http://www.ebay.com/itm/I-Beam-Race...0-Connecting-Rods-Chevy-BBC-454-/301939913366

I am sure they are made in China, but check the specifications. These must be better than 46 year old stock rods. The next price level is $450 for Eagle rods.

 

Just did a search on them and it did not look good. Going to stick with Eagle.

 

A friend of mine just gave me a set of Carrillo rods. Guess I won't be looking for cheap rods anymore.

 

Lot of places you can cut corners to make a budget build. Rods and pistons are two places you don't. Its a little suspicious to me that an electronics company is selling rods.

 

Absolutely agree with JPatton here! Do not skimp on rods or pistons! Carrillo Rods can be bought for pennies on the dollar used if you are considering any real power levels! Can't beat a billet swing arm either if you are after some real RPM and big numbers, and I'm not talking about adding stroke either here!

Roger

 

OK, I am convinced. I did a pretty good search on this company and the general agreement is they suck. Then as I am explaining the planned build to my transmission building friend he goes and pulls out a box of rods says "will these work?" They are a set of Carrillo rods from a 454 race boat. They use them 24 hours and then rebuild. Checked with the engine builder and he said they would work fine. To use Chevy rods in a Buick you have to do some machine work on the crank and get a custom Diamond piston. Offset grind the crank just a little because the Chevy wrist pins are a little smaller. Gives a slight stroke and cleans up the deck height. Makes a 470 CI Buick.

Sorry Roger cannot afford a billet crank. At that point I would really need to go to a TA block. Can't afford that either.

Here is a picture of the Carrillo rod. Does not look any different than the cheap rod.

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Carrillo has Carrillo/ARP on the rod bolts.

 

I think I would sink some money into a fully ported set of those TA Stage 4 heads before I would worry about the TA block!

What kind of flow numbers do the heads you own now have?

Roger

 

You could put a pair of fully ported TA Stage 4 heads on and a Billet Crank for less than that TA Block! I can se the raised Cam option, but a tall deck is the wrong way to go in my humble opinion

Then girdle your block and feed it LOTS of fuel with Lots of Boost and hold on!

That tall deck, raised cam block at $7,500 is the same price as my Carol Shelby / Arias 427 FE Big Bore option Block! :0

Roger

 

My engine builder is Bobb Makely and he builds the most powerful Buicks that I know of. He hit the limit on a girdled block at about 1500 hp. I know of two girdled blocks that have broken. Both motors stayed running. One even finished and won the race. Just had a funny tick.

The fact is the stock block is a crap shoot. To tell you the truth if I could build my ultimate Buick it would be a TA blocked V-6. 2000 hp with an 88 pound block.

 

Doug,

How many horsepower are you presently pushing?

Roger

 

Low 600's with last tune. The thought is with lighter rods and pistons we could up the tune a bit. Also with 8.5:1 CR vs the current 9.25:1 I could have a better timing curve. Should be able to get near 700 no problem. Keeping the motor together gets tricky.

 

Doug,

I hate to be the one to say it, but it might be time to go look at a BBC! Have you looked at the 815 horse power 632 cubic inch Big Block Chevy that runs on pump gas that Jegs out of Columbus, Ohio sells??

Roger

 

If I was doing a race car that would be the way to go. Actually I could buy a complete 70 something Camaro with a 632 for less than the cost of the motor from Jegs. Just needs the cage re certified.

Being from Flint we love our Buicks. So at this point there are a few of us willing to beat our heads against the wall for a while longer. Also do not need any more power than I am currently at. 650 ish HP is way to much for just cruising the street already. Even when I go to track will only do 1/8th mile because I do not want too have to cage the car and it is a lot easier on the motor.

Besides I can be a big frog in the little pond that I am in. In the Buick world I figure I am one of the top experts in the world on supercharged fuel injected 455 Buicks. As far as I know I am the only one running this combination on the street and maybe 4 running some kind of race car combination. So maybe it is not even a pond, more like a puddle.

And you have little room to talk playing with weird Ford motors.

 

i hear that, buick has long been under rated for making power, it is like how bad many knock the nail head yet from day one in 1953 it was a torque monster that had 1 heck of a strong low end ,big bore short stroke power ratio.
i have a 1966- 401 apart right now and am amazed at the low end size and beef, steel crank,steel rods, super big main webs and caps. the stock heads flow like no tomorrow,stock cam is = to that of a race isky, http://nailheadbuick.com/