connecting rods re-install

[dohcfiend]

i took an engine down to nothing for the 1st time with the intent of putting it back together. the guy at the machine shop said i did everything right except for one thing.

which way do the rods face installed?

i did not mark that. machine shop guy is speculating they face one way on one side of the block and another opposite on the other side. one side of the rods are stamped and the other is not.

[oleman]

disassembly help

In the future mark rods and mains as to where they are before you removed them. Harbour freight has an inexpensive number set that can be used. Years ago I simply used a center punch and made dents to mark rods. IE 6 pips, dents is rod 6.
The pistons are marked as to which side goes to front of engine, if the rods are still attached line the marks toward front and the rods will be correct.
If your OHC is the same as my 96 3100 M pushrod rod the rod cap is beveled with a high side and a low side the low side goes toward the front.
All rods in the same direction, low side front.

[dohcfiend]

RE: disassembly help

rod caps were removed and put back on. i will check the pistons. i numbered all the pistons but didn't know about the whole rod direction thing.

[your_I.D.]

Rod caps went back on the same rod's the came off of right?

[Q]

First of all, I'm a V-8 and L6/I6 guy, so I may be over-simplifying.

The rods should have a chamfer on only one side of the big end. Look close, it should be there. That chamfer goes against the crank cheek. The non-chamfered sides of each pair go together.

Any chance I can talk you into measuring the pin end width and the big end width and posting it here? I've got about 200 rods from all different manufacturers, in sets of 6, for long rod custom applications. I'd like to post the rod/piston combinations that you guys can use to get off-the shelf forged pistons (or hypereutectics) with different rod lengths without having to resort to full-custom sets of either.

Not everyone believes that longer rods make a difference, but for those that do, you can get rods from 5.7 to 6.3 inches for next to nothing from Nascar teams that retire them after one race.