S54 Engine Rebuild questions and journey

[Darbshaw]

I used a local machine shop to me with good reviews. The owner wasn't familiar with the engine itself but he was open to the job. I was in WV at the time, as you'd imagine there's demand mainly for American stuff.

I brought some numbers on the min specs of the parts along with him doing research of his own. I had to supply the torque plate for the block. He was super thorough and everything turned out really well.

I've heard a lot of iffy things about vac on the forums. Not sure if I would trust them to do my parts. Not to mention postage of a short block there and back would be ridiculous


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[WOT48]

Good to know the engine is running strong.

Did you use VAC motorsport for machining work? recommend?

[Darbshaw]

I'll come back through and photo dump once I'm on wifi


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Darbshaw]

Any update on the build?

Wow I actually forgot that I made this thread. It's been up for about 2 years now and running strong! She's officially a dedicated track car now and overall mileage is about 170k with no issues since the rebuild.

Even surprisingly nothing from the maxspeeding rods conrod. Although last I looked they are significantly more expensive than when I bought and would probably go another route with a smaller price gap. Not sure if I posted but I think I got the set for like $200

Car has been tuned by hte but has not been dyno'd so I guess all health is just assumed. Power seems good though.






I do remember that I took like a week off work to power through cleaning and reassembly. I think this is most likely why I never posted it. 1 big speed run

[WOT48]

Any update on the build?

[Darbshaw]

Last of the parts have been ordered!!! Waiting on my pistons still to come off of back order. Besides that everything that’s needed to be at the machine shop is there and I’m just waiting on stuff to make it’s way in to keep the ball rolling.

Plan for the weekend is to tackle cleaning the engine bay, and clean the rest of the components. Minus the oil pan, that will be totally worth hot tanking.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Darbshaw]

Small update, dropped my torque plate off at the shop and had them take a look at the big end on the rod. He wasn’t worried about the slight mark himself and actually quite impressed with the rod on initial inspection. Still plan on taking it there for straightness checking and confirming the little end sizing.

Had a lazy Sunday and just started to clean some of the components and boy did they need it. A worthwhile time for sure. Just waiting on another paycheck or two to be able to fund the remaining bit of the build.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Darbshaw]

Rods came in today! Overall impressed with the rods themselves. There is one big end that has a pretty big looking score in it but my nail cannot catch on it so idk there. Also I don’t know how much that matters since a bearing rides on that surface anyways. If this is something worth sending an email to them on due to their manufacturer defect warranty I will(I’ll attach that big end pic to this post)

5/6 rods weighed in at 565g with ARP 2000 bolts while one tipped 564 with its bolts.
Unbolted they come in at 509, I would assume the one lighter would be 508.

The beveled big end surfaces are extremely nice and I haven’t seen much of a rough edge anywhere. I don’t know how much the non beveled small ends will fair. Although they’re brass so should be soft enough to not be an issue


Edit: This line/mark seems to be almost repeatable one each big end. I sent an email to them to be sure and put their “solve your problem in 24hrs” claim. I’ll work to verify the arp bolts tomorrow!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Darbshaw]

Got the torque plate rented out today. Should be in Thursday! Also received a sad email that my pistons are on back order and will be aprox 4-6 weeks until they’re in. This is gonna be a slight and annoying delay with having the shop checking the ring gaps but we keep moving along!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Darbshaw]

Wiseco will come will information on recommended ring gaps depending on your application. The machine shop bored it perfectly so I didn’t have to adjust the ring gap at all.

I went 87.25 over so if something happens, I can still rebore to 87.5.

good luck with the rods, I would guess you’ll be just fine unless their quality control missed something. I’m curious to the variance of weight from rod to rod though and how tight the tolerances are.

Okay awesome! I figured that would be the case for these. Honestly I couldn’t find any of them readily available at 87.25 so I just told em to jump the .5mm and make it happen that way. I found a great price and got these for 803 shipped, so I figured it was worth the jump. Fingers crossed that nothing bad happens again and I’m not left to sleeves or a new block haha.
That’s my thought on the rods as well, I’ll write all the stuff down that you guys are looking to have reviewed or checked on it and will make sure to get all that.
As for tolerances, I’m assuming you’re talking about the big and little end sizing? From what I read the little ends are always a little tight on most rods. I figure if I can get away with $100 in machining these would still be an absolute steal. SHOULD I use these are there is ever a failure. I will most definitely get the material tested.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mspir3d]

Wiseco will come with information on recommended ring gaps depending on your application. The machine shop bored it perfectly so I didn’t have to adjust the ring gap at all.

