[sickolds]

well hotrodders i have a set of powdered connecting rods that came off a vortec 350 that was ruined by the goverment with Liquid Glass (http://www.businessinsider.com/henry...escribe-2009-8) anyways i have heard different things about pm rods some say that there stronger then the old stile and others say that there no good i want to use them in a 355 that i have started what do u guys think?

[BOBCRMAN@aol.com]

GM powder rods are VERY strong. A lot of my budget left turners use them. I have seen them take abuse that a "Pink" rod would not survive. Currently have one on display that was in a split cylinder wall "hydraulic-ed" 355. Rod is bent almost double and wadded into a H 345 piston and the assembly didn't break...

[cobalt327]

Originally Posted by sickolds

well hotrodders i have a set of powdered connecting rods that came off a vortec 350 that was ruined by the goverment with Liquid Glass (http://www.businessinsider.com/henry...escribe-2009-8) anyways i have heard different things about pm rods some say that there stronger then the old stile and others say that there no good i want to use them in a 355 that i have started what do u guys think?

As far as the finish on them, there are far less stress risers and sharp, rough or otherwise unfinished details to the PM rods than the standard forged rods.

They've been in use since the Gen 2 LT1 SBC came out in '92, and haven't gotten a bad rep, AFAIK. They are at least as good as what came before them, IMO.

PM rod on right, both photos.

[sickolds]

thats what i hear but at the same time i hear bad things about them

[cobalt327]

Originally Posted by sickolds

thats what i hear but at the same time i hear bad things about them

There are guys running basically stock LT1 bottom ends and getting sick power and ET out of them.

My opinion is w/good bolts they are as good as any production SBC rod out there.

Did you get yours before researching them?

[sickolds]

the only reason i want to use them is because of my tight budget at first i was going to build another s bc 383 but money is tight

[sickolds]

well they looked good and stronger then i got home searched the web and read some not so good things and some very good things dont know what to believe

[DoubleVision]

I like them. I`ve run them in several high performance street/track builds and haven`t had a problem. One day at my machinists he had a bunch of small block 350`s laying around that he had gotten from the bus shop. One was a late 90`s out of a GMC pickup. We tore it down and found the crank was broken in half, but the PM rods didn`t have a scratch. My best friend bought the rods and we used`em. His engine now has about 25,000 miles, some of those miles are hard with held high revs. No problems of yet. On a future build in a play mud truck where RPM`s will be held high for good periods of time we fully plan to use PM rods. In the past I`ve seen stuff that was made out of powdered metal and it was crap, I think we call it "pot metal" where the curing process must have been very poor as it broke so easy. However, GM seemed to do there homework on curing it properly because they have a nice smooth appearance and look great. In many cases I`ve seen them shot with nitrous and a piston gave up before the PM rods did. Now I`m not going to say they work miracles or there perfect, I`m only saying from what I`ve seen from first hand experience. I have a fresh set of baby LT1 PM rods that are 5.940 that I plan to use in a future 327 build.

[cool rockin daddy]

Hmmmm, GM put them in the LS2 engine and warranties them for 100,000 miles.

Link to story on how good PM rods are:
http://www.superchevy.com/technical/...rds/index.html

International Navistar was usED PM con rods in 7.3 liter Power Stroke DIESEL!

The "fabulous" Chevy "pink" rod was a production rod that had been magnufluxed. Maybe shotpeened.

What is your worry?

[sickolds]

now there is one more thing to ad to my worries go to youtube and look up cars for clunkers now i dont think i am going to use then

[sickolds]

they might be good but probably not the ones i got because i got them from a cars for clunkers suv look at youtube (cars for clunkers rod out the block)

[DoubleVision]

The cash for clunkers wasn`t a good idea when you add up what they did to those that got traded in. They would pour sodium silicate in the crank case and run it til it locked up. Sodium silicate is liquid glass. Rods don`t have any oil passages, so they should be fine to reuse. Vortec heads that had the same treatment done to them have been used. However, I would have the rods checked.

[sickolds]

one more thing when i took them to a shop to remove the pistons the guy said that his guy broke one and he gave me another one how in the hell did he brake it

[BOBCRMAN@aol.com]

His guy must be the village idiot. Takes a lot to break a rod removing pistons... any rod...

[Studebaker]

I really like the GM PM rods. I have purchased them used for as little at $50.00 a set. No issues and used them in two engines. Much better quality and weight match than standard forged rods. AAA+++.