I had ARP rod bolts. Lasted 3K the spun #1. Rod bolts do no good on an engine with a bad head. (which was my case) It made cyl 1 do most of the work, which beat the rod bearing to death.

 

I would like to know what kind of tool Al uses to press them in, furthermore the torquing value the use. I guess you can really tighten the ARP's down before any deformation occurs since there's a good amt of surface is being clamped. Even though plastiguages are not too popular I would still test some out to see.

The bad thing about the OEM bolts is excess friction while torquing them, even if a stretch guage is used (I have no idear how they work either) the bolt can also twist making it prone to snapping - imagine cutting open your oil filter to find a 1/2 of a rod bolt with a nut on it JK

 

i have always learn that the rods much be resized when changing rod bolts. thats at least how i have always done mine

 

thanks for the input guys. ill be sure to be up and running soon again...really miss my car!!!!!!!!!!

 

Al didn't install them - as I stated in my earlier post, it was Pruven Performance, so you could direct that question to Dan C, the owner.

 

*edit*edit*

 

ok, so....

i got the head off and the intake manifold......blah blah blah

i may be lucky to reuse the head



here's number 3 chamber.....a few pits and gouges but i think my head is still reusable after i send it to a machine shop....






and here's the cylinder(s)....





all in all, i think i can reuse the head, send it of to a machine shop, build it up when i get it back, and get a new block

 

It looks like you may reuse it but see what the machine shop will have to say, they may say that the valves will not seal correctly due to the damage....cross your fingures.

 

yes i am crossing my fingers!!! hopefully they say that it's indeed reusable and i can still reuse it

 

Sorry to hear about the motor. Get a built 2.0 and rev it to 9k with a big *** snail.

 

That ****'ll buff out!!

On a serious note, that head is most likely fixable. I've seen MUCH worse before going to the machine shop and it come back looking as good as new.

Good luck with everything. Feel free to give us a call if you have any questions or need anything at all.

Regards,
Eric

 

Metal parts fatigue. The higher stress you put them under, the quicker they fatigue. The lower their original strength, the greater the risk when you "overstress" them. The parts don't necessarily fail at the time of greatest stress, and it is common to hear of cases like this when the failure happens at lower stress levels, and the owner cannot figure out why his motor grenaded "while he was just driving to 7-11." It's the cumulative impact of the stresses prior to that that caused the connecting rod bolts to stretch or the nut to work loose after it lost torque because of rod bolt stretch. Once the clamping capacity of the connecting rod system is compromised, the rest is inevitable, unless it's caught and new parts substituted.

Anybody who takes the time to read basic competition engine building books will know that there are two components in a factory engine that are most succeptable to failure with higher performance modifications -- connecting rod hardware, and valve springs. If either fails, you have an expensive repair to do. If you're going to build a high HP motor, put some dollars in the upgrade of critical parts and you'll sleep better at night.

 

It looks like the other pistons may have had contact with the valves too. I don't think that really matters since its junk anyway. Are you planning on a built short block?

 

In-chassis install of rod bolts is asking for trouble. The rods have to be resized because the new studs are going to pull different causing the housing bore to be out of round. It's kinda like dropping in forged pistons with the engine in the car, it can be done and there are shops that do it, but it's not right. You wont see the benefit of the upgrade.

 

If you floored it from 3500-4000 and just let it spool in a higher gear, that may have caused it. With the Evo/DSM's just flooring it at lower RPMS in a higher gear puts a lot of strain and really affects the way the car pulls even in my 100% STOCK IX MR. If you downshift and up the revs the car just takes off but if I floor it from down low even if the boost hits 20PSI the car is barely pulling and feels slow as it accelerates. It's a weird thing and it is hard to explain but I believe the turbo spools too fast before the motor can handle it (surge) which I am sure happened if you just floored it in 4th gear at a low speed. I bet if you grabbed a lower gear, brought up the revs, this might not have happened.

Maybe someone could explain this better then me.