I've got my motor tore apart for reasons other than breaking a connecting rod, but today I was knocking out all my stock rod bolts to put some ARP bolts in, and I noticed that on the big end of the #6 rod there is a long crack and it's about to fall off :eek: Good thing I pulled the motor! I found and wen't beyond the limit of stock 400 rods hehe. So I need some advice on parts solection :rolleyes: Im going to bore the motor .060" over this time and I'm not sure which pistons or rods to get. Should I get 5.7" or 6" I beams? Scat or Eagle? Do I need a small base circle cam for 6"? I really don't wan't to change my current cam, it's a 286 Magnum by Comp, single pattern, 236@.050". For piston's I'm thinking Speed Pro hypers 10:1 or maybe a tad more compression. Motor should make 450-465hp, 6,200 max rpm's. This is the crank I already own, do you think it'll work? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33616&item=7944664924&rd=1 Thanks, Scott!

Did you have your rods resized? or were you going to just reuse them as is? :eek: Its best to send all parts to the machine shop to have them cleaned and magnafluxed to check for cracks. Why did you tear the motor down in the first place? I'm not familiar with HAWK,not sure if its good parts or not. Mike Lewis can probably answer that question.

My machine shop recommended a 5.7 rod in a 400 so that the pin is lower and the piston will rock less. He thought that was a better setup for a street motor. Since you are limiting yourself to 6200 rpm a longer rod probably won't make alot of difference. From what I have heard the scat and eagle parts are similiar in quality and price.

Originally posted by Rapid Robert:
Did you have your rods resized? or were you going to just reuse them as is? :eek: Its best to send all parts to the machine shop to have them cleaned and magnafluxed to check for cracks. Why did you tear the motor down in the first place? I'm not familiar with HAWK,not sure if its good parts or not. Mike Lewis can probably answer that question. =
I have no comment on that crank except to say there are differences in both the quality & the quality control of different import cranks & brands & I prefer to buy from a real crank company :D
As for rods, either Scat or Eagle will do fine.
My preference is Scat as all Scat rods are 4340 & I would use the capscrew ones. They don't cost that much more.
If you are going to use that crank you might as well use the 5.7 rod, you are going to have to external balance it anyway.
You will need to clearance the corner of either 5.7 or 6" rods for cam clearance.
The good 7/16" bolt Scat I beams have better clearance than the 3/8" ones do & are not that much more money
If you email me & I can give you prices on the Scat stuff but I don't sell Eagle.

Neither Scat nor Eagle. Crower Stroker Sportsman. No need for small base circle cam, at least in my experience. Very light weight, very strong, not made in China.

The reason I tore the motor apart was because back when I put the stroker crank in, I had prolly 10,000 miles on a .040" over bore and since I was broke I just said screw it and didn't bore the motor over. This caused the rings to not seat to well as you can imagine hehe. So since I got tired of putting a quart of oil in every 2 weeks I just pulled the motor. So somehow I came up with the money to put it together wrong the first time AND re-due it again with good parts! :rolleyes: I'm just a college student so I can't just put an entire paycheck into the Nova hehe. Man if I woulda just put another $250 into boring it over, the motor would prolly still be working fine, cept I guess this is a blessing in disguise because I discovered I was about to scatter the whole motor when that connecting rod came apart. graemlins/thumbsup.gif

I went with 6" Crower rods and JE pistons in my 408" motor in my nova.

Wolfman, what is the proper procedure for replacing rod bolts?? Shouldn't they be pressed out and not hammered out??

Originally posted by gspan1830:
Wolfman, what is the proper procedure for replacing rod bolts?? Shouldn't they be pressed out and not hammered out?? =
I press them both out & in but there is nothing wrong with using a hammer & preferably a piece of brass as long as you a careful not to smack the rod.
They will need resizing with new bolts.

OK, what's wrong with a dingle-berry o/h job on a .040" over, 400 SB, at 10,000 miles b/c most guys here, (I bet), won't want to bore one to .060" over???

(Rod aside here)...

pdq67

It's a 350 block. I have a 383 crank, 400 rods, and 350 pistons.