Is a forged lightweight connecting rod (I beam) good for a 200 shot of nitrous? If so can some recommend a good brand to go with or advise of what would be a better connecting rod to go with for this set up. I'm putting together a nitrous friendly 355.

 

I guess it depends on how much power you plan on making, and what you define as a "lightweight I beam". I know Howards has their powdered I-beams that will take a ridiculous amount of horsepower, not sure if those are considered lightweight though. I am selling a set of forged GM 5.7 PM rods, you can pm me if you are interested.

I hear that you can get away with an I beam connecting rod with nitrous more easily than you can with high compression/blown setups since you are only stressing the connecting rods under acceleration and not stressing the tensile strength of the rods.

Then again there are a lot of internet rumors as well as old wives tales that may never be 100% proven or disproven. I know I sprayed a 100 shot on my 350HO a few times with an I beam rod and cast piston and they held together fine but that isn't saying much.

 

I dunno..
Those rods in a 6" only weigh 585 grams. That seems pretty light to me.
Not ultralight, but still pretty good. And, they are supposed to be good to at least 800hp. I know I'M planning on using them on my next build. The price isn't even real bad. Not cheap, but a good value. $700 I think...

EDIT: I spotted the ad this morning. They're $600.

 

Yes, a stock rod is fine for that type of situation as well. RPM kills connecting rods and bolts. Like pushrods, they are very stiff along their axis and any type of forced induction/n20 injection setup is generally pretty easy on rods as you often don't spin the motor to high rpm. Don't run an ultralight thin wall wrist pin if you intend to spray the motor.

 

Well here is the plan. It's a 355 lt1 with LE2 h/c package with I'm hoping to put a 200 shot on it. That package revs to about 65-6700 rpm. I'm hoping total horsepower is around 550 or more to rear.

 

Do a Eagle forged I-Beam rod.... or even more, the forged H-Beam rod.
The I-beams that are forged are cheap insurance...

My stock I-Beam let go with the LE2 and 150 shot....

Good Luck

Joseph