Are the necessary? Im shooting for 450whp-500whp on a basic build with diamond racing pistons. Right now i have low comp in cylinder 4 but the car runs fine, but theres definitely blow by going on.

Anyways, do i need rods? I have really yet to find a thread where someone bent rods from power, and yeah i get the whole why not build it up part, but im just curious. Yeah i might shoot for 600, but i can always tear the head off and add rods if i plan to shoot higher. Plus i figure if i go any higher than 500whp im going to probably blow the block.

im looking at these rods Chevy Ecotec 2 0 LSJ Engine 5 728"L 4340 H Beam Connecting Rod Set | eBay

or the molnar rods http://www.ebay.com/itm/MOLNAR-H-BEAM-CONNECTING-RODS-w-ARP2000-CH5728AWJB4-A-CHEVY-ECOTEC-2-0L-LSJ-/190879433081?pt=Motors_ATV_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2c714d0179&vxp=mtr
Either way they are pretty much the same rod, i see no difference besides brand name.

if anyones got used rods i guess you can pm me

 

Yes get some rods. If you're gonna do pistons, then you might as well do rods. Plus stock rods won't last long at all at the power levels you're lookin for.
I'd look at Molnars, K1's, & ZZP's.

Another thing to look at is getting some sleeves from "MrBelvedere" on here. Sleeves are also a common failure for us. And the price he offers for sleeving a block (and decking and boring if you want it) is well below just the cost of dartons alone

 

Yeah I know about the sleeving pandemic, I want to avoid that honestly hahah. I dont how the LK9 will react to those power level, but i guess if i crack the block so be it. I want to go closed deck, so I will try to source a LGT block if I run into that issue.

 

Want to avoid what? Sleeving the block or cracking a sleeve? A lot of people have been running into problems with the closed deck.

 

yes i want to avoid sleeving the block at the moment. What issues have people had with the closed deck?

 

Overheating

 

with an oem block they have overheating issues?

 

Oh shoot. No, not that i've heard of. I was thinking the ZZP girdled blocks. My bad

 

ohh, no i was just going to get the gen 3 closed deck 2.0 block. Worse comes to worse id get mr.b's sleeves, or get the darton sleeve kit. But like i said only if i shoot for 600+ and i dont even think my ecu can handle more than 500whp.

 

Ugh. You got a lot of research to do.

MrB's sleeves aren't a direct swap into the gen 3's.

 

I've got some zzp rods for sale $200

 

lol you tell me this after i buy your piston rings XD.

 

I got some 9.5:1 Diamonds too


PM me if interested

 

I just bought some form blue lightning. I might need wrist pins, but im not sure that matters.

 

450whp is cake for the stock rods. 500 isn't too hard for them to handle. More than that and they start to hate you lol. If you are in there anyways, just do it. And if you stay gen 1 I'd look into Mr. B's sleeves as they said, or go gen 3 right away.

 

Yeah ive messaged him about it. It might be a future plan. Im pretty dead set on just dropping the pistons in and shelling out for a high power clutch and just driving the dam car. I spent this whole past summer doing an auto to manual swap on the car, and the first 500 miles i have the car back The turbo i was using was blown, the clutch was slipping, and now my piston rings are shot.

 

Just felt like posting this here, i pulled out my piston and bam the ringlands were blown.

 

detonation is a bitch