lightening con rods

chopper

New Member
Ok so we can get the machine shop to lighten our crank and forge pistons are lighter than standard (even at a larger bore).
Has anyone tried to have there standard con rods lightened?
People say the standard rods are good for 450-500BHP but what about if we lightened them?
Would we notice anything or not worth the hassel?
 

stumo

Active Member
Whytie, whilst some of the longer established members might find your comment funny, many new and younger members will find it frustrating and unhelpful because they lack a sensayuma which seems prevalent in that age group.
 

chopper

New Member
I on the other hand do find this amusing but a sensible answer might help lol. plus the amount of ball rubbing going on around here over the last few day its becoming all a bit gay!

I looked at buying some but they are only for really high power cars (not to mention expensive!). I'm not building a high power (360BHP MAX) car but thought as i am building it i might as well get the best responsiveness as i can. It has always been my under standing that the lighter the engine internals the quicker reving it would be and the less power loss there would be.
 

Mr B

Member
If you want to spend money on your standard rods get them crack tested & peened & fit good rod bolts & do a top job setting up bearing clearances & torquing the bolts, 500hp on standard rods at sensible RPM limit is no problem, most failures are caused by other faults first & going the easily available/cheapish 17mm bearing forged rod option is not something I would want to spend money on ... Money would be best spent on top turbo option & top setup/mapping as more performance ground for £ will be achieved in these areas ...
 
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stumo

Active Member
I on the other hand do find this amusing but a sensible answer might help lol. plus the amount of ball rubbing going on around here over the last few day its becoming all a bit gay!

I looked at buying some but they are only for really high power cars (not to mention expensive!). I'm not building a high power (360BHP MAX) car but thought as i am building it i might as well get the best responsiveness as i can. It has always been my under standing that the lighter the engine internals the quicker reving it would be and the less power loss there would be.
Chopper, whilst you appreciate ball rubbing humour, others, including some Mods, don't. Also, if you rub your own balls , how could that possibly be gay?

Aftermarket pistons can be lighter due to better material/ design/ shorter lifespan etc, and cranks can be lightened due to removing weight that's used for balancing it, removing material from rods is tricky.

TBH, if you want to do anything to them you could bet them polished, shotpeined, etc etc but it's generally a waste of money, just fit ARP rod bolts and reuse them (after getting them crack tested)

Rubbing your balls on them would indeed make them much lighter but your ballsack would be red raw before any performance enhancement would be noticed.
 

chopper

New Member
Cheers stumo,
The ball rubbing thing is a bit like watching porn in your living room with your mates, its not gay as your not touching each other but touching yourself that much with your mates there isnt quite right!

I spoke to the machinist and they said "when you bring your crank for lightening and balancing we will have a look". didnt know if it had been done before.
 

skiddusmarkus

Active Member
I had my crank and rods(steel par ones) lightened and balanced and along with 5kg flywheel and alloy pulleys it does rev faster than it used to.How much difference the rods alone would make, who knows as they are not exactly heavy in the 1st place.
 

Trondelond

Active Member
How much will the lightening affect the strength of the rods though? I think that's a variable I'd have lurking in the back of my head. But I'm no metallurgist. I've had my OE rods balanced, and they are still in one piece.

Had my balls lightened though, that was a much bigger improvement.
 

campbellju

Moderators
Staff member
IMO lighten your flywheel if you want response, leave your rods alone for reliability.

I've run standard rods on a superlight flywheel and lighter PAR rods on a light (but heavier) flywheel. The lighter flywheel made more difference than the lighter rods, no doubt at all.

Balancing everything will help with either way.

Rubbing your balls against them won't help but might make you feel better :)
 

Trondelond

Active Member
The standard engine seems to be quite badly balanced, after I had the innards and outards balanced, there was less perceived engine vibration in the car, even with stiffer engine mounts.
 

stumo

Active Member
The standard engine seems to be quite badly balanced, after I had the innards and outards balanced, there was less perceived engine vibration in the car, even with stiffer engine mounts.
Yeah, a properly balanced engine is pretty smooth, even with massively oversized pistons.
 

Mr B

Member
Pauter are nice rods & 19mm bearing compatible, If standard ones don't pass inspection or up to build requirements then worth thinking about ... Bit of ball rubbing while looking at or handling Pauter rods is perfectly natural ...
 
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chopper

New Member
Not at that price for Pauter's! i am going to see what the machine shop can do (if anything) and maybe have them shot peened after to bring the strength back up. the money will be going on pistions before forged rods when realisticly i dont need forged rods for what i'm doing. i let you know what happeneds.
 
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