Rods for 428 cj which are best ????

[snakeunderock]

Any help on which rods are better strength wise ? I now have stock cj rods,
but would like to hear about eagle. h beam, others.this 428 is 40 over alum. heads and 584 on lift.I am changing out pistons now-will stock be good enough.... thanks Rocky

[RICK LAKE]

Snakeunderrock Rocky I ran a 452 motor with eagle rods for 7 years. Had no problem with them. I had a 428 crank in a shelby block with 4.25 bore. I DON'T turn stroker engines over 6,200 rpm for protection and long life of the motor. 7 years of racing and no problem. I got the FE eagles when they first came on the market. I have a set of Lemans rods that are 100 grams heavier that the eagles. I was running a smaller cam than you, 501-533. I have gone to a stroker last year to a 482 from Barry R. Small hydro roller camshaft 587-607. Great midrange torque. I still limit toe rpm's to 6,200. I can change the chip to 6,500 if needed. I don't need to win a $12.00 trophy that much and hurt a $17,000.00 dollar motor. IMO Run an HVHP oil pump, 1extra quart of oil in the motor, and use an accusump and a peroiler for the motor. This will save 80% of the wear and tear on startups. I sure you can spin the eagles to 6,700 rpm, but not in my car. I build torque motors not HP ones. Watch the clearances also for both mains and rods. middle to low .002"s. You know you will need to balance the whole assembly, dampener,crank,rods,pistons,rings, bearings, flywheel, and 5 grams for oil. Rick L. P.s Rocky on a .040" over motor, I would have the cylinder walls sonic checked for thinkness. I have not heard of taking a 428 out to .040". .030" yes. Before you spend all this money for your motor.

[blykins]

For the price of Scat/Eagle H-beams, I'd rather have the added insurance. You're dealing with 40+ year old pieces. If you have to have those rods resized and updated with good fasteners, you'll probably be able to buy a new set for the money.

I used Scat H-beams in my 428FE with a solid roller cam and Edelbrock heads. It made peak hp at 6500. No worries.

[patrickt]

If you're doing the pistons and the rods you might as well just upgrade the crank to a Scat stroker. That will give you the benefit of the bigger rods and you can dispense with the nuisance of the external balancing (meaning you'll still need to balance, just not externally). You might get a little extra torque that way as well. The availability of the Scat stroker cranks is funny though. I had trouble getting mine a couple of years ago, but then I heard there were no problems getting them, then I heard they were back ordered again, etc.

[snakeunderock]

Thanks to you all. lots of good info.this cj is (was) a running engine I was doing a piston upgrade only better compression. (KB)all internals were ballanced at build time.only about 5000k on this build. the crank is original 428 lo milage, but polished & cheched out.I guess I was thinking while there changing out pistons new rods would be agiven so I wanted to see what is working best with my snake friends. thanks for all your help!!!
Rocky

[427 S/O]

When working for Delta Air Lines, I had a fella at technical operations Xray my lemans rods, the same machine they use to Xray turbine blades. They were perfect. Running em' hard now for 5 years and no prob-lem-o....

[xlr8or]

Originally Posted by snakeunderock

Thanks to you all. lots of good info.this cj is (was) a running engine I was doing a piston upgrade only better compression. (KB)all internals were ballanced at build time.only about 5000k on this build. the crank is original 428 lo milage, but polished & cheched out.I guess I was thinking while there changing out pistons new rods would be agiven so I wanted to see what is working best with my snake friends. thanks for all your help!!!
Rocky

Wow.. 5 million miles! That should win an award.

[snakeunderock]

Hey xler8tor : you are way toooo sharp!! Is this not normal milage for FE..
O K 5000..take care. Rocky

[cobrajam]

Nothing wrong with stock CJ rods as long as they haven't been abused. The weak point in FE rods are generally the bolts. Depends on how you are going to use the motor. For a stout street motor, they are more than adequate, but by the time you recondition them, you almost have the same amount in them you would spend for newer rods. But the great thing about the stock rods, is that they are generally at least 50-80 grams lighter than any of the aftermarket stuff. If reused, I would not do it without fitting them with ARP or comparable rod bolts.