Connecting Rods - Chevy
small-block rods have been updated several times, but center-to-center
length has remained constant at 5.7 inches, except in the 400-inch engine,
which has a special short rod at 5.565" in length with short rod
bolts. When the large journal 302 and 350inch engines were introduced in
1967 (with the new large-diameter crank) the rod bolts remained at 11/32-inch
diameter. Everything from '68 on up has the 3/8inch bolt rod and the larger
diameter journals. It must be remembered that stock rods with 3/8-inch
bolts can't be had for the small-diameter crank. This means you can't build
an engine with a pre-'67 crank and use a stock rod with the 3/8-inch bolts.
Over the years attempts have been made to install the larger bolts in the
early rods to produce a small-displacement, high-RPM engine based on the
early crank. Due to the availability of later hardware and many problems
- and poor results - of installing the big rod bolts, this combination
is not recommended,
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