stock 340 rods

This is the biggest thing on building a high performance engine as far as parts go.

New rods are cost effective over stock rods. Use stock rods if you must for the class of racing your doing. Otherwise, new con rods are cheaper and stronger (Not all of them though) than reworked and tweaked OE rods.

The OE rod can and will take alot of RPm and power, but at the cost.....well. like I said above.

Power does have an effect on longevity on any engine part.