A respected racer whom I know (only from emails) had a type 1 race engine destroy itself. This was a very carefully asssembled engine that used only high quality parts.
The problem was that he used 5/16" diameter rod bolts. Even though the bolts/nuts were the highest quality available (manufacturer shall remain nameless) they were not strong enough to hold things together under a 250+ BHP load at 9,000 RPM. Up to 8,000 RPM with 5/16" probably would have been OK, but over that you're "entering The Twilight Zone...".
The moral to this story is use 3/8" rod bolts/nuts when building a performance engine - if only as insurance. Most of us will probably never run engines that rev above 7,000 RPM, but rod bolts are usually the weakest link in the chain.
(Message Edited 4/7/2003 2:59:29 PM)
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