I'm still pulling parts together for the short block for my 557 and have been thinking a lot about rods. I've got the Bowtie Block, Callies Dragon Slayer crank, I'm ordering coated Diamond pistons, but cannot bring myself to reuse the eagle rods from my 489. I know they are good rods, and they served me well, but at this point I don't want to skimp. What do you guys think are the best forged rods. I'm strongly considering a set of Lunati Pro Mods. Let me know.:cool:

Carillo

Eagle rods do hold up very well but they must be checked and fitted when building the engine, the material itself is good, the machining on the small end and big end lacks sometimes

Manley rods are good but their H-Beam are the same forging as eagle but machined a bit better

Lunati rods haved served well, oliver and crower rods in my opinion are one of the best rods out there but can run $1,500+ depending on which one you choose

Them are the only rods i have had in my engines, they all have worked very well but some did require more work to get them ready out of the box

Carillo

X2 :thumbsup:

Best = Carrillo = Pricey (especially with their multiphase bolts:yes:)

Randy

Dyer's rods are made with 300M material

Love my Carillo steel rods. Been going strong since 1983 in various engines. I bought them used.lol

yep. I have a set that have been in a dozen engines over the years. circle track engines, where they're rode hard and put away wet.

I'm still pulling parts together for the short block for my 557 and have been thinking a lot about rods. I've got the Bowtie Block, Callies Dragon Slayer crank, I'm ordering coated Diamond pistons, but cannot bring myself to reuse the eagle rods from my 489. I know they are good rods, and they served me well, but at this point I don't want to skimp. What do you guys think are the best forged rods. I'm strongly considering a set of Lunati Pro Mods. Let me know.:cool:


Hi George, don't use the "Eagles" here, good call!!

Running any "offshores" in your unit would be very risky in a blown/steel-rod platform.

My personal "first-choice" would definitely be the "Olivers", next the "Lunatis"!

When you speak with the guy's at "Diamond" ask them about the "tapered wrist pins", also best with the blower! As I said before, we'd like to see them come out of the '70's with respect to their wrist pin program!! Been a tough sell though! (Also try to use "double" pin-oilers in the pistons) The overall weight of your ride becomes a major factor in these "little" details.

One add'l tip here, if you can't get the tapered pins into the picture make certain you run about .0015" (minimum) clearance in the rods, these wrist pins in ALL these blown units will actually "bend" while "firing"! Tapered pins can be run slightly tighter, maybe like .0012"!!

Also on a "large" bore unit pay attention to the piston deck thickness, it's important! Try to get the top ring "down" as much as possible, too high, and it gets very close to the intake notch "in-the-pockets" with the 2.300" intake valves in the program!

Thanks, Gary in N.Y.

P.S. That '56 Chev I mentioned has a set of Comp Cams #5463-8 (+250" long Oliver rods) in his unit. They've been in there for over 13 years now AND are still as good as the day we did his first build! His runs 9.23's and weighs over 3850#!!

A second vote for Olivers, this is my first choice in steel rods
Oliver is back on track now & delivery is excellent ;)

Another excellent rod is the Manley Pro series

Knowone likes crowers anymore? I prefer oliver and crower but sometimes its about the money and price of the rods. I have never had an issue with crower or oliver other than timeframe to get rods and prices

Knowone likes crowers anymore? I prefer oliver and crower but sometimes its about the money and price of the rods. I have never had an issue with crower or oliver other than timeframe to get rods and prices
=
I do not have a problem with the price at all, this is a top of the line part
Sometimes people are willing to pay for this kind of quality

As I said, Oliver is back on track & the last three sets I ordered they had on the shelf
Stock has been very good of late but if they don't have them it may be a while.
I am a WD for Oliver & have been for many years, great folks to deal with & just like Diamond they actually treat you like they care about your business even if it is a small shop like I am.
I appreciate this, some of these places forget who got them where they are

I think I got the last two cranks they did & talk about a work of art,,,
These things were nice
Too bad they are no more :sad:

Anyway, back to rods,, sorry for wandering George,, :p

I think I got the last two cranks they did & talk about a work of art,,,
These things were nice
Too bad they are no more


I prefer Crower cranks but alot of our customers are bracket racers and will not spend that kind of money. In my opinion crower/bryant makes about the best cranks out there but both can get very pricy

In the bracket engines i have had excellent luck with scat cranks, although i have never used scats H beam rods. I like eagle h beam rods in bracket engines

Dyers does not make a big block rod (as far as I know)
I have Olivers Maxx series in my 555.
Lunatti and Carrillo have falled in quality recently.
Crower makes an excellent rod

I hate to admit how many serious engine I know of making way north of 1000 hp with Eagle rods and holding up fine.

