con rod id, and main studs.....

[rb77413]

I have a 451 that I want to do turbos on. The engine was in a car we built. Is there a way to id the con rods without disassembly? Also can main studs be installed with the engine in the car, or does the crank need to be pulled?

Some other info: the drivers side head is bad. A comp test reveals about 110-120 on drivers side and 190-200 on the pass side. Looking at a Eddy RPM's and a bigger cam to drop the gage reading some. IIRC the current cam is an Isky with about .485 lift.

Like I mentioned I am planning doing turbos's but not after I get it running on EFI, but that isnt until I fix the mechanical problems first. TIA. :-)

[rampage_82]

Uhh lets see here. You might be able to id the connecting rods, with a tiny mirror and getting the light just right, however if they are stock rods, they could be the LY 440 rods, and if they are the short rods, they were all the same. I've always heard that to install Main studs, you have to have it align bored or honed, however I have heard of some who don't know any better and just put them in, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. From the compression test results you show, I don't know that your problem is a head problem, or if you need to have that block squared. If you are going with forced induction, you really need head studs, and some really good head gaskets, and maybe even go with the deadblow copper gaskets and have the block O-ringed.. It's kind of a pain, but blown head gaskets suck.. also by doing this you can get really thick gaskets to lower your compression ratio... Just a thought....

[rb77413]

It already has head studs. I was told the engine overheated, and cracked the head. He had to replace the head and the machine shop screwed the head up and since he needed it running and funds were low, it had to go on as is. I was thinking of just doing one cap at a time, that swapping out to studs would be ok, but I'm not sure and wanted some advice before I try it and risk damaging the engine.

[rampage_82]

The problem with it as I understand, is that the studs will have a much higher clamping force, and it will distort the main caps and block, and that is why it needs to be align bored/honed with the studs.

[JVMopar]

You MUST align bore when installing main studs. Trust me I learned the hard way. It's a very expensive mistake. The studs align the main caps differently than bolts so they don't line up the same.

$600 for pistons, plus rods, crank, block, heads are expensive to replace twice.

[cudabob496]

If I were putting turbos on a 451, I would rebuild the engine from the bottom up, with quality parts, or you may just be creating a hand grenade, or be toasting transmissions and rearends on a regular basis. With just good heads and a good cam, exhaust, etc, you can get 600 hp, and most of the parts will hold up!

[rb77413]

Thanks guys. I need to pull off the heads and am going to measure where the pistons are in the bore. Then that will determine which heads to get. I cant remember if the PO used domed or flattops. He had to run octane booster and I want to get away from that if possible. He did say he built it for future n2o use so I will see more when I pull the heads. Thanks again.