I was told that the connecting rods need to face a certain direction, that the lip on the rod cap had to be facing away from the rod next to it. Thats no problem, but I just got my rods and pistons back from the machine shop and since I have domed pistons the pistons also need to be facing a certain direction. So my question is, does this lip have anything to do with installing the rods? Is there a certain way to install the rods. Just need a little clarification. Thanks. Here are some pics to show you what im working with.

http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/5339/img0931aw1.th.jpg (http://img162.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0931aw1.jpg)

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/2174/img0927yl8.th.jpg (http://img87.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0927yl8.jpg)

the rods go with the bearing tangs inside towards the cam. the pistons go with the intake valve notch up. IOW, the tangs and valve notch both go to the inside.

EDIT:

Tom (Mr Horsepower) is right, I'm wrong.

I should know better than to post something like that at 1AM when I've got a bad cold and no sleep for 2 days.

The tangs go to the outside as he sez.

I take it the rods are either new or unmarked, also check for a chamfer thats larger on one side than the other it's done that way so it can ride on the radius of the crank journal.

When you put the bearings in they should be shifted slightly to clear the crank journal radius.

If those are used rods make sure you get them resized.

have the rods/pistons been pin fitted? are they pressed or floating pins? these things all have to be checked-there should be one side of the rod with a larger radius, that would go agains the crank "fillet"
sometimes its better to have the machine shop assem. the rods/pistons if your not sure
some rod bearings are also labled "upper" and "lower", depending on rod/crank-just something else to ck

the rods go with the bearing tangs inside towards the cam. the pistons go with the intake valve notch up. IOW, the tangs and valve notch both go to the inside.


I think what Tom ment to say is THE BEARING TANG GOES AWAY FROM THE CAM ( CLOSET TO THE OIL PAN RAIL ). This will put the chamfer in proper placement with the crank radius.

Tom

The rods are already attached to the pistons. The pistons are free float but the rods are stock so I had to have the pistons pressed on. The shop that did it is D&J the guys that make Tuff Dawg engines. So that makes sense the tangs face outboards, and the number stamped on the rods also face outboards. Thanks.

A good machine shop will have the piston in the right direction but you need to verify.

A little off your topic,but...I don't know what you are planning for this engine (power and power adder) but somthing you may want to address or at least check.In that first photo-The beam on the 'other' rod in the box has those horizontal marks near the small end.That will cause a stress point and if you are going to ever break a rod-it WILL be at one of those stress points.I would invest an hour or two and (using a drum sander) polish those beams.I'm sure someone here will agree or disagree with me,but thats my opinion...depending of course on the use of the engine.(350hp,6k rpm and no nitrous-I wouldn't bother)...my 2cents

If a machine shop placed those vise marks on those rods I wouldn't trust any of the work.

I just looked at the rods. There are a couple more with those marks. The marks are only on one side so im not thinking its a vice mark. Doesnt make much difference if they are vice marks or not the marks are still there. I cant imagine anyone putting rods in a vice without protecting them. I take all my parts to very reputable shops, I really dont trust very many people with the Chevelle. I dont have access to a drum sander, and im pretty crunched for time. The engine should be making around 500 and operate at under 6000.

I'd be finding some way to grind those out. They are a broken rod waiting to happen.

I don't know if you've ever polished beams before but you want to MAKE SURE all your polishing grain (grinding,sanding, whatever)runs the LENGTH of the rod (vertically) not horizontally like the marks are.You don't need to polish tip to tip either...just the beam from just a little past the start of the big end to just past the start of the little end.

The simplest way I found was...Using a finishing disk on a side grinder(looks like a bunch of sandpaper overlapped on a grinding disk)I took the heavy flashing off then using a drum on a diegrinder I ran the length of the beam to get the grain going the proper direction.If you use the drums to take the flashing off you will use a million of them.It really didn't take very long.It will probably take almost as long for you to go buy the disks and drums as it will to polish the rods.It will definately take longer to peal the engine apart,buy new rods,block crank,pistons,and cam and maybe some valves than to do it now.I would especially if you are planning on 500hp.

This is how I did the rods in my blower motor,and it has seen well over 7000rpm more than a few times and its more than 500hp and the rods are still in one piece(knock on wood)!