I have noticed some of you guys are changing your rod bolts to ARP or another aftermarket fastener. I was wondering when this is really needed to be done, what mods, how much horse power or is it turning the engine so many rpms with a aftermarket cam? I have a 5.3L.

 

if you want to shift higher than 6200rpms without the fear of slinging a rod through the side of your block!

 

I am going to go out on a limb, a say unless your reving the **** out of it 63-6400, I wouldn't go threw the hassle of it unless you have the motor sitting on the stand. I have seen a few engines that have been exploded in the past and it wasn't because a rod bolt let go...There are alot of members here that rev up to that with out them, on a regular basis, havn't had problems. To each his his own...

 

To give you an idea of just how soft the OEM bolts are, today my wrench slipped while removing one, and it rounded the head. I think GM makes them out of stale Milk Duds.

 

I ran the blower on mine shifting at 6600 for a while, then took the blower of and put a cam in shifting at 7k for abotu another 4-5k miles before I put the rod bolts in mine. That still wasn't the cause of why the motor let go. It was the wrist pins, more specifically #7.

 

yea, I was going to say its hit or miss, some rev to 7k and have no problems and some rev to 6500 and have problems. it's a personal opinion i guess. i spin to 6600-6700 and havent had a problem