Aluminum Con Rods

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12-11-2009, 07:25 PM

#61

curly

Cpt. Slow

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Quote:

Originally Posted by y8s

like
oh
i dunno

machining marks?

This, thank you.

12-11-2009, 07:29 PM

#62

miata2fast

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I was not trying to punk you out. I happen to have a conversation with a guy that uses aluminum rods in the highest horsepower motors, and I thought it was appropriate to give that information. And I did give the disclaimer that I did not recall the exact conversation. It was quite a few years ago.

12-12-2009, 12:14 AM

#63

matttheniceguy

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Quote:

Originally Posted by miata2fast

That is not true. I talked to a Top Fuel mechanic and he said that the rods will last several events (maybe a whole season, I can not recall exactly what he said), unless they are damaged from a blown motor. The motor is taken apart after each pass where gaskets, rings, bearings, and fluids are replaced. Crank, rods, and pistons are reused.

If you don't blow it up, drag racing (perticularly really fast cars) is the perfect application for an aluminum rod. As stated on a bunch of those top fuel dragster cool fact charts, they get down the track so fast that the motor only turns over 500-600 times with load on it. The rods must be so beefy that idle won't really have any effect, so even if you consider burnouts and several passes and events, you're still only in the 10^5 cycles range per season. With the motors being torn down and inspected every event, it's the perfect place to use an aluminum rod. Road racing or street applications are a very different thing, with much higher cycles, where an aluminum rod is only worth it if you are ok with inspecting the rods overy few hours.