I got these rods yesterday and these are some bad mofos ive never seen venolia rods and pistons before. Thinking about using the rods in my motor what do yall think? Any benefits from using these over stock rods?

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad18/vortech_z28/FAST78Z28/100_1034.jpg

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad18/vortech_z28/FAST78Z28/100_1035.jpg

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad18/vortech_z28/FAST78Z28/100_1037.jpg

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad18/vortech_z28/FAST78Z28/100_1038.jpg

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad18/vortech_z28/FAST78Z28/100_1039.jpg

I think those are some seriously .....

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f50/teddybearcorey/fat_bastard.jpg's

Never seen em that big before.....

Damn... What do those things weigh in at?

I bet they will turn 10,000 RPM:)

Oh yeah these are some heavy son of a guns i dont know the weight just got them yesterday. Oh yeah quake they will wrap 10 grand look up venolia its what they use in top fuel and funny cars. The rods and pistons are no punk :bowtie:

Too bad there goin to the swap meet section or ebay friend of mine paid some serious serious money for these and said there mine YEAH!!!!

we run aluminum rods in our dirt cars and they're really make a motor get up in rpm's quicker especially with lightened cranks but they don't live long in a motor . also aluminum rods aren't recommended for street use

also aluminum rods aren't recommended for street use

I did not know that. Are they more prone to stretching??

There goin in the swap meet section tonight. What would you say for these?

also aluminum rods aren't recommended for street use

They're ok for race engines but NOT okay for street use ???

Just curious how they came up with that one ......

They're ok for race engines but NOT okay for street use ???

Just curious how they came up with that one ......

aluminum rods are for short term usage were the engine is constantly being pulled apart for maintenance and inspection at short intervals .the rods will stretch causing the rod bolts to loosen up and high rpm engine braking wreaks havoc on them . a normal interval before inspecting the rods would be like 100 passes on a 1/4 mile track

Not a good idea to re-use aluminum rods. You don't know how much time is on them or how much abuse they have taken.

There is about 20 passes i know the car they where in

Why did they come out of the engine?

aluminum rods are for short term usage were the engine is constantly being pulled apart for maintenance and inspection at short intervals .the rods will stretch causing the rod bolts to loosen up and high rpm engine braking wreaks havoc on them . a normal interval before inspecting the rods would be like 100 passes on a 1/4 mile track

Duh.....makes total sense. Thanks for the enlightenment. :)

Not a good idea to re-use aluminum rods. You don't know how much time is on them or how much abuse they have taken.

^ +1000 on that !! .......... like i mentioned before aluminum rods stretch and if you've got a tight quench area a stretched rod isn't a good idea . some of the older aluminum rods like 20 years ago if you had to completely warm the motor up before putting any type of substantial load on them or you killed them . also excessive oil temp or coolant temps will wreak havoc on them shortening their life quickly

i have a friend in long beach ca who found a set of used BME aluminum rods at a swapmeet and bought them for a good price . when he brought them to his machinist to mic them out and check them everyone of them failed and were considered junk by the machine shop

It's materials science. Unlike steel, aluminum does not have an endurance limit (stress level below which a part will last an infinite number of cycles). Aluminum subjected to enough cycles, eventually fails (finite fatigue life)

see here... it rang a bell from college engineering classes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatigue_limit

Very true about the aluminum streching^^^

About 15 years ago, street racing was at it's peck around here. There were some serious street cars, more like all out drag cars with plates and lights. There was a guy that has a 65 GTO with a pretty serious 455 in it. It was a weekend only street/drag car. It ran reeally good. He ran aluminum rods for about 2 years. Then they gave out and wrecked the whole bottom end. Never saw the car again after that.

