The 535 LY rods were in production from their debut in the '50s until the late '70s. For the longest time, they were the best rod for the RB engines because no one else made anything.

They have one major fault: 3/8" rod bolts. Yes, the same rod bolts found in 318s are in every LY rod. While they may be great at 6500 rpm in a 360, they are overmatched in a 440 at the same speed, slinging around a piston that weighs at least half a pound more, with longer stroke to boot. Plus they are heavier than some aftermarket rods, but that's not the killer. Plus, they are made of decent but certainly not high strength steel.

When you start out with a set of used LY rods, you don't know how many millions of cycles they have gone through, how their ultimate tensile strength has decreased, but they can lose over 30% of their strength from fatigue. So you buy new rod bolts and pay someone to rebuild them and that totals out to $250 or more. For just a little more than that you can get a 4340 high-strength steel rod that probably weighs less, is stronger and has a 7/16" rod bolt. I know which way I'd go.

From the 'bay listings of sold parts, looks like I'd better get mine up for sale.

If you will hang 600 gram pistons on them with lightweight pins and keep the revs below 6000, no strokers, they will probably be just fine. But is it worth the risk?

R.