CAT rods for 440... cheaper than re-doing stockers
#271263
03/30/09 01:14 AM
03/30/09 01:14 AM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,307
BC, Canada
Black_Bee
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OP
pro stock
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BC, Canada
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Hey guys Sorry guys, I know these types of rods have been discussed to death here, but I have to bring it up before making a decision. ;-) I'm building a 440 with my dad... nothing radical here, just a street car, HP manifolds, Stealth heads, decent cam, intake, etc. nothing crazy... 5500RPM max here. We have the parts at the machine shop, and have been quoted $250 Canadian ($200US) to re-size the rods. Add some ARP bolts and that turns into $305Canadian ($245US) for a set of re-sized stock LY rods. I see stock replacement CAT rods all over eBay for $120 - $160... obviously these aren't race quality parts, but wouldn't they have to be at least as good as the stock stuff that is being re-sized, and cost considerably less money? Anybody on here using these rods on a stock-ish rebuild? 
Paul
'69 Super Bee 383 EFI Turbo
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Re: CAT rods for 440... cheaper than re-doing stockers
[Re: dgc333]
#271267
03/30/09 09:09 AM
03/30/09 09:09 AM
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Joined: Jan 2003
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U.S.S.A.
JohnRR
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Quote:
You can get Eagle or Scat I-beam rods for around $250. Either of these are far superior to CAT products and are stronger & lighter than stock. Both these companies make high quality race products.
I would go with those before CAT stuff.
you get what you pay for , the CATs will probably not be ready to use after you cycle the rod bolts , some have reported the rods are out of round after doing this , same for someone elses rods and you have to add in the expense of resizing anyway ...
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Re: CAT rods for 440... cheaper than re-doing stockers
[Re: 440challenger]
#271269
03/30/09 09:53 AM
03/30/09 09:53 AM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 14,610
Not2farfromNashville, TN
Rug_Trucker
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Not2farfromNashville, TN
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Stock rods and bolts I would think should be fine. Just going to turn 5500? Spend your money elsewhere.
"The only thing to do for triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing"
"NUNQUAM NON PARATUS!"
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Re: CAT rods for 440... cheaper than re-doing stockers
[Re: Rug_Trucker]
#271270
03/30/09 11:25 AM
03/30/09 11:25 AM
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Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 12,481
Chino Valley
RodStRace
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Quote:
Stock rods and bolts I would think should be fine. Just going to turn 5500? Spend your money elsewhere.
I would not spend good money to rebuild and use the old rod bolts. How many cycles, how much abuse, how long have they been in service? Last of the 440s rolled out in 79. 39 year old rod bolts at a minimum?
What people are saying is that for the SAME money, he could get Scat or Eagle.
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Re: CAT rods for 440... cheaper than re-doing stockers
[Re: RodStRace]
#271271
03/30/09 11:31 AM
03/30/09 11:31 AM
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 12,675
Columbia, CT
moper
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Columbia, CT
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As John said. Whatever cheap rods you go with, if they are cycled before use and checked for roundness, will need to be made round again. I've fodun this to be true with any cheaper import rod. For what you're doing, LYs with ARP hardware will be more than fine. If you look, you will spend more than $305 on any of those rods mentioned.
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Re: CAT rods for 440... cheaper than re-doing stockers
[Re: RodStRace]
#271272
03/30/09 12:54 PM
03/30/09 12:54 PM
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JohnRR
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Quote:
Quote:
Stock rods and bolts I would think should be fine. Just going to turn 5500? Spend your money elsewhere.
I would not spend good money to rebuild and use the old rod bolts. How many cycles, how much abuse, how long have they been in service? Last of the 440s rolled out in 79. 39 year old rod bolts at a minimum?
What people are saying is that for the SAME money, he could get Scat or Eagle.
scat maybe , but not eagles .
Personally I would buy K1 rods if I was after a cheaper offshore rod .
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Re: CAT rods for 440... cheaper than re-doing stockers
[Re: JohnRR]
#271273
03/30/09 12:59 PM
03/30/09 12:59 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 16,123
Grand Haven, MI
patrick
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Quote:
Quote:
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Stock rods and bolts I would think should be fine. Just going to turn 5500? Spend your money elsewhere.
I would not spend good money to rebuild and use the old rod bolts. How many cycles, how much abuse, how long have they been in service? Last of the 440s rolled out in 79. 39 year old rod bolts at a minimum?
What people are saying is that for the SAME money, he could get Scat or Eagle.
scat maybe , but not eagles .
Personally I would buy K1 rods if I was after a cheaper offshore rod .
but in the end, all of these options (especially if you end up needing to resize your new rods) are more expensive than just buying good bolts and re-sizing your existing rods.
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Re: CAT rods for 440... cheaper than re-doing stockers
[Re: patrick]
#271274
03/30/09 01:02 PM
03/30/09 01:02 PM
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U.S.S.A.
JohnRR
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Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Stock rods and bolts I would think should be fine. Just going to turn 5500? Spend your money elsewhere.
I would not spend good money to rebuild and use the old rod bolts. How many cycles, how much abuse, how long have they been in service? Last of the 440s rolled out in 79. 39 year old rod bolts at a minimum?
What people are saying is that for the SAME money, he could get Scat or Eagle.
scat maybe , but not eagles .
Personally I would buy K1 rods if I was after a cheaper offshore rod .
but in the end, all of these options (especially if you end up needing to resize your new rods) are more expensive than just buying good bolts and re-sizing your existing rods.
I won't even get into the strength issue of 40plus year old rods vs. new stronger material on the new rod. Buy a K1 and you won't have to pay the extra expense of correcting a machining operation that was bypassed to make the parts CHEAP , not sure if it's an issue with scat as I'm pretty sure like K1 the rods are finished HERE .
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Re: CAT rods for 440... cheaper than re-doing stockers
[Re: Black_Bee]
#271275
03/30/09 03:17 PM
03/30/09 03:17 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,307
BC, Canada
Black_Bee
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BC, Canada
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Hey guys Thanks for the feed back here... pretty much what I was thinking. Its not a strength issue for us... we certainly can see that stock rods are more than strong enough for this build, its purely a cost issue since around here the cost of new bolts and a resize is quite a bit more than just buying those new cheap rods. I guess that the gamble is that when the cheap new rods are checked, if they end up needing to be resized (I assume that the likelyhood of that would go down with price) that will add that same $250 resize on top of the purchase price of the new rod. dgc333 - do you have a link to $250 Eagle or SCAT rods? Cant seem to find any for a 440. From what I have heard, either of those companies has much higher quality than CAT, and would decrease the likelyhood of having to have the new rods re-sized. I see some already rebuilt 440 rods w/ Milodon bolts on eBay for 1/2 what our machine shop wants ($120). They are from PAW in California. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/440-CHRYS...A1%7C240%3A1318
Paul
'69 Super Bee 383 EFI Turbo
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Re: CAT rods for 440... cheaper than re-doing stockers
[Re: Lime446]
#271278
03/31/09 07:25 AM
03/31/09 07:25 AM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 14,610
Not2farfromNashville, TN
Rug_Trucker
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Quote:
If it were me I'd look around for a resized set of LY's on the board you might just get a set for $100. Build a good quench motor and the LY's seem to live just fine. 
Thank you. I have known a couple people to build race motors without spending money on HD rods. 5500 isn't squat in RPM,s
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.Maybe I just got lucky and got the only 5 good sets or they aren't that bad 