Thread: Use 400 rods or 350 rods in 383?

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Originally posted by techinspector1
the jury is still out on long versus short rods as far as horsepower is concerned. Here are 2 views on the subject. I don't know who wrote the Desert Performance piece, but the second piece was written by Ron Iskendarian, son of the famous "camfather" Ed Iskendarian.
http://www.desertperformance.com/bulletins.htm
http://www.iskycams.com/techtips.html#2005

Both of those are interesting articles, BUT they do not show any concrete evidence of what they claim, like dyno sheets of the same engine with different rods (I remember seeing this somewhere, but I can't find the magazine to scan it)...So in other words, it's just their opinions as far as I'm concerned.

When you consider that stock 400 rods are over 20 years old and are probably fatigued, and it would be smarter and probably cheaper to just by Eagle SIR rods, why wouldn't you buy the 5.7" rods? Isky even admited in his article that the longer rod will increase HP, but by a lower amount than what he claims to be "hype", so if youre changing the rods and pistons... why do it half-assed? Get the longer rods with the 5.7" pistons and make the extra few HP, whether it be 5-7hp or 30hp, youre changing the rods anyways and every last HP counts.

Apparently rasing the rod/stroke ratio has an effect of moving the power band up a little...I don't know if this is entirely true as I have not seen any tests to prove this.

And the clearance problem with 5.7" isn't that bad with the Eagle SIR rods, just take your time and use clay to measure the clearances....And like I said TAKE YOUR TIME, you can't replace metal if you've taken too much off.