[Roar]

Well who is the best ones of these 2.

[Roar]

Well who is the best ones of these 2.

[WARPed]

Based on price alone I would expect the Carillo rods to be the best. But up to 650-700 hp (maybe more) the Eagle rods are hard to beat. Both of my motors, 417 & 467, have Eagle rods in them.

------------------
417 motor................................467 motor
10.854@123.44........................not ran yet
6.947@100.65..........................6.536@105.04
brooksa@gte.net

[Ron]

Eagles, I would not have a problem running them in horsepowers over 850.

[Bracket Racer]

I have built a few Eagle rodded motors including two of my own and wouldn't flinch on using them in applications approaching 900 + with Nitrous. I have had to set the big end size with some of them to get the clearances I like. I had one set that all checked on the high side a little but this was unusual from what I have seen normally. Balance has always checked out real good, I check everything even when their out of the box new.

[Steve C.]

Plus look at the cost..... JBP is now advertising Eagle rods at $479 !

[Tom McQueen]

I use the Eagles. Have a set for the new motor, but I always get the ARP-2000 bolt upgrade. For 140 bucks its cheap insurance.

[Half-Inch Stud]

Since your on the subject: I'm curious to how the SD455 rods rank these days, in terms of performance/cost, considering a set of 8 cost $450 in 1993?
I have heard that certain stamp codes were too hard on the little-end, or too soft on the big end. Not sure if these winey tales were accurate or just reasons to explain an over-rev or neglected oil delivery. Both my 470inch motors have the SD455 rods, with side-beam prep.

[AG]

I was told by someone who spoke to a Pontiac engineer that the over-the-counter SD455 rods were no good because they did not receive any heat treatment. He told me only to get a set from a motor because they all received the proper heat treatment. He also said that the over-the-counter sets could be heat treated but would need a complete rebuild after. He runs SD455 rods in his 750Hp Super Pro F-bird to low 9's.

[Tom McQueen]

I have 2 sets of SD-455 rods. They are strong (though I doubt they are as strong as an Eagle) and they are VERY heavy. If you can get a set cheap, maybe they are woth it, but I would throw away the factory bolts and nuts and get them Rockwell tested.

[Half-Inch Stud]

Too much rebel in me:

I used the factory SD Bolts and nuts in both motors. Had a seasoned aerospace ME look them over and got his blessing: The SD-bolt Slip-fit is a light press-fit for stable cap parting line alignment, bolt tapers allow for predictable stretch zone, bolt head allows proper load spreading and stability. Nut is pretty simple, as light as you can get it to be - next to having a threaded rod.

Bolt stretch is key to Safety Margin: optimizing the clamping force to non-compressible cap, while holding cap to zero gap as piston is thrown into the head [max tension at max acceleration], in vibration environment.

Takes a pretty special 7/16 Rod bolt/head to make the design fit into the SD rod. Somewhere in my engine notebook there's a recommended replacement bolt. I looked at them, and did not buy them. Useful for one of youz to post the Part#. Certainly was not a Knurled bolt - Nope.

Would be verbose to delve into roundness, bearing clearances under high-rev, contribution of the Rod Bolt torque set, and why some motors have scattered due to spun rod bearings...."oh it looked like the rod bolt gave first, then the bearing couldn't possibly hold-up". I had the dishonary privledge of having an SD-Rod 455 motor let loose at 3000RpM after a day of racing. All my fault for running rod bearings that were 6 years old and reving the motor to next Tuesday. Made value out of it by carefully investigating the degradation mode [s] that lead to the failure. Final analysis was the bluing on the rod /rod journal, combined with spun/melted rod bearings indicated big end went out of round [too many overrevs], took oval set, bearing halves took on overlap and spun, forced their fit upon the big-end, Rod bolts took and held the grunt, bearings wore some more and created slop learance, rod bolts now effectively loose, one SD-rod nut spun down into the pan, other SD-Rod bolt doing all the work. Loose Rod cap snagged other cap, or something, and bent the working bolt beyond ability, bolt snapped over, like taffy. Other rod bolt got a flat on the threads from the crank. The rest is depressing. I'd say the SD-Rod bolts did well.

During all of that, Driver with 10Lbs of warm seat cushion, on a packed highway lookin for a place to pull off.

I go as far to say a Stock Cast Iron cap, or other stiff cap is better than the SD Cap - for maintining roundness under high-RPM loading.

Cast 4-Bolt main caps with Studs did well.

Well, in defending the SD Rod-Bolts, I've thought myself into Eagle Rods...does the Performance/cost trade ever end on any particular part?

[Tom McQueen]

Call ARP for the SD-455 rod bolts. They have a special set for just this rod. Stretch is ~.009 if my memory is still on. I also had the factory pieces checked and the guy who checked them said he wouldnt use them in his wifes station wagon. And he was not trying to sell me any rod bolts. I have a full set of never used SD-455 rod bolts and nuts sitting in a jar. Makes a nice paper weight.