[455rebel]

Bought used set of L2359-.030 pistons on 86 rods?
Budget 462 build,5200 rpm max, old man,63, want to DRIVE it,
And occasional red light challenge!
What are these rods?
Should I use or, uses the stock rods?
Now,73 Bonnie 455,all stock except,
Cliff book built quad!
2802 cam.
3 key chain.
2.5 dual exhaust.
Rings & bearings & valve grind on 6x4 heads.
Doing a SS check,rebuild!
Trying to cut cost and down time.
Like to use the 86rods,already on pistons?
Runs Way better than I expected.
Gotta do a budget build,want to put many miles on before I can't!
Going to replace cam,with a 703, if I can get 1.
All passengers,always Supprised!
Just like when I was 20, I want more!
Help?
Ps-I was Way Supprised with the shade tree build, my first!
In past I had always done the blueprint build with no corners cut?
Thanks!

[77 TRASHCAN]

A picture of those rods might help identify..

[25stevem]

Those sound like stock factory rods and as such have a unknown amount of cycles on them.

If you reuse them your playing with fire with no fire extinguisher near by!

Even if I was building a 350 cid motor with only a 3.750” stroke no less a 455 with a 4.210” that would only see 4500 rpm I would not run a factory rod these days!

When you go over to aftermarket rods which are lighter you will have to rebalance the motor because the rods are lighter then factory ones.
This is a win win because the lesser weight promotes a motor that is faster to rev up just as if you increased compression, the other plus is this weight reduction leases load the on the rod bearings and main bearings.

[455rebel]

So-?,better to swap my stock rods,with arp bolts,then use the 86rods?.
Pic to come,if I can remember how?lmao

[455rebel]

86 one side.
89 or 68, the other.

[77 TRASHCAN]

Thems is stockers.......

[Mike Davis]

Stock rods, looks like the beams have been polished?

[25stevem]

Yup!
Stock rods that need to be given a permanent vacation before they ventilate your block!

[FrankieT/A]

Wall art...

[455rebel]

So,recommend the budget rod of choice?
And does that mean I can turn up to?, 5500rpm?
Thanks

[455rebel]

And, so the stock Pontiac rods were junk to 5000rpm.?
These in my car take a wot beating to 5K,every time I go out!
I don't need the quickest classic in toown,just a fun driver with dependable runs to 5K!
Ant trying to argue, just ant got much $$.
Thanks!

[FrankieT/A]

I have RPM rods in one of my 455s with Eheads and roller cam. They say their rods are good for 700hp. I've been hitting it with a 150 shot of nitrous to 6000 with no issues so far been about two years driven pretty regularly.

[TransAm 474]

I would atleast put a set of the budget Eagle 5140 SIR rods in it. They would be far better than a factory pontiac rod in my opinion. The factory rods are crap, they are like rubber in the upper RPM ranges, and the big end WILL go out of shape and cause bearings to spin, I have first hand experience with that, and ventilated my 1971 455 block because of it, and mine had ARP bolts installed in them. The 461 I built to replace it with, got Eagle H-Beams, never had another problem. The screenshot below is by far the cheapest place I have found the Eagle 5140 rod, and by the time you pay for the ARP bolts, have them installed in your factory rods, and have the them resized, you won't be saving much money at all over the 5140, and you would have a much better rod. Here is the link

https://www.performanceparts.com/eag..._rod_sir6625pp

[455rebel]

Ok, I can afford the 4,00$..
What is Safe rpm?
Will the rest of rotating assy, stand 6k?
Thanks.

[25stevem]

Yes, the stock crank with the needed bearings clearance’s to go to 6000 and two bolt mains will live just fine, but stock heads will be well nosed over in terms of hp production even with a good size race cam at 6K, no less a street cam at 6K rpm.

455s are ravenous for air flow above 4500 rpm!

At the rpm a given motor makes its peak torque at, then that’s where it’s limit of air flow has been reached.
By limit of air flow I mean all the factors that contribute to feeding air into the motor and getting the exh out of it.
Shifting a motor like yours at no more then 5500 will get you the best results!
PS.
The factory Armasteel rods are not like rubber, they are brittle and when they reach there limit they just bust up into a number of prices.

I found this out the hard way back in 76, its the common production 58 to 62 forged rods and the 421 HO forged rods that are like rubber in terms of the big end going out of round once the G force loading gets high enough .

[TransAm 474]

Originally Posted by 455rebel

Ok, I can afford the 4,00$..
What is Safe rpm?
Will the rest of rotating assy, stand 6k?
Thanks.

In my opinion, as long as the bearing clearance is correct, I would think 6k RPM should be totally fine for a factory 455 crank(they are fairly stout) and a new set of 5140 Forged rods, along with the ARP Cap Screws that they are equipped with. I've read people using the SD 455 factory forged rod in the 63-6500 rpm range in 455's without issue. The factory SD forged rods were made of similar 8640 steel, some say they were the same 5140 steel, but either way, both are real similar. In my opinion, the Eagle 5140 rod featuring the ARP Cap Screw, instead of the factory style bolt/nut has its advantages though.

[455rebel]

Thanks, 5500 is plenty for me,maby 5300.
I've turned my governer to shift for me, I never manual shift.
1st to 2nd,bout 5k, then to 3rd at 5100.
Most riders think it strange to nail it and it just goes, from any speed!
Rods look bout 90 days out, so does a cam.
Hope to be able to order by July.
Thanks

[Rar_421]

Originally Posted by 455rebel

Thanks, 5500 is plenty for me,maby 5300.
I've turned my governer to shift for me, I never manual shift.
1st to 2nd,bout 5k, then to 3rd at 5100.
Most riders think it strange to nail it and it just goes, from any speed!
Rods look bout 90 days out, so does a cam.
Hope to be able to order by July.
Thanks

If you need them sooner Jegs has 2 sets in stock,little more than the price on the link here

[Jay S]

If I recall correct the SIR Eagle rods are about 80-90 grams lighter than a stock cast rod. The rotating assembly should be rebalanced using them. If you hadn’t planned on that add that to the total cost. The stock rods and pistons you snapped pics of don’t have to be rebalanced.

$318 is a smoking deal on those rods.

I couldn’t see from the pictures, but the later smog era Pontiac cast rods do not have the groove at the parting line of the cap that shoots oil toward the cam. If you wanted to use a stock OEM rod to rebuild that is my first pick for cast rods. They have likely had easier lives than the higher hp 60s and early 70s engine with cast rods. We use to build 455s for stock cars that turned as high as 6500 with the smog era rods and arps bolts for 1 season. Then start with another set for the next season. The fatigue life is shorter on a cast rod, but they will take a good amount of abuse while they are fresh. Reusing a set that has had a hard life is a gamble imho. I would prefer rebuilding rom a 2bbl smog era engine over a muscle car era Poncho connecting rod. I have seen them take a bunch of abuse and not fail with 500 hp or less. If you run a connecting rod very long with a bad rod bearing forged rods will throw a rod thru the block too.

This engine sounds like a very mild build, a nice set of resized, arp fasteners and stock nodular rods wouldn’t bother me at all. If you can bank roll it the forged rods are a great upgrade though.

[TransAm 474]

I agree with Jay here, I thought you were looking for something that would live reliably up at 6000 RPM, but if you are only looking to spin it 5300-5500 rpm max, I think you would be fine with the stock rod with ARP bolts and resized. No balancing needed to go this route. The forged rod would still be a nice upgrade, but for your intended application, I would say the stock cast rod/ARP bolt upgrade would be fine. I would however recommend a Rev Limiter of some type, because you just never know when it could be needed if/when you have drivetrian breakage.