would manley aluminum rods suffice for a street driven stock displacement LT1 under 500 HP? thanks

 

Aluminum rods are not for street use. They would stretch before the end of summer.

 

I dont agree the reason they strech is not use. its use above 5500 rpms on a sbc with under 500 flywheel hp with normal street driving and occasional rough use they would last years. just check the bearings once a year and replace if needed.

 

Aluminum rods are NOT for street duty. They have to be idled 15-20 min to warm them up and the oil before driving or have a heater on the pan to heat the oil and then they have to be idled a while to warm the metal up. They run more clearance than steel rods,and the metal fatigue factor is about 1000 miles before they break. All in all they ain't worth it for the small gain.
If you had a trailer queen you would change them every season if you raced every weekend.
Hp isn't the thing it is the cycles to fatigue point and breakage.

 

well give childs and albert a call cause we have some guys been running there rods with them standing behind us for years. I find with alum rods the avarage person knows 99% myth and 1 % fact. as far as the 15 to 20 min thing wow where did you get that from i run r&r alum rods and i fire up the rail do my burn out and go down the track total run time under two minute's

 

Also 1k miles before they break haha yeah right guess i should tell my buddy he has a 540 ci bbc pushing 20 lbs through a 14-71 and has about 11k on them with bearing changes every fall in his street driven 67 elcamino

 

People can do what they want but I have seen them broken in the driveway.
I use to use them in my circle track engines untill I got wise to the limitations and expence.
If you want to bear the expence of the balance job and the replacement cost, or a new engine,FINE byt it ain't worth it.

When was the last time YOU (not your buddy) ran a set??????

 

well i dont run them in the ta but my 02 undercover does. call childs and albert they will say the same as i did under 500 flywheel and most under 5500 rpms will last a long time. you say circle track well seeing some of those guys motors no wonder they break

 

I build engines!!!!! I have 3 customers that run the local 1/2 mile here in full bodies. The engines I build for them turn 8 grand all night long and last a season before freshening. They all have run the same short block pieces for 2 going on 3 seasons and run in the top 5 ALL the time.
I will bet that the quality of these engines far exceeds anything most have been running or seen run or built. They ain't "bomber" class.
I am on C&A small shop "builders" program so I am well up to date on there products and have done some r&d for them.
I will 2 to 1 put a set of steel rods in any engine vs alum. any day. On a SBC the balance job alone is $700.00 or more to run aluminum rods and the serve NO purpose in you don't have a $2500.00 super light crank and $1500.00 lightweight pistons. The brain damage to run them is over the top.
You won't see any gains on the dyno over a light set of steel rods and the fatigue factor is 10 times what a steel rod is.
SO run what ya brung and hope ya brung enough 'cause I will be back next week without an engine rebuild.
Put a set in your engine and drive it everyday and see if the pucker factor of "when they gonna break" or the extra work of checking them is worth it. To my knowledge there is no way other than measuring to tell if they have reached their limit.If they ain't out of spect then are they OK?? Or is the next time you wind them up are they going to break?? And who wants to build a SBC that won't turn over 5500RPM's can't make much power like that.BB is a different story but the ones I have fooled with make power @ 6500 or above.You can make a butt load of torque with a BB below 5500 and thats all. Torque gets it moving-HP takes it out the back door.

 

I have to disagree with the streetability of Aluminum rods. I have yet to see any daily driven car with them lasting very long. Drag racers ? yes... They put far less miles on their cars than the average streeet cruiser. And who the hell wants to rebuild a engine every year ???

-Shannon

 

Aluminum rods are cheap (relatively), light and strong. But there's a reason you don't see them on street cars.They will not last, end of story. I suppose if you weren't making any power or turning over 5,500rpm they might last, as someone suggested. But you aren't turning over 5,500rpm and making more than 500hp, what the heck do you need a fancy set of rods for? As 1racerdude said, they are of no benefit unless you are running an exotic crank and pistons. Why would you that and stay under 500hp at less than 5,500rpm? Talk about a mismatched combo.....

Rich

 

One important point I feel has been missed for under 500hp the STOCK rods are fine shouldn't that end the conversation. Even if some want too argue that aluminum will work on the street still why bother when what is there will serve the purpose perfectly.

 

wow, thanks for the replies!! . my car will be mostly a daily driver when finished so i guess aluminum rods are a no-no. i'm replacing the bottom end because the engine hydrolocked a while back and want brand new stuff in there.
i saw some of those rods for like 200 on ebay, that's why i was asking. thanks again for the replies