ARP con rods worth it ?

[Jonny IX]

So after speaking to jaime@evotune and ant@indigoGT they have both advised me that I am wasting money buying ARP conrod bolts with the mods im doing on my IX FQ MR 340.

However my mechanic Wynn who has 20 odd years of engine building under his belt for Mitsubishi main dealers and rally team,Prodrive world rally team and ex sjr mitsubishi jwrc has told me id be a numpty not to get the con rod bolts and all the years he has done these he has never had a con rod go with the mods im going for which are

Walbro 255 fuel pump from jaime@evotune
3" De cat pipe
ARP con rod bolts
Boost controller
and a remap.

Now I am NOT trying to start a wrong or right thread here and I respect the comments of Jaime and Anthony as they are both highly respected tuners
and know more than me in there little fingers than I do about Evos or engines for that matter and there both top blokes whos cars and customers cars speak for themselves both will continue to get my money for parts spares and other bits

What im after is peace of mind hence why im fitting the con rod bolts to the car as my thoughts are its the most dear thing to me (apart from mrs and kids obviously :wub but as we spend so much money on our cars when purchasing then modding them, Why dont people fit the con rod and head bolts no matter how much power there after under 500 bhp (I will also be fitting head bolts when funds allow )

So enough of me blabbing let the thread begin.....

 

[Cossie1]

I have NEVER seen an Evo rod let go, due to the conrod bolts coming loose, therefore the ARP's are a waste of time and money imo on the evo engine.

The rods usually let go, due to too much power, detonation putting shock through them or metal fatigue / age.

None of which are related to the stock rod bolts not being upto the job.

All the above is imo (and Jamie's / Ant's too it seem's).

 

[Jonny IX]

Nice one cossie . im on the better safe than sorry camp so any thing to strengthen I will be uprating all con rods and nessecary bits as time and cash allows but thought I might aswell start with these as the power goes up

But as Ive said im clueless with all this but rely on people around me and reccomendations and Wynn comes uber highly recommended by a few on this forum and others and a few lads I know not on forums .

 

[ElDopesta]

I would have to agree with every opinion offered thus far including the one by Wynn!

I am not sitting on the fence at all, "better safe than sorry" is no doubt what he is thinking.

Personally, I would not bother with it as it just means extra work for the sake of doing it, if you get what I mean buddy.

With the mods that you have planned, it certainly is not worth it unless there are bigger things in mind within the foreseeable future :whistling: :whistling: :whistling:

What mods are in place already???


El

 

[Jonny IX]

With the mods that you have planned, it certainly is not worth it unless there are bigger things in mind within the foreseeable future :whistling: :whistling: :whistling:

What mods are in place already???


El

None mate but I do have bigger plans but thought I might aswell as do it as it will need doing eventually.

I just wanted more opinions from people who no more than me mate as im clueless LOL

 

[jamie@evotune]

None mate but I do have bigger plans but thought I might aswell as do it as it will need doing eventually.

I just wanted more opinions from people who no more than me mate as im clueless LOL

If you do go forged later the bolts wont fit anyway as they are different in forged rods

I know JohnD is running 500hp on a stock Evo IX block

 

[Jonny IX]

If you do go forged later the bolts wont fit anyway as they are different in forged rods

I know JohnD is running 500hp on a stock Evo IX block

AAAAH I hate evos LOL

Cheers for the heads up Jaime

 

[sponners]

if you asked the question 5-7 years ago probably all of the traders/tuners would have said you do need to change the bolts!


although we dont truly know what is the cause of the standard con rod failures we see, but I'm pretty confident its not the rod bolts.

 

[ElDopesta]

In my opinion it occurs due to constantly higher revolutions and/or going over the capacity threshold of the rods when upping the power.

On the VIII and IX rods, this issue was addressed further.......It is not known as Evolution for nothing!!!

I have seen rods bend and rods that have snapped but I have never seen the bolts fail to date.


El

 

[sponners]

interesting, how many evos have you seen bend the standard rod El?

 

[ElDopesta]

Just the once but I have seen it a fair few times on the Skyline GT-S.

As for them snapping or going on a vacation/imitating a Scud Missile........at least six times that I can remeber off hand! :whistling: :whistling: :whistling:

Not seen it yet on an VIII or IX though.


El

 

[sponners]

was gonna say, you dont hear of very many at all bending, its always snapping (or the missile effect as you put it lol)

 

[ElDopesta]

No point saying that I have seen a fair few bend as that would be blagging LOL!!!

It is very rare, like you said buddy.

I still can't understand why Wynn would be so adamant on the bolt job as they never come undone or break or silp for that matter, even when the rod flies out to say hello!!!

Being safe is good but it would be like putting a safe inside a safe when one is up to the task.


El

 

[antony@indigo-gt]

Yep as said, we have never done rod bolts on a stock engine and have yet to see them fail

 

[Jonny IX]

ive still got them boys and girls better safe than sorry is my motto.......and skint !!!

 

[pukkasilvia]

Ive just searched and read this as im buying some for my std 6 engine as my std bolts are out of spec/ i would say he would have been daft not too as they are peanuts at 37 quid . Probably cheaper than oem. If i had to pay a garage to remove my sump etc to fit them however........... not worth it. I would also put fresh rod bearings in at the same time. Old rod bearings do not like being disturbed to much