I went 87.25 over so if something happens, I can still rebore to 87.5.

good luck with the rods, I would guess you’ll be just fine unless their quality control missed something. I’m curious to the variance of weight from rod to rod though and how tight the tolerances are.

[Darbshaw]

Okay so I went and ordered my 87.5mm Wiseco’s at the 11.3 CR along with that with much hesitation went and ordered the maxpeedingrods connecting rods.

As for ring gap, would I still follow the manuals recommended ring gaps or would different pistons call for different gaps etc?

I’ll go through and most likely do a full examination of these to a tee. I’ll even let my shop examine the rods themselves and test the straightness of the big ends at torque, along with the smalls. I ordered these with the intention of returning them if they don’t check out, or give me the slightest indication of not being legit.

I’ll most likely create a separate post with all the information as in depth as I can go for any others out there that were curious about these. I just don’t feel right not even checking these out because of the old school mantra of “I’m not using Chinese crap”.

Honestly after coupon codes a total of 293.25 shipped with supposed genuine arp hardware (I’ll verify this as well myself). Is an extremely hard price to beat.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Darbshaw]

ARP on stock rods you cant resize big ends properly (bore goes out of round and needs resizing). next time the bearings are out with ARP you never have to worry about which size bolts to get they reusable unlike some OE

the rods are better material, stronger and have not accumulated 80,000 miles of fatigue damage and if the tune is off and you have a bit of knock youre less likely have issues.

if youre opening the engine its a no brainer to future proof and a bit of insurance.

also with the pistons you want a custom set specifically for FI which will be beefed up in particular areas (crown, ring lands, skirts, pin ID etc), choice of ring and pin materials etc

Thanks for the input digger, it’s much appreciated!
Okay, well I guess it’s settled and sadly I’ll add that in to the budget. I’m really not looking forward to that price hike but if it has to be done.

Still going back and forth over trying the max speeding rods because I mean at this point someone has to try it.
I understand if it’s too good to be true it probably is but like the price is very tempting. Along with successful use in other brands and groups.

If I decide to not be adventurous, I’ll be going with the molnar rods and will just have to eat the extra cost with it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[digger]

Are the arp bolts used for the oem rods not reusable? I figured this was a good middle ground for what I intended. Also according to someone who previously posted here they were able to get the straightness checked and corrected with those bolts.

My end goal with the engine is going to be 400-500 wheel. As of right now that is going with a supercharger kit. Although this would be a whole down the road budget wise.

If the arp’s for the regular rods aren’t reusable then that’s a good point. What do you mean as for a better margin on tuning issues? Is this just because of a “tougher” material or creation process?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

ARP on stock rods you cant resize big ends properly (bore goes out of round and needs resizing). next time the bearings are out with ARP you never have to worry about which size bolts to get they reusable unlike some OE

the rods are better material, stronger and have not accumulated 80,000 miles of fatigue damage and if the tune is off and you have a bit of knock youre less likely have issues.

if youre opening the engine its a no brainer to future proof and a bit of insurance.

also with the pistons you want a custom set specifically for FI which will be beefed up in particular areas (crown, ring lands, skirts, pin ID etc), choice of ring and pin materials etc

[Darbshaw]

They come with reusable ARP bolts and big ends are properly sized with the those bolts, better margin against tuning issues etc, iirc its not a stock rebuild

Are the arp bolts used for the oem rods not reusable? I figured this was a good middle ground for what I intended. Also according to someone who previously posted here they were able to get the straightness checked and corrected with those bolts.

My end goal with the engine is going to be 400-500 wheel. As of right now that is going with a supercharger kit. Although this would be a whole down the road budget wise.

If the arp’s for the regular rods aren’t reusable then that’s a good point. What do you mean as for a better margin on tuning issues? Is this just because of a “tougher” material or creation process?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk