To me, it's a wash. You buy the cheap(er) Chevy rods, but then have to have the journals modded to fit. Where's the savings? The weight and smaller bearing surface thing I just bet is a minuscule advantage, if even measurable. It all came about when one of the magazines did it, published it and it was accepted as gospel. Chrysler engineers knew what they were doing making crank journals and rods the size they did. That's one big reason in my mind why Chrysler engines are more heavy duty than other makes. The .903 lifter, the large by huge connecting rods, the bigger journals on the crankshafts. You start taking all that away and you don't have a Chrysler engine anymore, you have something inferior.