4" Crank in 318 or 360 - Stock Reconditioned Rods Okay?

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YoungBlood

YoungBlood

Jolt the Squares
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The title says it all. I'm not necessarilly trying to be cheap per say, I'm just curious if it's completely necessary to get stroker rods or whatever for a mild build. If it's physically impossible to use stock rods, then so be it.

My 'HOW TO BUILD BIG INCH MOPAR SMALL BLOCKS' book isn't here yet and I'm itching to know.

If this has been beaten to death, my apologies; search function wasn't helpful.
 
I have a scat 4in. crank in a 360 with stock recon. rods...4 year old motor now with no problems at all. Motor had hit 6000 many times.
 
It shouldn't matter on a mild build at all. Do you already have them reconditioned or something?

My question is if you don't why would you? New rods are less money in most cases and better IMO.
 
All depends on your horsepower level anything over 500 h.p. i'd get some nice h-beams.. under 500 h.p. i would think reconditioned stock rods with the best ARP bolts or a new set of I-beams with the ARP rods should work fine,i've seen the Eagle rods new for under $250.00 been running a set in my 366 for 2 1/2 seasons so far so good..
 
Thanks moparsegura.

HemiEd said:
It shouldn't matter on a mild build at all. Do you already have them reconditioned or something.

My question is if you don't why would you? New rods are less money in most cases and better IMO.
Click to expand...

HemiEd, yes, for the 360. But my 318 is the numbers motor for my car so I'm really thinking how rad it would be to hog out that little sucker, you know?

Again, mild stroker, so I thought maybe just shot peen the 318 rods and get hughes stroker 9.5 pistons wiith the mp 4" cast crank from mancini. Sounds logical, yes? But worth the money to shot peen vs. new rods? Need help there...
 
stroked 340 said:
All depends on your horsepower level anything over 500 h.p. i'd get some nice h-beams.. under 500 h.p. i would think reconditioned stock rods with the best ARP bolts or a new set of I-beams with the ARP rods should work fine,i've seen the Eagle rods new for under $250.00 been running a set in my 366 for 2 1/2 seasons so far so good..
Click to expand...

The goal, to be honest, is to keep this tire-fryer under 400hp/tq. Reliability is huge here.

I'm very much on the stroker-wagon, but I can't deny the many, many years of dedicated service this 'teen has given.

Through beatings and 6000 rpm burnouts she has always been able to be a turnkey daily or 400 mile one-way driver without ever going over 200 degrees on an engine with 200,000 miles. Yes, she drinks oil, but never leaves me stranded.

****, even typing this causes me to second-guess stroking haha why mess with a perfect recipe? Best engine I've ever had... 318 is my favorite motor ever produced.
 
HemiEd said:
It shouldn't matter on a mild build at all. Do you already have them reconditioned or something?

My question is if you don't why would you? New rods are less money in most cases and better IMO.
Click to expand...
X2 the machine shop that built my motor we figured out the cost of all the machining needed to do recondition the old rods, the new rods were cheaper, that and I bought a complete kit from Indy, that way everything matched up, I have Eagle parts, I guess most guys on here like the Scat stuff better, so far my engine seems to run fine, the machinist that balanced my engine said this was the first time he had to remove weight from the crank that most of the time you have to add weight which costs more as mallory metal is $$$ I would go new JMO.
 
YoungBlood said:
Thanks moparsegura.



HemiEd, yes, for the 360. But my 318 is the numbers motor for my car so I'm really thinking how rad it would be to hog out that little sucker, you know?

Again, mild stroker, so I thought maybe just shot peen the 318 rods and get hughes stroker 9.5 pistons wiith the mp 4" cast crank from mancini. Sounds logical, yes? But worth the money to shot peen vs. new rods? Need help there...
Click to expand...

To have the stock rods reworked, It will cost nearly the same as getting a nice set of Scat I-beams which are like 3 times as strong in most cases. A stroker will get you *** loads more torque where you don't expect it, those tires of yours will never know whats going to hit them..
 
