Given this mild setup...

5.3 heads(maybe milled for an extra .5 pt up from stock)
cam(mild, not sure of specs yet)
new tranny and stall...

Should I worry about the rod bolts?
should I replace the factory ones with ARP bolts?

or is this concern totally irrational?

 

depends on where you shift at, im shifting at 6200 right now running 12.4's on my setup but in a week or two when i spray im going to install the rod bolts, ARP 2000 series.

Some will say dont worry about blah blah blah.... I say depending on shiftpoints say over 64 65 hundred go ahead and take the little time it takes to do them. for 100.00 and the piece of mind i dont see why not to install them..

Hope this helps.

BTW Thunder Racing carries them in stock

 

i've hit 6800 with my setup hundreds of times with no failures on stock rod bolts.
knock on wood

 

Yeah, it does, my truck rarely sees above 5K. hardly ever. But if I decide to bolt a 75 shot to it, then the bolts are a good idea?

 

You really only need them if you are spinning the engine fast.

Nitrous would push down on the pistons = no extra stress on the bolts. They only see the tensile stress when the piston changes direction at the top of the bore.

 

i seen 7500 a few times on my old Lq9...now that same motor with a Trex cam will see many 7200 shifts..time will tell this year

 

 

For your application your stock rods and rod bolts will outlast your trans

 

Stockers will hold up fine, I have seen few few engines die cause a bolt failures, usually it is something else first.. Thats my op...
John

 

That was the first thing I did when I got my 6l because I blew my 5.3 due to a rod bolt breaking at about 6000 rpm. Maybe a little less. Heres some carnage

Damn, cant find the really good one




Haha. Here it is. This is where everything exited the building