're in great shape. I measured the petrusion of the pistons with my deck fixture and dial indicator. They are bent a small amount. Usually you have .013 of the piston is sticking above the block. On this engine I was at zero deck on most pistons and a maximum if .005 on one piston. Engine still runs great with no problems what so ever. I didn't do a compression test to see how much it was affected. If we had the engine out to disassembly I certainly would have done a full build but it had to be done is 4 days because it is my sons daily driver. Pistons looked great as well. All the quality rods on the market are good period. Design of each will change how they are weight matched. In my opinion I like the Howards more than any of them. The Manley I am using in my daily driver are nice rods as well. They are probably the cheapest rods on the market as well. I can weight match those much much easier and faster than the Howards because if design. Carillos are easier to weight match as well. It is common for a set if rods to very in weight from high ends rods of a +/-1 grams to budget rods a +/- 2.5 grams. Don't assume the guys doing your balance job are doing a great job if weight matching either. Specify how close you want the work done. My items are done by me personally and are exactly the same. Most shops would use a
.5 gram spread at best. It all comes down to money in the end if you are paying someone else to do the work. It is time consuming to get them near perfect but satisfying knowing they are.
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.5 gram spread at best. It all comes down to money in the end if you are paying someone else to do the work. It is time consuming to get them near perfect but satisfying knowing they are.
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Here is the issue. If you splurge for rods then you better do pistons. If you do pistons you better do a AF cam. If you do AF cam you better do crank. If you do crank you mine aswell do a girdle. If you are seeing the pattern it never ends. Run what you have and start saving.
For what you want to do, Manleys or BCs would be good choices. I wouldn't go with anything stock-ish simply because you sound like you may up your goals later on.
Overbuild now so its built right later.
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Where can you find carrillo's for a "few hundred bucks" more than a new set of LML rods?
The difference between LML rods new and carrillo's is ~2k.. a nice chunk for some
In his op he mentions using Manley or Crower rods. There's less than a 300 dollar difference. Hence a "few hundred bucks"Where can you find carrillo's for a "few hundred bucks" more than a new set of LML rods?
The difference between LML rods new and carrillo's is ~2k.. a nice chunk for some
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Pulling the engine and taking it apart is an expensive hassle. If you're gonna' go through all that, put some good rods in there and not have to worry about bending anything. There are guys who've gone very fast and stayed together making way more than 650-700hp with the parts you mention. I'd feel confident with rods from either of the Crowers, or Manley.
End of the day whose rods don't really matter, all of the big name rod makers are better than any stocker out there. But if you are going to bother doing the build, may as well do the pistons too. Build the bottom end right once and then you can do whatever you want up top without having to worry.
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Thanks for all of the posts as of now I'm not pulling the motor just yet I have a spare block that I'm going to be slowly building I think I'm going to stick with manley rods and delipped lb7 pistons. I'm also thinking about an alternate fire cam. I have no plans to take the truck any further than about 700hp I have a 1000hp 12.5:1 compression turbo mustang on e85 for when I want something fast lol I'm just planning the build knowing that I'm at the limit of stock lly rods right now and would rather be prepared than throw a rod and my truck be down for a month or more.
Pretty much any of the engines make HP more than stock CP3 with lift pump can support put rods closer the breaking point..then not.
These trucks are pretty fun at the ~500-600hp level ~13 sec 1/4 times, and rather reliable as well
These trucks are pretty fun at the ~500-600hp level ~13 sec 1/4 times, and rather reliable as well
I have a Danville 72mm and a 10mm cp3, it made 664hp and 1114 ft lbs. I believe lbz rods will handle that if you know what you are doing driving it, but is that really what you want to stop at? You don't need a girdle or af cam at this point. My engine has a stock crank with 190k on it but keyed when I built it at 166k, Carrillo rods, fingers pistons, arp head and main studs, SoCal 6460 cam, SoCal valve springs, and that's about it. I put my money into the pistons and rods because I was on a lower budget and knew that once I wanted more horsepower I could add a girdle or swap out a cam or do some work to the heads without ripping the engine apart again and throwing another 1k-1500 into gaskets and fluids. Build the internals for whatever you think you might want in the future, not what you want now, and it'll always be there for when, not if, you shoot for higher numbers. You'd be pretty upset when you learn that you could add another 200+ hp with the addition of a tct483, but your rods will fly out of the block before you even get it spooled with lbz rods. Go with a quality set of rods, or any internals for that matter, then worry about adding power later.