Small block engines came out when I was a kid. Sow a few engines break a rod, but dad or mom never had much of a problem. It was all the guys that bragged that they could turn 10,000 RPM's. Some missed a shift and were trying to learn how to power shift at those high 10K RPM's.
Saw tons of # 1 & 2 spun bearings caused by oil starvation to the last journal, but Raced the small blocks within their power curve and never lost a rod in my life.
I think if you are doubling the HP then that's a different story. I pushed the old small blocks to their limit with those rods and 2 bolt mains and never had a problem even when we souped them up, (old term).
Had one guy loose at the strip with a 283 in a 55 chevy. he put a roller cam in it and took the 30/30 cam out. he was so pi$$ed he put a weight on his gas pedal and turned the engine on, solid lifters. We all took off running. after about 20 seconds a brave friend ran and took the brick off the gas pedal.
I seriously doubt that us old classic vette drivers treat our engines like that and believe we use good oil to boot.
All my SB engines have what GM put in them.
2 bolt mains never gave me a problem. Some guys would weaken their main caps by drilling them to make 4 bolt mains.
But then I saw cars with ISKY, CRANE, and other decals on them. Could never figure out how they got both cams in the engine?
Dom
Saw tons of # 1 & 2 spun bearings caused by oil starvation to the last journal, but Raced the small blocks within their power curve and never lost a rod in my life.
I think if you are doubling the HP then that's a different story. I pushed the old small blocks to their limit with those rods and 2 bolt mains and never had a problem even when we souped them up, (old term).
Had one guy loose at the strip with a 283 in a 55 chevy. he put a roller cam in it and took the 30/30 cam out. he was so pi$$ed he put a weight on his gas pedal and turned the engine on, solid lifters. We all took off running. after about 20 seconds a brave friend ran and took the brick off the gas pedal.
I seriously doubt that us old classic vette drivers treat our engines like that and believe we use good oil to boot.
All my SB engines have what GM put in them.
2 bolt mains never gave me a problem. Some guys would weaken their main caps by drilling them to make 4 bolt mains.
But then I saw cars with ISKY, CRANE, and other decals on them. Could never figure out how they got both cams in the engine?
Dom
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