There goin in the swap meet section tonight. What would you say for these?

brand new venolia 5.7 rods are going for $120ea and the pistons are about $70-$80 ea ...........so brand new you're looking at $1500 for the rods and pistons . but remember aluminum rods have a life of about 100 passes and then they become paper weights

It's materials science. Unlike steel, aluminum does not have an endurance limit (stress level below which a part will last an infinite number of cycles). Aluminum subjected to enough cycles, eventually fails (finite fatigue life)

see here... it rang a bell from college engineering classes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatigue_limit

+1.
Used alum rods are considered done. (Unless they're for some show only, trailer queen kinda car.)

You have forged aluminum rods. Most of the short life expectancy stories are from back in the days of the old cast aluminum rods,and mostly pertained to when race engines were built using super heavy TRW type pistons and were spinning 10,000 rpm. On a more modern engine with forged aluminum rods, lighter pistons and building peak power at under 8500 rpm they will have an almost infinate life expectancy. Aluminum rods have fallen out of favor in most bracket race and street/strip buildups,but are still practially a requirement in heavily nitrous'ed engines. Since most of these nitrous engines dont spin extreme RPM,the rods last practically forever.
In the case of the rods you have,tey are really built for nitrous/blown type applications,not for super light weight. They should last forever s long as piston weight and speed is kept under control.

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No one I know would ever buy a used alum rod, no matter how much anyone swears they have 20 passes.
As a matter of fact, a test we use is when the compression goes up, they get tossed.
Alum rods are also not always used in heavy N2O engines.
My 1650 HP N2O engine had alum rods, and Bruce Allen told me it was a mistake, and he would have left my Carrillo steel rods in it.
The local engine builder talked me into it and I wanted an experts opinion.
As with anything, it's the total combination, application.

As for life cycle, again, application & combination.
Some guys can get 10 passes, some can get 250.
They do require much much more maintenance.
Anyone not prepared to pull them out and have them checked often, then don't bother.


Good luck.

.

I would say this is more based on opinions of others just rich said the guy i got them from said they ran about 20 passes regardless if believed or not. He said these rods where built to last also got curious and called venolia earlier and they said the same same thing about life expectancy the guy actually got an attitude with me about what i said about the aluminum stretching that these are high grade forged billet aluminum rods and pistons. Like i said before ive never delt with aluminum rods i run cast pistons in my motor i was just passing them on to someone who can bennefit from them because i cant. All in all again based on experience and opinions

I agree,I would never buy used aluminum rods,and uying a used engine with aluminum rods is a crap shoot. My point is that a lot of rumors that are floating around about aluminum rods are based on 40 year old hearsay. All aluminum rods stretch,but if you listen to some of the old timers who talk about swapping out rods after every 30 runs in theur 427 chevy,you are not getting the whole story. Back then a race engine was a 427 with super tall 800 gram pistons,spinning 8500rpm or more,and aluminum rods were basically made out of low grade pot metal. By the 80's you had much better forged aluminum rods on the market,and there were cheap and readily available lightweight pistons for almost all engine combinations. Now we have engine blocks with reduced deck height(for even lighter pistons).

Another difference is that racers almost all run automatic trasnmissions these days. The engines run under a load almost the entire run and the cars are typically shut down in nuetral,so there is a lot less load on the rods.

But I do agree that I would never build an engine with used aluminum rods unless they came out of an engine that I personally knew the entire life history of{like one I built and raced by either me or a close friend)

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A quick ??, as an old timer that uses an automatic.
I always click it in high, and 95% of the guys I know click it in high.
How much life are we all losing by clicking it in high.
You say auto guys click it in neutral, which has been proven to be wrong.
So are the people you are referring to think it's worth all the trans damage,
and risk of crashing for saving a little rod life??

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i have cases of venny rods, prob 3-4 out of our nitro funny car all papper weights now;)

I run a powerglide. I never had an issue with throwing it to nuetral since I have a foward pattern valve body,and I never click it anyhow. I throw it into nuetral because the engine looses oil pressure if I keep it in gear and slam on the brakes. I drive my car back to the pits,and would worry more that the engine wouldnt restart after I clicked it,so I leave it running. I never raced a 3 speed or any trans with a reverse pattern so I guess I never though of it like that.

