I know they are crazy priced, and I have heard that they have some issues with retention on the bolts, but if I am sticking everything together to be really light, so I have a high rpm engine, like the superlight crank, and all the hardware in the heads that I have, why not do the rods as well? I also cannot decide if I should turbo it, or supercharge it. Everyone has their own opinion, and I am sure that the rods would be just a huge waste of money for a street/strip car, but since my wife says I can build my car once, why not do it to the max?

The way I see it, and that usually is not the right way, is that a nice high rpm 355 LT1, with titanium rods, superlight crank, and the pistons my machinist says will work awesome if I do decide to go this way, coupled with the McLeod twin with Aluminum flywheel, carbon fiber d/s, and superlight rims, I should be able to pull mid to high 8000rpm which a turbo or supercharger would love! I know I would not have much down low, but I am a highspeed kind of guy, and if I can get the rpms to come up quick, I should be able to roll out just as fast. Is my logic taking me down a wasted path? I know I could do just fine with some nice forged rods, but the gram difference is like the weight of eliminating two of the forged rods by going with titanium (close~435 ti to 545 forged). That is alot!

I know there are threads about this, but I am looking for more of an "entire package/idea" answer. Thanks for any opinions on my thoughts!

 

Just a side note that you already thought about, but won't you have to go carbed to rev to 8k RPM? I think the stock pcm and opti are only good to a little over 7k.

 

get a ltcc or delteq setup and the limit on the opti goes way up. also, the stock ecm can be tuned to overcome this.

the only bad thing about ti is that it's really brittle. yes it way stronger than steel, yes you can use less to make it lighter than steel, and yes you can weld it like stainless but still...when it goes it will leave no traces of why nor will it let you know when it's going to go.

i was thinking of making some components out of this stuff like control arms, front and rear...upper and lower, PHR, TA, STB, pullies (2 piece), roll cages....just about anything tubular or sheet. the thing that's stopping me now is it's really brittle. extremely strong but people wont buy it because it's reputation.

i think you'll be fine with the rods since GM's new ls7 is made with ti parts. i think also that since russia released ti into the market it'll come down in price...much lower than it is now.

 

sorry but i think you are incorrect about the pcm. An obdI set up takes a dump at 7k and i believe the obdII is 7500, my buddy tqdrivenws6 has the delteq and the obdI and is limited to about 7100, if u go any higher the computer freaks out and the car miss fires badly untill you re set it, ask me how i know, lol. To turn hig 8's a carb or after market set up will be needed, not to mention some crazy heads.

 

The computer is the aspect of this that I am finally getting to now. I like to plan out what I want, and how much, then take it step by step to get it the way I want, since my wife will only let me do it once! I have looked at the Accel gen VII system, as well as the fast system, and then there is the Mega-squirt and Bigstuff (maybe that one is wrong?). If worst came to worst, there is always the "drill the back of the intake and run a dis." There is soooooo much to consider, and I would like to keep it looking as stock as possible, but a single plane would, or most likely should, be my better route to take. You think a factory LT1 intake could keep up with 8k rpm force fed? I know right now the heads I have are in the high 290's on flow at .600, and he said there was alot more that he could go, but that I would suffer in the lower lift ranges alot by going more. I guess right now the heads are making really healthy velocity numbers across the boards, and touch 300 cfm at .650. The cam is some custom grind, not sure whos he ordered, but I guess it will work REALLY well with what I am trying to do, which is all we ever hope for.

I did not know Russia had opened up that market........I guess the price has not gone down yet, since the rods I looked at were $2599.99 for a set of 8! Also, something else was brought up to me about the crankshaft. I can get one that has a main journal the size of a Honda journal on it, and that is supposed to make a huge difference in the bottom end, but not much specifics was given on that subject. That is the problem with spending so much money, who do you listen too, who is right, and how do you decide on what to do in the end.........it always seems there is a "well, if you would have done this or that, then you would have had........."

 

Wow, it's hard to know where to start. So I wil just make two observations. You are right, Ti rods will be a waste of $$$. If you are using LT1 heads and intake, you can't flow enough air to run at 8,000rpm.

Rich

 

Just buy a new vet and be done with it. By the time you get done fooling with an Lt1 including titanium rods, etc. you would have been able to afford one and have 500+ hp out of box and 800+ with boost, etc. JMHO

 

What heads are these?? I hope he's not talking about the stock castings.

 

Well, what is really going to happen is that i am going to run out of displacment before I run out of head.

 

my experience with titanium is it is a good filler metal that that is all. Pure titanium is almost like a brittle rock. Now mix it with steel or aluminum and you have a kick butt alloy that is really strong and really light.

 

The engine you want to rev to 8K, it will be LT-Nothing.
You are looking at a sb2 cup engine, or something else crazy (look up All-Pro heads, they flow over 400 cfm ). The engine you want will probably cost about 20K, and the car to hold it will be 40K more. If you have that kind of coin I would contact a hevy hitting Pro to build you an engine/ car.

Also, Ditto rskrause

 

YES!!! Buy a new Z06 Corvette, and if you don't have the money for the Z06, then you don't have the money for all the crap outlined in your thread.

 

Buddy of mine built a 1,125HP LT1, 383 with 20+ # of Vortech boost. Routinely spun it to 8,000+rpm. A set of Oliver billet rods worked just fine.

http://www.oliver-rods.com/products/BilletIndex.html

 

I wish my pockets were this deep.

Big waste of money on an LT1. Honestly.

Buy the best forged bottom end you can afford, supercharge it ( Because a good centrifugal will make damn near the power a equivilent turbo kit for our cars will, and will cost much less, and be less cluttered under the hood ) and run a good amount of boost. Get a custom blower cam, and use the heads you have. This will get you up there in power.

And take the money you will save from not wasting it on those rods, and make yourself one hell of a fuel system.

 

Ok, normally I dont respond to anyones criticism because I respect others opinions. That is why I posted "THINKING about...." However, your comment is just ignorant! You think because someone cannot afford an $80,000 car, they cannot afford to stick half that into the one they already have? I paid a whopping $13,500 for my car back in 2001, with 55k on the clock, and I have another 5 in it with the mods I have done since, so now I am at $18,500, and I have $61,500 to spend on my car.....I am thinking that if that was the case, the vette would be toast!

On the other hand, the price and the brittleness seem to be the big downfalls of the titanium. It was just a thought, kind of a fishing expedition. How many LT1's are out running around with them right now? What effect has it had on a combination over forged, or aluminum? Oliver has some very nice stuff, as does some of the other companies, and more than likely that is the route that I will end up on. Like I have posted before, my wife is only letting me build my car once, so I am taking my time, and trying to decide how extreme I want it. Money, in this case is not so much the deciding factor, since I have the time to buy what I want. However, I do not plan on spending $60k on an engine, but who knows, maybe I will. Going out and buying a whole nother car like a brand new Z06 sure would be nice, but then I would have car payments again, and then I would have to change something, and so far, nothing for that car is cheap.