I don't mean to change the topic, but because it's sort of related, have you thought about what rod bolts you will use?...ARP 2000, 3.5, L-19? I have the L-19 ones but this will be the first time I've used those, so I can neither recommend them nor advise against them. The same goes for the Eagle H-beams which I also have, but cannot say "yea", or "nay" about.

I also have used a couple of sets of the Lentz rods as my old partner woks down in Cup land (NC) and is on thier good rod deal.

We have used Crower, Manley, Lentz, Dyers, Carillo, Lanati Pro-Mod rods and Olivers and have had no problems with any of these rods all though both ends of any of these rods have to be checked a sized. And we use the Scat rods with theh 7/16 bolts in our performance street engines we build.

I wonder how Howard's rods compare to some of the top shelf stuff?

I wonder too about the Howard's Rods. They offer 4340 billet pieces at pretty low prices. has anyone run these?

I have Howards billet rods in my 632. Stayed together for a few 8k rpm top end blasts w/o problem so far.

8K with a 4.5 inch arm is pretty impressive. I may seriously look into these. I'm only gonna rev to 6k max and most of the time this motor will live an easy life. Anyone else?

8K with a 4.5 inch arm is pretty impressive. I may seriously look into these. I'm only gonna rev to 6k max and most of the time this motor will live an easy life. Anyone else?

It's actually a 4.75 swing. :D

Dyer's rods are made with 300M material I heard that 300M is even stronger than 4340. Some of the more expensive crankshafts from Crower are 300M.

I heard that 300M is even stronger than 4340. Some of the more expensive crankshafts from Crower are 300M.

Ya it is stronger but a lot of companies can't get 300M during war time and Roger at Dyers has a 3 year contract to buy the 300M material

Some aftermarket transmissions come with 300M input shafts. I wonder if 300M is the same material as 4340, but is simply heat treated and tempered differently, or if it's a whole different alloy all together. I know that heat treating can make steel and other alloys harder, but you can also heat treat to a point where along with the extra hardness comes brittleness too. In the aircraft industry, there's a lot of titanium parts used because of the light weight of titanium as well as the strength. But one of the reasons for the strength of titanium is because it gives and flexes to a certain degree. Therefore the flexibility adds to it's resistence to cracking.

I've run Howards Ultimate Duty Rods for four years without issue and just used them again in a 565 build. They are good qualty parts.

I bet rods made out of 300M have to be tough as nails!! I'm talking TOUGH!!! Check the "charpy" number on it..

That stuff is quite an alloy, imho..

I've got the spec's of it saved at work b/c I never knew what it was.

This is why I say that GM's 300M engine bolts are darn good bolts!!

pdq67

Dyers rods are quite nice! Seen them used in many a honda-rod journal sprint car SBC, and they work great. They make you feel a little giddy just handling them!!

Lunati Pro-Mod rods used to be fine, too, but I'm not sure if they are still forged in the USA or not.

It's getting harder and harder to find genuine US parts anymore. Seems as though companies are getting more and more bashful about where their parts are made at.:(

eagle rod in 355 with dual happy gas..
6 seasons.. no issues.
float'n valves at 7900rpm..
have some really old crowler rods in a 427
no issues 80000 miles of beating
olver rods are nice.. but costly...
and for a 6000rpm engine .are they warrented??

Carillos if you can afford 2500 dollar for a set ;)

Otherwise 1500 dollar Olivers is a good rod.

Well guys, I ended up getting a new set of Lunati Pro Billet rods. Very nice pieces. Better safe than sorry.:thumbsup:

Well guys, I ended up getting a new set of Lunati Pro Billet rods. Very nice pieces. Better safe than sorry.:thumbsup:

Good choice! Mine have served well so far, turning as high as 8060rpm in the traps recently. :thumbsup:

doesnt callies have nice 4340 rods also???? i am sure they do. i would run them if they are designed to match the bobweight for your callies crank.

doesnt callies have nice 4340 rods also???? i am sure they do. i would run them if they are designed to match the bobweight for your callies crank.
=
Cranks do not have bobweights but they do have counterweights ;)

How do you design a rod to match the counterweight?
You match the counterweight to the weight of the reciprocating & rotating parts.