.

You really need to study what you are doing. I also did it wrong for many many years, and got very lucky.
You should stop throwing it in neutral. Just check the threads about all the damaged trans & crashed cars.
I learned my lesson.
If you're slamming on the brakes so hard that you lose oil pressure, you need a real oil pan, and a chute.

Sounds like you have a couple of accidents just waiting to happen??

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I'm only going 125 mph these days,but I agree,my oil pan sux. I switched to what shoud have been a better pan with a longer sump and deeper in the front and this new problem popped up. My old pan had a trap door about 2" ahead of the sump,this pan doesnt. I used to run the old pan 1 quart low with no issues,this one I add an extra quart and it still does it. The next time I pull the pan down I plan on putting a trap door in. My home track does have a real short shut down area, but I have to admit that I like to slow down way short of the end of the track and make the first turn off possible. Most tracks now have no openings in the wall until he very end of the track,so I actually have to step back on the gas and drive it to make it all the way to the turn off.My home track still has guardrails,and the shortdown area is super short anyway.

aluminum rods are for short term usage were the engine is constantly being pulled apart for maintenance and inspection at short intervals .the rods will stretch causing the rod bolts to loosen up and high rpm engine braking wreaks havoc on them . a normal interval before inspecting the rods would be like 100 passes on a 1/4 mile track

+1. Forget about putting them in your street engine.. those are some very nice coffee table conversation pieces you got there.

Sold today for 850 now that will be an even better coffee table conversion!

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As they say, a sucker born everyday.
You better pray one of them don't let loose the 1st few times out.

So what goodies will you be getting??

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The guy is going to get them checked i told him no worries if somethin was wrong with them id refund him 100% i do business right as i would expect others to do with me. Anyways im looking for a set of heads now looking to sell my 462 camel hump heads my buddys been on me about getting rid of them and upgrading he said he ran them 20 years ago and laughs. Any recommendations on a nice set of sbc heads??? Also cam upgrade new roller rockers and roller lifters and a electric fan and water pump :bowtie:

Wow, that was quite the deal for you. My buddy ("Mad" Mike Molea - 2009 AA Supercharged Champion) runs those style rods in his alcohol BAE hemi motor. He usually goes through a few sets of those per season. But yeah, as already mentioned, when somebody gives those away for cheap it's usually for a reason. Hopefully you got a set that will pass inspection for the buyer. I'd HIGHLY recommend holding on to that money until after the guy gets back to you on them.

Oh yeah i know i should hear the results today he said he would call me and give me the ok/no so now only time can tell.

Anyways im looking for a set of heads now looking to sell my 462 camel hump heads my buddys been on me about getting rid of them and upgrading he said he ran them 20 years ago and laughs. Any recommendations on a nice set of sbc heads??? afr 195's

I was looking at afr are they solid or hyd? What do you think about brodix ik 200

I usually see those rods at swap meets for like $1 each, they would make a nice lamp or other decoration for a man room.

$850, what? are you serious? whoa. holy crap. That is amazing. Wow.

Is that a bad thing that they sold for 850 or what? Can you just say hey congragulations lol

hope that guy that bought those rods dosnt come back at you, be cool....

He already got them checked and came out fine.

Several years back, I discussed this topic with a materials engineer where I work. He explained that there are two main factors in selecting an aluminum rod.
1.) Thermal cycles / thermal fatigue life. (The number of times you heat and cool the engine)
2.) Aluminum Alloy which effects the ultimate strength. Different alloys have different properties. The harder alloy has a higher ultimate strength. The softer is a better shock absorber.

In all cases the reciprocating weight of the combo is an important factor.

The rods are not heavy at all. The plus of the aluminum is the ability to build greater support around the rod bearing to prevent distortion at high RPM.

You don't hear much about them today with all of the vastly improved alternative steel rods.

Plus, you would have a hard time fitting them in a production block with today's popular stroker combo's.