well i broke a piston so im going le2 with 150 shot.im getting speed pro forged pistions. but i heard that lt1 rods are junk and ive got a 305 out of a 90 camaro. i was just wandering if the rods out of the 305 would work and be better than lt1 rods.

 

The LT1 rods are better....you may want to go for an aftermarket rod with the gas....some people use stoskers with ARP bolts in them.....

 

The later LT1 rods are powdered metal and supposedly pretty stout for stock rods.

However, I'd buy some aftermarket rods (Scat Eagle etc) for $250 and gain a little piece of mind.

 

Darn it I took too long to post again.

I'd also use 6" rods with a 1.25" compression height forged piston.

 

Yes, there is no difference in pistons and rods from Gen I to Gen II. I would use stock rods over the bottom line Scat or Eagle stuff any day of the week and twice on Sunday. The stock rod bolts are also good. The Gen II uses a 1-piece rear crank seal, so you need to be sure that is what you buy if you decide to upgrade the crank.

Rich

 

the new chevy(lt1and tpi) cranks and pistons have less bob weight then the old sbc .you have to use all lt1 or all sbc parts (small block chevy parts whould be a step back as to the lt1 parts).dont half *** a motor get a new set of lt1 spec rods .

 

GMPP sells the "LT1" powdered metal rods as good too 450hp have seen other catalogues sell them as good too 500hp and most who have actually broken them were either over 600hp or over 7000rpms.
So basically stop listening too whomever told you the stock rods were anything less than pretty good.

 

I for one have spun them to 7200 shifts with stock bolts for the past 2 seasons.....they are all still within spec, so I would say they are better than a $299 replacement

 

When my tranny went out I had no choice but to push the motor to redline. I did this for a good solid 2 months. Motor had 75k on it at the time. It survived that assault and has 105k on it right now. Runs like a champ. I'de say the rods are a little better than "less than pretty good".

 

I hope you understood I was defending the stock rods, they work pretty good for me.
Last stock shortblock lost a rod bearing at 6000rpms there was ZERO bearing left between the journal and rod, the crank is visibly undersized yet the rod never let go.
I had cammed that motor at 65K, did the AI package at 95K and the bearing went over 101K. If I had rebearinged it at the heads and cam swap bet it would have been fine still.

 

I was skeptical of the powdered metal process initially, but the stock LT1 rods stand up like champs. Good point made by er-z about balancing. But any new parts (unless exact stock replacements) will need balancing. Even stock parts should theoretically be balanced, but stock tolerances are pretty good.

Rich

 

96capricemgr

I know. I was just simply backing you up.