blackz97

What do you guys think i should do?

I recently had my motor all ripped apart and reconditioned. I have been meaning to put it all back together but i have been short on time until today. I went to start assembling and noticed that there was some surface rust on the rods. I began to scrup it off using some steele wool but it was being reall stubborn. Finally i wire wheeled one of them and it seemed to have removed the rust but there are still some discolored marks on them. Makes me kinda nurvous. I have LE3 cam/heads going into this motor so i dont want any weak points.

Do you think those rods will be okay if i wire weel them clean?

or should i buy some forged rods? and get everything re-balanced. Kinda dont want to spend the extra money but if the other rods are shot because of the rust then i gotta do what i gotta do.

Anyone know where i can get some rods cheap? forged would be cool, stock PM would be fine also.

Thanks
Steve

Feenix

Without question if I were you, I'd be already looking into some Eagle H beams. Thats just me though. Expensive but well worth the money. At least getcha some I beams. Look around at places like summit and jegs to shop around for the best price for you. The H beams will run you around 400-450+ without question though, but they are excellent rods and well worth the money for a high powered motor. The I beams will be more around 250ish, still good rods though. Much better than stock. I really don't know about re-using the old rods though if you can't really afford to be spending that kind of money right now, I'd be skeptical if they are rusting myself, maybe someone else will chime in on that issue.

89385formula

Why should he be looking for H beams? That makes no sense at all really, from the sound of it he has the stock internals already. If he was going to reuse the stock rods its obviously not an all forged build. If he doesn't mind maybe he can fill us in on what the bottom end consists of since he was reconditioning the bottom end....for many people that could mean different things. Also, you can get eagle h-beams for around $315, and I beams for around $180. What you choose is really based on your budget and what your bottom end already consists of.

Feenix

Thats why. Just because the bottom end isn't COMPLETELY forged, whats wrong with running forged rods? I guess I would just do a rebuild with forged pistons as well though, so maybe you're right, guess I make no sense at all

89385formula

I said nothing about forged rods...stock rods are forged. lol. The point I am making is there is no need to put H beams with a stock crank...its just not necessary. Thats a mismatched combination of parts if you do IMO. H beams are more for a high performance engine, they should be matched with an equally strong crank, etc. My point is, that your bottom end is only as strong as your weakest part. Why spend extra money on rods that are 5x stronger than the crank....when possible something could happen to the weaker crank, and has the potential to hurt the rods? For instance, if this was my engine and it was mostly stock...and I wanted to rebuild it, and was going to use the stock crank, and 2 bolt mains..I would get eagle I beams, and a good light forged pistons. Pistons are something you never cheap out on, you get the BEST you can afford. The reason I would run forged pistons even in a mild rebuild is, they are usually quite a bit lighter, and take the most beating in an engine. If the pistons are lighter its less strain on the crank+rods...so forged pistons are a good idea too me. I hope this clarifies my response, sorry for getting off topic.

Feenix

Yeah I understand what you're saying, and I really didn't think much about the H beam with stock crank combo, but I know an LE3 setup puts out nice numbers. So I would at least hope I beams would be in order regardless of the stock crank. I also knew the stock rods were forged up till 95 that is unless I've been hearing wrong on that for the past decade, just said forged instead of I/H beam eagle rods I guess. (damn can ya tell im A.D.H.D, self diagnosed).

89385formula

I could be wrong, but I think they are all forged rods..but I think the material of metal changed in 95. Like I said, not 100% sure because I really don't see the use in using stock rods....because you can get I beams pretty cheap that are 2x stronger than stock.

BTW...check out CNC-motorsports.com for a good deal on connecting rods.

blackz97

Completely stock bottom end. Balanced. Forged speed pro pistons. I talked to the guy at the machine shop that did all the work before. He said he would clean the rods up for free. So ill probably go that route.

Steve