Stock Pistons with Chevy Rods

[Lextreme II]

For some of you ordered the stock dimension Ross pistons and would like to upgrade to the forged H Beam rods from Chevy. The group purchase forged pistons were to work with stock rods. However, some of you have been asking me about upgrading to the forged rods, but use the pistons you have ordered.

Here is what will work.
* The pistons pin size need to increase from .864" to .927". However, you will need to machine .0455" off set (lower the pin hole) from the Ross pistons and fit it with Chevy pins. The offset piston hole also helps compensation of the slightly short rod. The Chevy piston pins will be slightly longer then stock Lexus piston pins.

* Grind .043" (1.092 mm) off the stock crank. No offset require for the crank.

* Grind .056" (1.422 mm) each side (total .112" or 2.8448 mm) off the Chevy rods

Check here for more details: Project Lextreme

 

[Zuffen]

Sounds interesting.

Where do we find the .940 pins? Or do we make our own?

 

[Lextreme II]

Rod,

Thanks to Nick from Atomic corrected me. Its .927" not .940". .940" is the thickness of the Chevy rod BE. Chevy .927" pins are everywhere. They are Chevy 350 pins. They are dirt cheap. Best is when u buy your Chevy rods, get the piston pins at the same time. Matter of fact i just got my Clevitte Race Series rod bearings last night. The H Series has a special coating for high performance. They are standard size and u should get all the parts at once such as rod bearings, rods, pins, locks and rods bolts if you need upgrading. There is a good place u can get the parts from www.atomicspeedware.com I dealt with Nick many times and Nick who is the owner is very helpful also. He can get you all the proper parts. Tell him Lextreme refer you and he will go the extra mile for your business.

 

[Zuffen]

Thanks Lex,

You have me thinking now.

 

[Lextreme II]

Rod,

With the 6 ARP Studs you have, ARP Head studs, forged steel crank, custome forged pistons, MLS, and now forged H Beam Rods. Now u can see where this lead to?

 

[Zuffen]

It will be interesting what the costing is to grind the crank, modify the pistons, get new pins and rods compared to getting the correct rods manufactured?

 

[Lextreme II]

I was qouted for the crank and rods mods is about $600. Pistons should be not be that much. Pins are about $60 a set.

 

[Red Supra]

The "H" bearing is much harder than the regular "P" bearing that cleavite offers. So if you spin a bearing you will so some damage to your crank. The "P" bearing is a lot more forgiving in that sense as it will do it's job at protecting the crank in case your piggy back car detonates and hammers the rod throught the oil film into the bearing. Your engine now requires a looser rod bearing clearance for the "H" bearing and matched that clearance for a specific engine oil weight you plan on running. Don't forget that the coating on the bearing requires a ever so slightly looser clearance as well. You will have to be more religious about oil changes.

 

[Nath]

Just got off the phone from Trick & Mansweto Race Engines. They had no problem doing all the machining of the original Ross group buy pistons but they said they would not offset the grudgen pin but keep it the same and grind .0455" off the top of the piston. When I told him I was looking at a potential of 900hp he told me that Crower Rods were his only choice and that Eagle would not cut it for 900hp. HE told me Crower rods are around $3000 Aus. Bloody Hell!

He then compromised and said cut down on the horsepower and you can get away with the cheaper rods. I was alway looking at around 700hp but with the ability to handle more so I may need to rethink it out a bit. I don't want to send $3000 on crower rods but I see no point in doing all this work without getting some insurance that it will not fail.

 

[MikeMan]

I see no reason why other rods than crowers would not work.

Carillos or similar maybe.

 

[Nath]

I agree that crower rods are not the only ones out there. Race engine builders always swear on select parts. Just looking at the Crower catalog. They make 2UZ Rods. It does not say to what quality but the part number is this:
Crower Toyota 2UZ-FE Rods part number: B93760B-8

I'll fire an email to them today to see what quality and cost for the 2UZ rods. Maybe we don't have to do all this hard work after all.
Nath

 

[Lextreme II]

Nath,

Actually what take most of the punishment of a rod are the bolts. I am using Eagle ESP 3D with ARP L-19 bolts. L-19 is rated one of the strongest and its rated at 1,200 hp. Most of the Crower rods are A beam. Pauter do make it for the 2uzfe, but its about 1,500 usd. Ouch....