low mileage 360 teardown explanation ?????

twotone68 said
I Just purchased a 71 360 out of a c body, very low mileage n seems very original. two different colored rods??? a 2 copper colored the rest standard colored ??? pistons-3418919 09104, main caps are stamped-5-9-71. Could some one explain the rods n different production dates ???

Very simple to explain the different color rods. If they are press fit (which I believe the 360's are), then they have to heat the rod to install the wrist pin. Depending on the temperature that they used to pin the rods, it may change the color to a brown/straw color. There's nothing wrong with the brown/straw type color.

It's when they turn blue that the microstructure of the rod is compromised, which usually happens over 517° F....

The different color rods could have been pinned in a different rod pinning machine than the others. It takes more than one rod pinning station to keep up with a v-8 assembly line....

Now the different production dates on the rods that you are inquiring about, may be the casting date. I haven't seen any engine assy line that date marked when the pistons and rods were pinned. There is no guarantee that the rods were used in the same order that they were produced. Material control (who supplies the parts to the line) did not always rotate the stock properly, and some older ones may be hanging around...

Then there are the teardown engines where there is a defect after final assy, then they get sent to teardown and the re-usable parts are brought back to the assy line. Very easy to mix and match parts and dates in that process... Any non re-usable parts are then scrapped...