Reconditioned connecting rods.

I'm in the process of planning my mild street/track 289 build. I have the engine completely disassembled. While pulling the pistons I let one slip through my butter fingers and dropped it on the floor. It landed on one of the connecting rod bolts and bent the sucker. Now I either have to have them reconditioned with new bolts and a resizing of the big end or buy new ones. I can't seem to find many options for the 5.155" rod length the 289 uses. It will cost $75 for new ARP bolts and $110 at the machine shop to recondition them. This is fairly cheap but is it worth using the old rods at all?
 
Shawn,
Probably depends on your budget and how bulletproof you want the build to be. I have always liked the Eagle rods and they have them in the length you'd need. Just a thought.
 
Eagle rods are pretty tough to beat. I'm not ready to pour $700+ into connecting rods though. I was hoping to keep my pistons/rings and rods around $500 total. I'm not really building a monster race engine. I just want to get the car on the road without blowing my whole budget on the engine.
 
Eagle ESP-5.155F3D at summit, $497.97. H-Beam. Are your current rods bog standard 289 with 5/16 bolts? Another option might be a set Boss 302 69/70 if you can find some, they have 3/8 bolts , but are still press fit if thats what you currently have.
 
Hi,
Personally I'd always fit new rod bolts unless I knew the engine history. I'd check the dropped rod for dimensions and cracks. Just replacing one rod with a second hand one is not a safe option unless, again, you know the history. Standard Ford bolts should be fine for an unstressed unit but ARP bolts would be good and you will know they are brand new and haven't rattled around at the bottom of a parts bin! So, bottom line, for this build I'd use the original rods with ARP bolts.
Cheers Roger Allen
 
Thanks for the replies. I think I will try to reuse the rods with new ARP bolts and the big end checked for roundness. Maybe I will have them magnafluxed too since I did drop the one piston and rod on the concrete.
 

Terry Oxandale

Skinny Man
Sounds like the bolt took on most of the impact to the floor. I'd look closely to ensure no mushrooming of the corners that mate the cap with the rod, and replace the bolts. My only concern is if the impact was hard enough to bend the bolt, could it have been hard enough to distort the thin shoulder area of the rod, adjacent to the bolt head?
 
I was tapping the pistons out of the cylinders with a wood dowel rod and a dead blow. I had a head bolt on each side of the cylinder with a wire across it to stop the piston from falling to the floor. Only one problem, I moved the bolts to that cylinder but I forgot to put the wire back on. I tried to catch it with my hand but it slipped right through my fingers. So it fell from the cylinder through my fingers to the cement floor from engine stand height. I looked it over and can only see the rod bolt damage. Im not exactly a small block ford expert though.
 
I think I slowed the fall a little with my hand. It still hit the floor hard enough to put a slight bend in the rod bolt. I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that was possible from that little fall.
 
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