Connecting Rod Lightening

[SunbirdMan]

I'm trying to get ahead of the curve for next fall. Our local community college has a night class on engine balancing. I'm thinking of taking the class and seeing if I can balance my engine and save some $. I'd like to lighten the stock connecting rods a bit before then so I'm ready to go. Nothing drastic as I'm just shooting for a mild low rpm motor. I can't find much info on the net as far as a how-to for the DIYer. Specifically small block chevy. Any place I can go on the net, or anyone here have some pics or experience they can share? Thanks.

[djv8ga]

I have a set of ultra lite I beams made from 4340 material. The differance between the standard lite and the ultra lite is that they machine the beam thinner. My 6" rods with 7/16" ARP cap screws are rated at 500hp and weigh in at 558 Grams each if I remember correctly. This is my second set of these and I dont think 30 grams or so makes much differance. I just like the price and ez balance job.

[Xethur]

the best way to lighten rods is to get a balancer like the one here: www.proformparts.com/PDF/67596install.doc the best way to do it is take one of the rods and remove any excess material, with a dremel, from the rod. then use that one as your guide and balance the rest of them to it. you basically want to make them look like these ones: http://store.summitracing.com/partdetai ... toview=sku
also David Vizard has a few good books that explain everything in detail.


Hammer[/code]