Hello all, I have a .030 over 454 that has been running well since its rebuild back in 1996. It does get run hard at times at the local street legal and sometimes bracket drags.I wanted to upgrade the rods and cylinder heads. I am running stock low performance rods with the 3/8 bolts. I was thinking of going with LS-6 rods or a set of the eagle rods from Jegs. Or would my stock rods if they checked out ok be runnable with ARP 3/8 bolts? My heads are oval port 781 castings. Any recommendations on a set of heads. My compression ratio is about 9.7 -1, with a crane energizer cam. I'm not sure of the cam specs, but it is a fairly mild cam, decent idle and good low end. Any advice is welcome. Thanks, Jerry

probably cheaper to get Eagle rods than a set of 7/16" bolt Chevys.

Truth is, your stock rods magnafluxed and resized with ARP bolts are fine with any RPM you can get out of a mild street cam.

Your 781 heads are great. You should be able to find a machine shop that has a Serdi or similar seat and guide machine. Pay them to install the 2.19/1.88 valves and hog out the area under the seats to match, usually called a bowl port. Cheap and effective. Make sure the correct valve springs for your cam are installed at the right installed height.

My engine guy has always said, the 7/16 GM rods are the same forging as the 3/8 rods with a different bolt.
In other words, they sacrificed rod material for the bigger bolts. Not a good thing.
He also says the material in the rods isn't good enough for high RPM use. The big ends will oval and pinch the bearings.
Not a good thing.
Point being, the factory 3/8 rods with a good bolt are fine. With a below 6500 rpm engine.
So go that way and be happy!
Ron

If you decide to go Eagle or Scat, there are a lot of places cheaper than Jegs. Mike Lewis (Wolfplace) has great prices, www.cnc-motorsports also comes to mind.