Thread: Aluminum rods, pros/cons

Tweet

Not a street car. And I don't want to drive it in cold temps. Looking for advice on useing them.Any suggestions,please help,they are expensive and I don't want to waste money for a few rev's.if they are not good.

What application, exactly?

Pro's: They cushion the impulses generated each time a cylinder making 800 hp fires like that found in a nitro car. The rods are relatively cheap.

Con's: They stretch at high rpms so piston to cylinder head clearances must be large. They have a very short fatigue life and wont last long in a car that will see a lot of miles. They are large and don't fit in small engine blocks well. Steel rods of comperable strength can be made lighter.

Aluminum rods have a very limited application and there are many reasons you don't see them used more often.

They would go in a SBC 283 brackett truck. I have pistons .030 that are domed and depending on which head I use will be running around 12.5:1 compression.This piston is the main reason I am wondering about aluminum rods and the fact that I'll be under 400HP.I realize that I wouldn't need them but just wondering if they would be an improvement or not due to being lite.
76GMC1500, If they get weak do to fatigue that is a deffinate point to consider because they are used.

there is many lite weigh steel rods. small journal rods scat .lunati.wheeler.howards .crowers. and many more . they all make a lite steel rod . good aluminum rods are not cheap. a stock rework rod with good bolts will do for you. but it may be cheaper. buy a set of new steel rods. there is a very limited place for aluminum rods. and they need to be replaces after a limited amount of runs they may look great on a rebuild BUT they can fail if runed past there time

Thanks Pat. I've heard that the weakest thing about these paticular motors is the rods. After I took them out of the motor and went to store them away I happened to have an old Ford 302,1978,rod/piston laying there. I put it by the 283 rod/piston and about fell over. Displacement wise,283 & 302 are not to far apart but the rod size difference is amazing.The ford rod looks like a super heavyduty compared to the 283 rod. Pat,are you old enough to remember the days of the sbc 301 build? If so,do you know what rod they used in the bored 283 then?

had a freind that ran some small chevys but not sure on the size i will see him wednesday i can ask him or try .7854xnumber of cyl x stroke x bore x bore. it may had a 3.250 crank in it 306?

Pat,you must be a youngin or just don't remember. The 301 chevy was back in the early 60's.It actually was the 283 bored out .125 overbore which resulted in a 4"bore with a 3.00"stroke.Some guys made them before GM's 'made for trans-am' z28 302 motor.Which technically speaking,is a 301+ rounded off/up to a 302.I don't know if all the 283's could be bored that much but some of them could.I owned a 302 in the 60's and those little motors like to rev but there's not much interest in them now days.

hmmm 42 years old .not a big small block guy . have built alot more big block chevys. that one bank is 283 or bigger. i do not think that many 283 could go out that fare . i would sonic check the block