Best price.....so what was that price with Bobs and Falicon's charges together?

 

I don't know what the 169.99 gets you...I just asked him how much it would be for a rod with labor and and just labor and that is what he quoted me. He talked about a bunch of technical things and lost me shortly. I am an engineer, but I know very little about balancing a crank. It sounds like he knows what he is talking about.

 

Another potential problem could be piston / cylinder clearance. The bottom part of the sleeve breaks from being too tight / too loose with the piston, the piston hits the open area and this breaks the rod. Got with a 686 and the potential clearance problem is aggreviated by the thin sleeve at the bottom and the bottom of the sleeve is THIN. No support either on the bottom of the sleeve. As stated earlier....this is a problem on all Raptors...stock bore, big bore, whatever. Think about it.

 

Anyone ever thrown a rod and NOT had the cylinder sleeve broken?

 

The rod breaking could be a couple of different things or a combination, but either way I think the strength of the stock rod is marginal. Here's my reasons with the most likely first.

Not enough oil getting to the top pin and bottom of the piston for adequate cooling of the piston and lubrication of the pin.

Harmonic/vibration

Jetting lean and to much heat, this may also contribute to the first theory.

 

My pin looked like NEW when I took the piston out, where it rides in the rod. Yes my bottom of the cylinder was cracked but the inside showed no signs of heat, actually it looked as if it were just honed out. The crack to me was caused by the piston going lower than it should and was pushed back up at an angle and cracked it. The piston looks bad sitting in my cylinder but believe it or not, it still moved up and down smooth! It was amazing, I thought it was stuck in there for good. look at my pics on my page and you will see what I am talking about.

 

Has anyone lost a rod NOT using a JE piston?

 

Has anyone used a Vesrah connecting rod kit? If so, how is it. They seem to be cheaper than Carillo, but that doesn't always mean better.

 

I've only heard of one with a stock piston.

 

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img] A stock piston? Maybe a defect?
JE says too run .003 clearance between the piston and cylinder. My machinest felt that was not enough. He bored it too JE specs though.....and at my request took pains too make it PERFECT. Could JE be recommending too little clearance causing these rod failures?