Cast or forged how about rods?

[models916]

Sorry for all the questions here lately, but I am lost on what to do and dont want to waste a lot of money on stupid things. 348 rods, use them or toss them and use new big block? Pistons, new cast or new forged? Street hot rod 348 in my 62 belair. RPM under 5500, HP under 350 or so. Will bore 60 over and stock crank. What about stock rods and new bolts? thanks again, mike

[fatride]

Use the stock rods resized with ARP fasteners, Ask about shot peening the rods. This relieves stress and makes the rod stronger. I also always wanted to smooth the rods, I understand this eliminates stress risers! Cast pistons are fine for your build but if you get the "itch" it would be nice to have the forged pistons in there! 350 HP could be a little iffy with cast pistons! I think to squeeze 350 HP out of a .060 over 348 ( 357 ci) you would almost have to have 10.5 compression and spin the engine past 5500. My cast piston .060 over 348 was pushing 335 HP with the 9.5 piston.

[gearhead409]

the best horse power/torque gain you could get with this engine would be to use a 409 crank and rods in it. use your .060 over 348 pistons and you get 388 cu.ins.it's a drop-in. 409 crank and rods should be easy to come by as the 409 guys are using 427-454 cranks and rods. they should have these stock parts on the cheap.

[Russ348]

Use the stock rods resized with ARP fasteners, Ask about shot peening the rods. This relieves stress and makes the rod stronger. I also always wanted to smooth the rods, I understand this eliminates stress risers! Cast pistons are fine for your build but if you get the "itch" it would be nice to have the forged pistons in there! 350 HP could be a little iffy with cast pistons! I think to squeeze 350 HP out of a .060 over 348 ( 357 ci) you would almost have to have 10.5 compression and spin the engine past 5500. My cast piston .060 over 348 was pushing 335 HP with the 9.5 piston.

Would this be too much horse power (350hp) for a stock turboglide tranny
with a stock driveline? I know. I know. :rofl :rofl

[Mr.Jimmy]

Turbo Glide???

I thought those went into the dumpster....or over to Sweden for Martin for his Impala's!!!!! hehee

[fatride]

Would this be too much horse power (350hp) for a stock turboglide tranny
with a stock driveline? I know. I know. :rofl :rofl

I don't have experience with the Turboglide tranny. My gut tells me if the Glide tranny were in good shape and you weren't running with big meats the tranny would be ok although I would invest in a good tranny heat gauge! Same for the driveline. With 350 HP you would see the tires go up in smoke before the driveline was stressed to the breaking point! :eek:

[models916]

the best horse power/torque gain you could get with this engine would be to use a 409 crank and rods in it. use your .060 over 348 pistons and you get 388 cu.ins.it's a drop-in. 409 crank and rods should be easy to come by as the 409 guys are using 427-454 cranks and rods. they should have these stock parts on the cheap.


Wouldn't the Piston pin height be wrong on the 348 60 over piston for the 409 crank or do the shorter 409 rods take care of that? thanks I like to get all the opinions before I do something for the first time. What is a 409 crank and rods going for these days?

[348NUT]

The 1/8" shorter rods take care of the 1/4" longer stroke. Pin height is the same. If you go this way, get a 409 crank first and try it in your block. Some blocks may not accept the 409 crank although everyone I've heard of trying it says it works. I tried a 409 crank in a 58 block I have and it spins freely. One thing to consider is that the stock type cast pistons don't have the skirt clearance for the 409 crank. You may have to use forged if you go that route. I'm sure the 348 rods would be O.K. for a lower horse engine, but Big Block rods are so easy to come by I'd use them anyway. If you buy forged pistons, you can get whatever pin height you want so you can use Big Block rods with the 409 crank also. One more thing; These engines handle higher compession ratios on lower octane gas so 10:1 or even 10.5:1 should be just fine for a street car. Check these out:
http://www.bruneauperformance.ca/intro.html
Go under "our products for 409 cars", then "348-409 engine parts". Aubrey has incorporated some good ideas in his design I plan to use a set in my 350/348. Good Luck! NUT

[gearhead409]

i pushed the window a little bit when i said it was a drop-in. the 348-409 crank throws are the same dia. it is a drop-in. the 409 rods are shorter, this makes the compression height the same on 348-409 pistons. i used a set of nos trw forged 348 pistons and the crank cleared the piston skirts,but as 348nut has said some stock piston skirts will not clear the crank. you could have them clearanced to match a 409 piston or better yet do what 348nut has said and order new pistons to be used with the longer bb rods. this deal is still worth doing on any 348!

[Russ348]

Turbo Glide???

I thought those went into the dumpster....or over to Sweden for Martin for his Impala's!!!!! hehee

Don't knock it. Its ran great for 45+ years. How many other automatics
can say that? :rofl

[Mr.Jimmy]

My 480LE has 320k on it! Only 1 fluid change and a few can of Trans X.

I looked at a 59 yesterday with 19k actual. He had to have it gone through 10-15 years ago when it has 18.5 on it.

[tripowerguy]

WOW a turboglide that is still running. You know that trans might be worth more to a purist who is making a numbers matching car. You could probably trade it for a built 350 turbo and you would be very happy and the purist would be also. :rofl Roy