Using old connecting rods
6th Gear Member
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 5,896
From: Elk Grove, CA
Agreed about the balancing. At the rotational speeds you're talking about in an engine, even a fraction of an ounce of imbalance can put enormous strain on the whole engine. A properly balanced rotating assembly will ensure a smooth, free reving engine.
Blueprinting however, IMO, is a little overkill for most street engines. Blueprinting means having the builder find pistons that are all exactly the proper size to match the cylinder bore, finding rods/pins that are all exactly the same weight (or as close as possible), making sure all of the bearing tolerances are identical, etc. It's expensive and doesn't have the same cost/benefit ratio that a simple balance does. Good for an ultra high performance or race engine, but a little excessive for a street car that doesn't spend much time (relatively) above 4k. Urban's engine would be one of the few that I would think blueprinting would be a good idea for:P
Blueprinting however, IMO, is a little overkill for most street engines. Blueprinting means having the builder find pistons that are all exactly the proper size to match the cylinder bore, finding rods/pins that are all exactly the same weight (or as close as possible), making sure all of the bearing tolerances are identical, etc. It's expensive and doesn't have the same cost/benefit ratio that a simple balance does. Good for an ultra high performance or race engine, but a little excessive for a street car that doesn't spend much time (relatively) above 4k. Urban's engine would be one of the few that I would think blueprinting would be a good idea for:P
5th Gear Member
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 2,100
From: Texas Hill Country
Blueprinting however, IMO, is a little overkill for most street engines. Blueprinting means having the builder find pistons that are all exactly the proper size to match the cylinder bore, finding rods/pins that are all exactly the same weight (or as close as possible), making sure all of the bearing tolerances are identical, etc. It's expensive and doesn't have the same cost/benefit ratio that a simple balance does. Good for an ultra high performance or race engine, but a little excessive for a street car that doesn't spend much time (relatively) above 4k. Urban's engine would be one of the few that I would think blueprinting would be a good idea for:P
Yeh, blueprinting is one of those things that means different things to different people. For most people, it means matching all the tolerances to OEM spec. That is good in some cases and not good enough in others depending on what you are doing. It can also mean what Star says which is custom matching every component in every location. All I meant by it was hand fitting, matching, and checking everything instead of just dropping in parts out of the box. Things like piston movement in the cylinder, valve to piston clearance, cam lash, etc are important when putting something together that is going to see some real power and high rpms. These are some of the things that allow you to move from 5000 rpm redline to 7000 rpm redline and not throw parts through your hood!
5th Gear Member
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 3,485
From: NH
Thread Starter
5th Gear Member
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 2,035
From: Delaware(US) & Nova Scotia(Canada)
If you're looking for 400hp, you're going to need that stroker kit unless you want to wind the engine to 8k to make those numbers. IMO, that's the better option for what you're doing. You can get a full stroker rotating assembly assembled with bearings for ~$1k and you'll have more driveable power potential than with the 289.
6th Gear Member
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 8,007
From: Citrus County, FL
making 400 ponies from a 351w is actually pretty easy, and your stock rods are plenty strong enough and will suit you just fine if you have them machined and refitted.
i cant believe how much they want for those cam bearings.... its insane. tell you what, if you want I can make a call to my buddies machine shop locally and see what he'll charge outright for a set of 351w rods that are reconditioned with ARP bolts - even with shipping up to you i can promise you they will be cheaper.
i cant believe how much they want for those cam bearings.... its insane. tell you what, if you want I can make a call to my buddies machine shop locally and see what he'll charge outright for a set of 351w rods that are reconditioned with ARP bolts - even with shipping up to you i can promise you they will be cheaper.
5th Gear Member
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 2,990
From: San Diego, CA
Thread Starter
5th Gear Member
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 2,035
From: Delaware(US) & Nova Scotia(Canada)
OK sorry I wasn't able to reply yesterday but spend the day on the Exploder upgrading the seats to heated seats. Still need to wire it up today.
ub.. Thanks for all the info on blue printing and balancing. Honestly it's something I hadn't thought of. The machine shop costs are adding up quickly. I don't mind paying their fees but it's robbery on the cost of parts through them. I haven't any idea what balancing costs but I'll have to ask later today when I call them.
** Called and talked to my guy at the shop... about 300.00 to have it balanced, 110 for both the main & rod bearings, another 100 for the installation of the ARP bolts that I supply. That better than what I was told yesterday and can live with it. I guess I was initially looking at 500 to 600 machine shop costs and its going to be 1000 or so after all the work has been done. There is that double figure again!
Just gonna have to deal with it I guess. Fun of doing something like this the first time. 
my77stang.. thanks for the offer but I think I got it resolved a bit today.
Starfury.. my "little bit of work to restore" comment when first purchased has come back to bite me a few times on this. It helps that its not my car but the wife's.. I don't feel quite as guilty this way lol!
Thanks for all the replies and suggestions.
ub.. Thanks for all the info on blue printing and balancing. Honestly it's something I hadn't thought of. The machine shop costs are adding up quickly. I don't mind paying their fees but it's robbery on the cost of parts through them. I haven't any idea what balancing costs but I'll have to ask later today when I call them.
** Called and talked to my guy at the shop... about 300.00 to have it balanced, 110 for both the main & rod bearings, another 100 for the installation of the ARP bolts that I supply. That better than what I was told yesterday and can live with it. I guess I was initially looking at 500 to 600 machine shop costs and its going to be 1000 or so after all the work has been done. There is that double figure again!
Just gonna have to deal with it I guess. Fun of doing something like this the first time. my77stang.. thanks for the offer but I think I got it resolved a bit today.
Starfury.. my "little bit of work to restore" comment when first purchased has come back to bite me a few times on this. It helps that its not my car but the wife's.. I don't feel quite as guilty this way lol!
Thanks for all the replies and suggestions.