I reconditioned my stock rods for my 340. After having it done, I would just buy a new set of I-beams for anything under 500 hp. After you have the stock rods reconditioned and buy ARP bolts you're spending about the same amount of money, maybe more depending on your machine shop.

Plus, the stock 318 rods were lighter than the 340/360 rods. I'd venture to say even the I-beam rods out there are significantly stronger than the stock 318 versions, plus you know they're not 40+ year old used rods.
 
I have the light floater 318 rods in my 390, and it spends a lot of its time running WOT at 3500-4000rpm with no issues........... Something none of your car motors do.

So if that says anything. (They are peened tho)
 
Thanks guys. I went ahead and ordered a set of Eagle I beams with ARP bolts just now. Figure they will do the job at 400hp and below just fine.
 
I would trust stock worked OEM chrysler rods than any of them chinese scat junk or any of the rest of um. Simply cause the metal in them stock ones are better than any of it comin from china.
 
Having used both, I think I'd use the SIR rods. They had some metalurgy issues but they seem to have been worked that out a few years ago. The thing is, stock rods are heavy on the big end, which means mallory to internal balance if using a cast crank. I do all my engines internally. So the prices are close for reconditioning and new bolts, plus the extra mallory to balance a cast crank with them. The SIRs are cheap and just seem to work. They do have wieghts all over the place tho. Dont trust they are close to matched...lol.
 
Given the price of the SCAT 4340 I beams... vs 40 yrs old rods or 5140 SIR I beams...

makes my choice easy...SCAT...got 2 sets in use....one in a stroker and one is standard stroke 360..
 
StrokerScamp said:
I would trust stock worked OEM chrysler rods than any of them chinese scat junk or any of the rest of um. Simply cause the metal in them stock ones are better than any of it comin from china.
Click to expand...

Plus by having your local machine shop do the work you are helping out people here at home and not over in China.

Personally I think reliability and 4 inch cranks in a SB don't go together. And my little 340 sees 4,000 rpm's plus on the freeways. Its got 3.91 gears, 26 inch tires and I go 75 mph plus, no harm expecting watch the gas gauge move down
 
YoungBlood said:
The title says it all. I'm not necessarilly trying to be cheap per say, I'm just curious if it's completely necessary to get stroker rods or whatever for a mild build. If it's physically impossible to use stock rods, then so be it.

My 'HOW TO BUILD BIG INCH MOPAR SMALL BLOCKS' book isn't here yet and I'm itching to know.

If this has been beaten to death, my apologies; search function wasn't helpful.
Click to expand...

they'll work fine.
 
You have to knotch the block with stock rods where as with Scat I-beams you don't with a 4" crank. Plus the Scat rods are lighter and stronger. Lighter pistons/rods means less stress on crank and main caps.
 
i have a half dozen+ sets of 340 rods but this tread was the
deal maker:
.............Mancini has the SIR rods on sale for $99............
...i went there 5 minutes ago and ordered up a couple sets
thxs 65terror !!!!!
 
I have put more than 300hp hits on factory, 318, 340, 360, 383, 400 & 440 rods... non polished beams
That was the bottle addition, not what those motors made without the bottle..

never broke a rod, pistons yes

Here's the kicker, i would rather put 2 stgs at 250 each on a factory rod then something new from china...

Spend good money on REAL good light piston and pin, polish the beams and that rod isn't going to work as hard anyway.. i doubt the $99 sir rod is stronger, notice they're compared with the gm pink rod...
 
The old iron was cast with lots of nickle and other expensive/toxic alloys. I know China could care less about harming the environment but if they can save a few penny's on each part I'm sure they try to.

Yeah some of this is 40 years old now but if you can find the rods from a low compression 340 which looks not to been modify much, likely those rods had an easy life.

Some of the good stuff got beat up in the late 70's by the low octane gas, maybe one piston cracked and some how the rods got used again in other motor. Then years later, bang one of those rods breaks under load. So now China $99 rods are "better"
 
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