Building A 440 For Street, Maybe 475 HP. Would These Inexpensive 5140 Be As Good As Or Better Than Factory LY Rods in Your Opinion ? I Would Have No Doubt The LY's Would Be Suffice For My Build, But These Are Ready To Go. What Say You, Good Enough? Or A Disaster Waiting ? http://www.ebay.com/itm/440-CID-BIG-BLOC...r#ht_1281wt_932

JMO.. but I dont like buying internal engine parts
off E-bay... and I believe you get what you pay for

Those are C.A.T. rods, which have defined the bottom end of the Chinese parts world for years. If it were me, I'd buy similar rods from 440Source.

R.

For the quality you will get from those, Id just take a set of LY rods, and have them resized with new bolts. Might have them magged first and shot peen them, but a LY rod is plenty strong for a lot of street used/race engines IMHO.

http://store.440source.com/Connecting-Rods-RB-5140-Forged-Steel-NEW-Set-of-8/productinfo/200-1015/

IMHO, A brand new rod with 7/16" ARP bolts for less than $300 is a bargain and neither a LY or CAT rod will come close. Keep in mind that the stock 3/8" rod bolts are the weak link in any Mopar B/RB, and the newest LY rod around is at least 33 years old and has gone through an unknown number of cycles.

R.

Who makes the Source rods? It says made in the USA?

Howards by chance? Or Ohio crank?

K1 4340 billet rods with arp 2000 bolts are less than 500.00, best buy on the market right now. Tim

what is the best buy then ?

I ran a Cat gear drive in my 440 for years on the street and raced it and it worked awsome.

Quote:

---

what is the best buy then ?

---

that's a very subjective question and opinions vary. frankly i personally don't care for any of the imported h beams and unfortunately manley wasn't making enough money of their sprotsmasters so they dropped them.

if i was in the market for rods similar to whats being discussed i would look into these. i know they're a lot more and people have successfully used cheaper rods but personally i won't roll those dice. still chinese but hopefully improved quality control and they should be the correct dimensions as they are (i believe) finished by callies. perhaps someone with experience with them can confirm or refute my thoughts

compstar

I was sorta fortunate that when Eagle H-beams first
came out(maybe a year after they came out) I bought
a set and had them checked and was very happy with
them so I bought a second set that layed around for
years... the first set is in my W-9 and the second
set I just put in my W-5.... the W-9 has been in
the 9000+ rpm range but normal is 8200.... now days
I hear the quality of them is ... not very good

Lucky you.

I have to do more with less money, but my engines will never see 6500 rpm.

So here's what I'm thinking about when I select a connecting rod for a 450 hp 440:
440 stock replacement pistons weigh a ton. The change in direction at the top of the stroke can generate several thousand Gs making that two-pound piston "weigh" 7000 or more pounds.

The compressive force on the rod during the power stroke is way less than the tensile forces at the top of the exhaust stroke.

The most highly stressed part of the connecting rod is the rod bolts. Rod failure usually happens either by the rod bolts stretching enough that the rod bearing spins, or else detonation jams the rod bearing into the crank. Detonation isn't the fault of the rod, but rod bolt size is. Now as long as the rod bolt is in its elastic range, it stretches the same amount per psi no matter what the ultimate strength is. The best and quickest way to get the big end to hold together is to go up a size in rod bolts. That increases the area by something like 30% which makes it a heck of a lot easier for the bolt to hold the rod big end together.

The rod beam has it relatively easy. So the main deal with the rod beam is that it be lightweight. Now as a mechanical engineer I look at an H-beam rod and see that it is heavy for its strength. It has a lot of material pretty close to the neutral axis that isn't working very hard. An I-beam rod is much more economical because most of its material is far from the neutral axis. That means it will be strong and lighter.

So I'm looking for an I-beam rod with larger rod bolts that doesn't weigh a ton. That all comes together in that 440Source Chinese rod, it's an I-beam forging with 7/16 rod bolts for $270. It will get the job done at 6500 rpm with stock weight pistons, although I'd rather take the $2-300 I saved on rods and get lighter better pistons. Then the rod will be bulletproof at 7000 rpm and that should get that 440 well above the power level desired.

Now if you can afford $1400 Olivers, go ahead. I have seen them and they are like jewels. But I'd rather spend the money on something that makes more sense.

R.

i don't disagree with your logic at all but those cheapie chinese rods scare me. not saying they will cause any problems they could be fine for many applications. as mentioned those replacement piston/pins are like cinder blocks. get rid of those heavy pistons, and personally you can dump those stupid fat pins as well use the .990". these changes go a long way towards unloading the rod whichever you choose.

Can The Stock Size Small End Of The Rod Be Bushed For The .990 Pins?