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Originally Posted by Excaliber
I don't get this 'age of parts' thing I seen every so often. Things like, why would you use 35 year old Le Mans rods?
Well, why WOULDN'T you? Does age mean 'metal fatigue' sets in? Do rods get alzhiemers or something? Are old blocks just naturally weaker because their 'old'?
...I don't get it, I think it's a bunch of hog wash myself. If you want modern stuff, OK, go for it! If your building a 1500 horse power monster that going to run 8000 rpm, you might consider 'new' (as in MODERN) rods! If your building a street\race Cobra motor and you check out your crank, rods, etc and there 'good to go' I believe there MORE than 'stong enough'! Last year I was running my 'alzhiemers' Le Mans rods to 7000 rpm, with my poor old 'arthritis' ridden 428 crank being thrashed about in that tired old 427 iron block, poor thing, I showed it NO mercy!  Had the rods, crank and block checked out when I did my rebuild, "good to go", I'm using 'em again!
All modern parts in an all modern engine, like a Dove or Shelby all alloy configuration are just as subject to failure as an all '65 engine depending on how you RUN it! Don't think you can't 'ventilate' a modern block with a modern rod! |
My guess would be simply because you can buy BETTER parts, cheaper, nowadays. A 35 year old LeMans rod may be fine for use, but it still doesn't compare to a modern H-beam rod. Plus, the fact that it's a used part, leaves a bit of an uncertainty to using it. How do you know it wasn't abused? How do you know the guy didn't run these rods in a motor that was sprayed with a 300 shot of juice? You just don't know. So why bother spending the money to buy a set of Lemans rods, have them reconditioned, and then chance how long they'll last, when you can buy a set of stronger, more precision made H-beams, with superior rod bolts, for $500 and have no worries. Same goes for ANY used parts, not just FE stuff.
My 390 has reconditioned stock rods and stock crank in it. But, I also paid only $3200 for the entire long block, with intake manifold and covers. It's a 400hp motor that will serve it's purpose for a few years until I build a 427. But when I do, it will have all aftermarket parts inside. And if I can come up with the dough, it will have a Pond block, not a vintage S/O block.