xracerbob, man aint THAT the truth!!!
The argument over '40 year old rods' vs modern rods has been hammered as often as 'which kit to buy'. Myself, I DON'T buy the argument that 40 year old rods are any weaker today than they were, say, 40 years ago! As if somehow metal fatigue sets in while the rods 'sit' over time?
OK, you could ALWAYS make a case for new rods, and that seems to be our job here. Apparently our responsibility is, as xracerbob has made clear, to blow your budget for you by ALWAYS being ultra safe and politically correct, dollars be damned.
I had my rotating assembly balanced INCLUDING the flywheel AND pressure plate! The one area where I spent the big bucks was for custom pistons to move the piston UP in the hole to achieve 'quench'. I think the standard spec is something like .030 below deck for a side oiler, which means there is NO quench at all. To control compression I then had the pistons 'dished' the appropriate amount to arrive at 9.6 to 1 with iron heads. It was previously 12.5 to 1 and a real pain in the butt trying to find 'race gas' everytime I needed a fill up (which was often at 6 mpg).
See my "Engine Blog" for more info if you like:
427 side oiler engine build "Blog"