Hey guys.. Getting ready for a motor build this winter and have a few questions.. I've been searching for the last few days to see what people are using and haven't seen many, if any rod failures on STi's... Anyone breaking them? Seems like the stockers are getting the job done. I'll be using the GT30R (.82 a/r) again and trying to get as close to 500whp as possible on 110.. (mustang dyno) Last year we made 405whp 420wtq on 100. Tim Bailey (PDX tuning) said that I still had room, but didnt want to push the stock internals. We ran 24.5 psi as well.. Right now it's looking like a set of Wiseco 100mm's and some ARP studs with new gaskets.. Rods needed? I'd like to save the $700 for some cams if possible.. Thanks

I'd most definately do the rods with those kind of goals.

You think so? FWIW, the car will have another great tune by Tim from PDX and will not be boosted or run hard untill tuned.. I know another guy from Ohio (slorice) who is running at these goals with a 35R and stock rods. His seem to be holding up so far, but I don't think his car sees as many miles as mine does per year.. Any more opinions?

We are going to be doing another bottom end for my engine this winter as I have low compression but good leakdown numbers in #4. So its either a slightly bent rod or it flipped a ring. I am going to be going with Carrillo rods this time around. From what I've read, people making over 500whp are getting to the point where the stock rods are starting to bend.

Rods are something that's not necessary with a 30R, but by putting them in, you have given yourself more head room for when you bolt the 35R on. (DO IT!! :lol:)

By doing them now, you save yourself some $$ in the long run. If you do them later, you're tearing the block down all the way again and have to buy new bearings, etc.

Cams are something that can be bought later and installed with the engine in the car. Unless you buy nasty cams that need an upgraded valvetrain. Then you're pulling the motor to take the heads off.

Hmmm... Well, i guess rods it is then.. Any opinions on the Manley I beam rods? Seem pretty nice from what I've seen..

I can honestly say I've never heard of Manley until about 2 weeks ago. But the few people on here that said they have used their stuff in Chevy motors or old DSM's said it worked well.

I think the Manley I-beam's are about the same price at the Pauter or Crower rods. A lot of people on here favor the Pauter's though.

We put a set of manley i-beams in a customer car awhile ago. They looked extremely nice out of the box and so far have been performing very well. I believe they are rated to 1,000hp. I would go with them or oliver. The carillos are nice but at close to $1200 i don't see the benefits over a manley or oliver for the price difference.

I trust Manley w/ about anything. Their products worked great in 3 different 1st gen DSMs I had. I picked up a valvetrain, but have yet to put it in.

The carillos are nice but at close to $1200 i don't see the benefits over a manley or oliver for the price difference.

I agree and that's why I'm not paying $1,200 for a set. :devil:

^^^ LOL... Nice.. Ok, I think I have things in order now.
I can get a good deal on the 100mm Wisecos with Manley I beams..
Tim, where did you get your bearings?

OEM all the way.

We are going to be doing another bottom end for my engine this winter as I have low compression but good leakdown numbers in #4. So its either a slightly bent rod or it flipped a ring...
Tim, please post up the results when you inspect the rods - it'll be interesting to see what you find out. Frankly, I just can't see how you could put enough torque load on one to bend it unless you had a little det, but I could be very wrong. Heck, I remember the pictures of Sponaugle's motor where he dropped the valve, the motor grenaded badly enough that the head actually lifted, and he claimed the stock rods were still all 100% in spec. If true, the OEM rods are pretty dang tough.

BTW, I'm not familiar with what you mean by "or it flipped a ring." Do you mean the ring might have jumped the grove? Boy, if so, I'd think you'd be seeing a lot of oil smoke because it would score the CW in a BIG way. Did you do some leakdown shots downhole too?

I've heard this "flipped ring" statement from two people....a buddy that works at Wiseco and my local V8 performance shop that helps me out. Basically its when the compression rings gives up and doesn't have enough strength to handle the compression during a power stroke, but it has enough strength to handle the air pressure from a leakdown test. It might be called something else though...not sure.

From talking with Phil @ Element Tuning, he said the stock rings just don't stand up to the high boost from all these big turbos. So a good set of aftermarket rings should do the trick. FYI, I have stock rings and CP Pistons.

When we did the leakdown test, we went all the way down the cylinder wall and results were the same all the way down.

Unfortunately, I'm thinking the beginning of my woes was from my tuning session in August when we had the boost controller hooked up incorrectly to the wastegate and we spiked to 40psi. Tim Bailey wouldn't tell me how bad the knock was from the ECUTek log other than it was bad. :(

I believe the word Tim Bailey used was "Unbelievably":eek:

Unfortunately, I'm thinking the beginning of my woes was from my tuning session in August when we had the boost controller hooked up incorrectly to the wastegate and we spiked to 40psi.
Holy ****...40psi? Yeah, that might've had something to do with it...

On the ring issue, it'd be nice to hear some long term observations from someone who has had a set of Total Seal rings for a while. I know of a lot of people who've had great success using them in many different motors, but I opted to not be a "scout" when I had my motor built. When I asked Jeremy about them, he said he wanted to stick with what he knew would work.