looking for info on connecting rods, H beams.

Customer brought me a short block to fix, ate 3 lobes off of the cam, long story short, i know its got KB pistons with that goofy compression step, and valve relief, it got a set of H beam rods I believe to be 440 source. but I cant find any definitive info from them on if its a source rod or not. Only thing on the rod is a laser etched number, 3960W.

Customer had a set of Indy heads already bought for it, and is going hydraulic roller, and I know he will be fairly hard on it, and I dont want a parts failures and have read horror story after horror story about Source rods, and Hyperutectic KB pistons.

Can anyone ID these rods?

Horror stories about 440Source rods? Gulp. I have two sets for Gen II Hemi. What seems to the the major problems?

The only horror stories I’ve ever heard about 440source rods came from the OLD I beam rods they used to offer. We warned several members not to use them but they went ahead and tried them with bad results. I personally ran 8.60@155mph with them for 275 passed till I found a crack in the block. The assembly is still going in a street car many years later.

Ohh and another set went 8.40@160mph. I still have that set.

I have over 12 k miles , street strip on my 440 source rods, 512cid LOL

AWESOME!

are these 440 source?

It doesn’t really matter. All those rods come off the very same production line. They just get different brand part numbers etched into them. So it doesn’t matter what box they come in they are almost all virtually the same.

I should add I always upgraded the bolts when I ordered them. Cheap insurance as the upgrade was cheap.

I have heard that, but was under the assumption that the higher name brand rods had better machining. I read they come over here as a raw blank, and get machined here.

Yes

If your customer chooses to replace those "goofy" pistons I am interested.

I recall somebody posting a picture on here a long time ago of a bunch of different brand china h beam rods. They were all slightly different. Still may have been forged at the same factory but probably not.

Going off memory from previous import rod discussions...

No, they don't ALL come from the same factory; there are some very distinct differences between some brands in how they're machined when you compare them up close, e.g. my Eagles vs my K1s

Where the final machining is done has a major influence on the out-of-the-box quality; some companies sell 'em straight from the Chinese box, while others get the semi-finished rods and complete the work in the US. The brands that state clearly they do their final machining on site generally have the better rep for being able to use them as sold... but you gotta look or ask to know for sure.

The only issues I recall w/ 440 Source rods -- and this goes back many years, not necessarily a current problem...
--> the big ends not being round when torqued
--> the small ends being too tight for the pins (which should always be checked and corrected during the build, anyway)
--> possibly as a result of the latter item, the bushings the pins ride in pulling out; this was also a reported issue w/ some RPM International rods, which to my eyes looked identical to the 440 Source pieces (and their crank forgings look identical to me, as well)

Brad is right, they are different in both dimensions and machining precision.
Look at the differences in the web thickness, 0.080" to 0.098"; and the beam widths are different too.
NOTE: These dimensions may vary from the same brand with different length rods.

FWIW,
These are the dimensions on my Molnar 7.100" long H-beam rods (BB Chevy style)
Part 2 Molnar 7.100" connecting rod observations

cannot tell if that's a ARP bolt, if they are there not 440 source, I have a set of new (latest designed)383-400 rods from 440 source at shop if you need a photo, if anybody wants them $150 free shipping

For the rods? Or bolts?

Thanks guys, the Hemi sets I bought from 440Source were the H-beam variety. Whew, dodged another bullet.

my 440source rods,etching is completely different, poor quality, looks hand written

And I’m not 100% sure, but I believe the last 4 sets in the 440Source rotating assys that I’ve dealt with all had only 3 numbers on each rod. I also don’t think those are 440Source. Maybe Scat?

https://store.440source.com/Platinum-Series-Rods/departments/138/

This^^^^is because each company can pick what profile they want for the rods.

Last time I checked (probably 4 years ago) there were TWO and only TWO factories making connecting rods. That was IT. So all that [censored] comes out of one of two factories.

And, I couldn’t care less what name is on the box, every rod needs to be checked for bore sizes and such. All rods should come .0005 under minimum on the both bores so the machinist building the engine can finish them to size. No way do I want the rods to come any other way.

No matter what name is on them, have them checked. I have a set of Manley H beams that needed resizing before they could be used.

Just my opinion, I'd have those rods checked out by your machinist and reuse them. The KB pistons are fine as long as you gap the rings correctly.

My guess is that those rods will outlast that crankshaft. Been there, done that.

Brian

I just purchased a set of 440 Source rods from a member on here that came with ARP 2000 bolts installed from 440 source. They are a few years old though.

They also have "440 Source" etched on the flat side of the beam.

Brian