Callies has a rod under the Compstar line but not under the Callies line
Nice piece
They also offer Oliver among other hi quality rods.

Well guys, I ended up getting a new set of Lunati Pro Billet rods. Very nice pieces. Better safe than sorry.:thumbsup:

Yeah, good choice, you'll knock the mains out of the block before you kill one of those rods. Curious,,,,what exactly are you building to warrant such a stout rod?

Well guys, I ended up getting a new set of Lunati Pro Billet rods. Very nice pieces. Better safe than sorry.:thumbsup:


We have used there Forged Promod rod in some of our circle track engines and one of my customers is going on 14 years on a set with the original bushings.

Any one building a SBC with a 3.875 or 4 inch stroke I high recomend these rods as there is plenty of clearance on both the cam and the pan rail any other rod you maybe in trouble.

66rat, I'm building a Procharged 557 for the street. I don't like being out gunned at a traffic light.:yes: Here is the parts list so far:

GM Bowtie Block 25534362 4.5 bore
Callies Dragon Slayer 4.375
Lunati Billet 6.385 rods
AFR cnc'd 305s
Custom Diamond flat tops w/5cc relief for 9:1. Tops coated
Crane hydro roller 254/264 .632 .632 (this is the GM 572/620hp cam)
Dart single plane
CSU 750
ATI D1sc (I'll run this small blower for the summer because I already own it. Next year It'll be an F2 or turbos.

The reason that I'm running a Hydraulic Roller and the 305s is because I intend this to be a low rpm motor, under 6500. It'll be street driven every day as a commuter and I want the reliability and torque without winding it up. I have no problem yanking valve covers and adjusting valves, I just don't want to do it on this motor.

66rat, I'm building a Procharged 557 for the street. I don't like being out gunned at a traffic light.:yes: Here is the parts list so far:

GM Bowtie Block 25534362 4.5 bore
Callies Dragon Slayer 4.375
Lunati Billet 6.385 rods
AFR cnc'd 305s
Custom Diamond flat tops w/5cc relief for 9:1. Tops coated
Crane hydro roller 254/264 .632 .632 (this is the GM 572/620hp cam)
Dart single plane
CSU 750
ATI D1sc (I'll run this small blower for the summer because I already own it. Next year It'll be an F2 or turbos.

The reason that I'm running a Hydraulic Roller and the 305s is because I intend this to be a low rpm motor, under 6500. It'll be street driven every day as a commuter and I want the reliability and torque without winding it up. I have no problem yanking valve covers and adjusting valves, I just don't want to do it on this motor.

Sounds like fun. It ought to rip your head off when you stab the loud pedal. Keep us posted on the build up.

Sounds like fun. It ought to rip your head off when you stab the loud pedal. Keep us posted on the build up.

Now Rob, you and I both know blow-thrus don't work :) :) Sounds like a killer combo to start.

R/ Dave

Well, looks like I'm the Lone Ranger out here that will admit to SCAT H-beams. My 540 has had them in there for 7+ years. Many 7000++ rpm runs....even a few dyno mishaps over 8000rpm.

The bearings always look perfect. Of course it's a N/A deal,,,,but so far I can't complain.



I keep thinking they ought to be on the *freshen up list* some day.



JIM

Well, looks like I'm the Lone Ranger out here that will admit to SCAT H-beams. My 540 has had them in there for 7+ years. Many 7000++ rpm runs....even a few dyno mishaps over 8000rpm.

The bearings always look perfect. Of course it's a N/A deal,,,,but so far I can't complain.



I keep thinking they ought to be on the *freshen up list* some day.



JIM

Throw some L-19's in them and forget it Jim, just don't touch them with bare hands.

The Carrillo, Dyers and Crower are nice but pricey, and it seems you are looking for something in between. I would say the Howard and Lunati Pro Mod rods would fit that bill. I am thinking of using one of the two on my next build, with a Callies crank, just like you.

mike