Question? connecting rods

Hi,
What are the best connecting rods for B16 & or B18 honda motors? Does anyone make a hard anodized or teflon impregnated coated aluminum rod for these engines? Any reply's will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Kurt

best rods are pauter rods

Asking what the best of something is always going to get you opinons, so remember that.

Thanks civickiller. Right now opinions is all I'm really interested in. Just out of curiosity do you know anyone racing these?

eagle

ib spec

Anyone ever run Bill Miller (BME), GRP or English Eagle (not the chinese "made in America" rods but the high quality Aluminum rods?

i would think that aluminum might be kind of weak for a connecting rod. most people stick with steel or if they go for something better its usually titanium.

All funny car and top fuel cars run Aluminum rods? I know they are running several thousand horsepower (pretty sure they run a lot of BME rods) I also know they rebuild after every run and replace the rods at each rebuild (can you imagine the cost). I was a crew chief in Formula atlantic (all Toyota four bangers) and you almost always seen either Carillo steel rods or high end aluminum rods. Thanks for your input Kven.

wow i never knew that. are the designs of the aluminum rods similar to that of the steel and titanium ones(like the I-beams and such)? ive always wanted a lighter conrod for the b16 im putting in but can only find steel units, and titanium but theyre way too expensive. also, how do the prices for aluminum units compare?

wow i never knew that. are the designs of the aluminum rods similar to that of the steel and titanium ones(like the I-beams and such)? ive always wanted a lighter conrod for the b16 im putting in but can only find steel units, and titanium but theyre way too expensive. also, how do the prices for aluminum units compare?

I was researching different connecting rod designs (I work for a Mechanical and Material science department at a State University) using a technique call F.E.A. (Finite Element Analysis) and found some really interesting information about rod designs. I did analysis on a Carillo rod (H-beam (steel), a stock Ford connecting rod (from a 302), Mopar 440 six-pack rod and Mopar 340 stock. The last three rods are all "I" beam rods.

1) the mass of connecting rods is very dependent on their overall strength because there are actually higher stress levels on the rod from dynamic forces associated with their rotating through their normal, intake, compression, ignition, exhaust cycles than what occurs during compression stress associated with being pushed on by the piston alone.
What this means is the lighter the better.

2) Aluminum rods can be substantially stronger than steel rods when properly engineered and made from the right material.

3) If I were building a motor for a Honda B16 and performance was a consideration aluminum would be the most logical choice.

Like you said the Titanium rods are very strong but they aren't as light as you might expect (typically TI rods weigh about 150% as much as the same design as Aluminum) and the way they price them you would think they were made of gold.

I hope this helps.

Thanks civickiller. Right now opinions is all I'm really interested in. Just out of curiosity do you know anyone racing these?

mike laskey, running 10s
Jotech, car in the hotrod class

this is what i plan to run in my engine when i build it

mike laskey, running 10s
Jotech, car in the hotrod class

this is what i plan to run in my engine when i build it


Are you running Pauter rods in your Jotech? Steel or TI? I looked at their TI rods but damn, they want like $800 each. Thanks

im not apart of jotech so i dont know if its steel or Ti, probably steel

Street car or race car?

We ran GRP aluminum rods in a friends mustang that he loosely called a street car (15:1 compression 459" SBF), and after about 1000 street miles on the car in one summer the piston-to-deck clearance tightened from .015" in the hole to .004" in the hole. They strech way too much to be used in a street car. The lightest rod you're going to be able to use for a street car is a titanium rod. Eagle already has one out, so why mess with a good thing :)

Street car or race car?

We ran GRP aluminum rods in a friends mustang that he loosely called a street car (15:1 compression 459" SBF), and after about 1000 street miles on the car in one summer the piston-to-deck clearance tightened from .015" in the hole to .004" in the hole. They strech way too much to be used in a street car. The lightest rod you're going to be able to use for a street car is a titanium rod. Eagle already has one out, so why mess with a good thing :)

I found a really informative article about connecting rods here:

http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/82378/#

Quote from that article: "As for ultimate power capacity, know that they’re (titanium rods) used in everything from 9,000-rpm NASCAR motors to a handful of 6,000hp Top Fuel motors (though most teams use aluminum)

One of the problems I have is that there seem to be several companies making Aluminum rods for Domestic engines but very few offer AL rods for imports (why?). Smaller engines, lower reciprocating mass would seem taylor made. I guess its a numbers game and they only want to build a part if they can sell 15 million of them for chevy's. I know there are aluminum rods available (Manley, Crower, Eagle...) but the selection goes way down if your ride is from across the pond.