What pistons to use

[CarsByCarl]

Originally Posted by Tom Wells

Hi Carl,

Dunno 'bout the current crop of stock Ford rods. The ones I got in my 514 crate motor were not too good - however this was four years ago or so.

One of the rods (carefully hand-selected by trained Ford technicians) had a piece of its web missing about half the size of a dime

If we hadn't pulled the engine apart to check that very thing, it doubtless would have grenaded the engine.

Bottom line: check the rods carefully before installing them, stock or otherwise!

Exactly the reason I prefer to recondition rods from high mileage lux-o-barge cores. They've been seasoned in a low power, low rpm application. If a flaw had existed they would have let go before I got to them.

On the other hand, any new rod can have a manufacturing flaw that may be obvious like yours, or may not be visible or detectable until it's hanging out the side of the block.

[Excaliber]

I worked at a wrecking yard once, their slogan, "Road Tested Parts".

Friend of mine just asked me about a new motor she bought for her truck, paid BIG money, name brand. White smoke (intake gasket maybe, cracked head, blown gasket), buying new and paying big money is still no guarentee of getting a perfect anything.