Caution Rod Bolts

Two motors in 2 days. these were fresh motors. One had 3 easy passes on it. I saw it Thursday while testing, the other I was told today, Had ARP rod bolts & the bolts broke in both motors.Also different engine shops. I would say check with ARP on dates manuf. Don

 

rods bolts

They were both carb. bracket cars. the one I saw was two slow drive down the track runs, broke on the burn out. on low rpm's. I never saw a Nor. Asp 750 hp. motor break rod bolts, on two different cars & engine builders. Way to much in common. I think. Don

 

Rod Bolts

What series of rod bolts were they? ARP2000, L-19 ?

Thanks

 

rod bolts

I will make a few calls + find out. Just trying to let people know it happened. Be back then.,. Don

 

This is a serious accusation.

 

rod bolts

I am NOt making any accusations here. All I am saying is what I saw & what I was told. Hell My rods have them . If you read what I said is [check with them.] And if you don't think there are bad batches of stuff, you better get your head out of the sand. A bad batch of rod bearing cost me a ton. years ago, Don

 

Wow, it's amazing how everybody just jumps to conclusions. This is exactly how rumors get started. Whether the accusation was made or not, you put it out on the internet for the world to see. I worked at JE for years and we used to get phone calls saying your piston broke my motor. We then got all the parts in to inspect them, rod, pistons, bearings and rings. Most of the time it was something else that caused the piston to break, or the pin to pull out the bottom.

 

In Don's defence

Was working at a shop a few years back running a job for the Army. Certified aircraft quality steel 8620 paper work everywhere. Found laminations in several bars. I am sure parts left the shop with the problem before it was discovered. ARP could have the same thing happen.
We have had problems with venders in the past not much you can say about it consdering the way we use the parts. We just buy from someone else and hope for the best. As a example we had some real crankshaft problems last year explained what we thougt was happening to the vender and was told there was no way their crank would do that. Running another companies crank this year so far so good. Lifters,gaskets,castings that don't fit and on and on. Fast is EXPENSIVE simple as that

 

Was the pan pulled after the previous run? If not, it could be the damage was done on that run. Like Mike said, maybe something happened on torquing the rod bolts. If the rod bearing was blackened, it's not the rod bolt. Like I said in a previous quote, when I was at JE, we used to see this all the time. A guy would complain about our piston. We'd tell him to send us the rod, bearings and pistons. We would see a broken piston, the pin pulled out the bottom, the rod bolts broken and a blackened rod bearing, all from the same cylinder. Not the piston, not the rod bolts, lack of oil. We would check for smashed bearings, pitted bearings, are the threads in the rods pulled out, what do the pistons look like. Blown up engine parts don't lie. They all tell a story. This is what I mean, everything else needs to be eliminated first before you start blaming manufactures. Don, I'm not bagging on you, I'm just giving my point of view from a manufacturers standpoint. Ok, I'm out of breath, time to hit the send button.

 

Sh-- Happens !!!

I've heard lots of stories, but here's the best one from the straightest shooter there ever was...........George Santos.
UPS man is carrying in a box on the run, George hears clanking and is worried the rods inside might be damaged in transit, so opens the box before signing for it, and finds not one, but TWO heads of bolts rolling around in the box !!!
They were name brand bolts, BTW.

 

so did he blame or thank ups for it?????

 

I also remember George saying one time, "I will never run a G#d Damn, valve spring eating hemi. He ate them words in a big way.