We are more worried about the bearings then the rods since the motor ran low 10's for years on the stock pan/pickup. The heavy steel rods are not very bearing friendly. They are crower rods so they should last a long time as long as the bearings stay happy. We have since changed the pan and pickup but the bearings are untouched.

 

We took the car out on Sunday for the Evo/STI event at Etown. The plan was to make a low boost hit to make sure the launch control, AFR was good, and that the car goes straight/pulls clean since there were so many changes done to it. After the first pass if all was good we would raise the boost and I would no lift shift the car to try and run a good number. Unfortunately luck was not on my side as I popped the clutch clip on the first pass. The car had a clutch fork stop on it and the clip still came out. Oh well, thats racing. I will be pulling the trans and installing the new clutch clip/TOB setup to ensure that this never happens again. I stopped at the scales while at the track. The car was 3345lbs with me in it. I'm 190lbs.

 

Good stuff!