Eagle SIR6123CB rods Vs stock.

65 Cuda 340 said
Friend of mine did some weight/length comparison between a set of stock 440 rods and aftermarket (Scat, I believe). Aftermarket rods were lighter, weights were much more consistent, as were lengths.

That said, I have stock rods in all my motors, mostly because I rebuilt them before inexpensive aftermarket rods were available. None of them race motors, but are pretty fast street cars that have been driven hard. Never had a problem with the stock rods in any of them.

I did break a rod in a 440, though. I rebuilt the junkyard 440 in my Dad's 62 Dodge. Very high mileage, worn out motor - it used a quart of oil every 40 miles. So we bored it .030, new pistons, ground the crank, reconditioned the rods. This was my first motor to rebuild (back around 1980 or so), and it never occurred to me to replace the original rod bolts. Well, one of them broke one day when Dad was hauling ***, breaking the rod (or at least the rod cap), and ruining that cylinder. Have not re-used old rod bolts since.

Right! But once again the rid failure was due to "something else". I have no doubt whatsoever that there have been rods "just let go" but as of yet, I've not seen one. That's always been a contributing factor.

And all the things you say comparing stock to aftermarket are 100% true, BUT can also be corrected with the factory rods. Of course, cost does become a factor, but IMO, you end up with better metal using reworked factory rods.

And yes, I'm basing that opinion only on my own personal experience and everything I've read regarding overseas metallurgy.

Even when looking for antique cooking cast iron pans, you always go to the vintage stuff, because it's much more dense and has much less sand in the casting. Even the new Lodge stuff is total bullshit compared to Griswold, or Wagner or any other older American made cast iron pot or pan. Same is true for other metals too. Unless it just gets way too costly, I'll stick with factory rods.