Well finally got it tore completely down...wow...that was a ride! Ive learned SO much! The true test will be putting it back together again hehe

Well ALL of the rods are bent. Some worse than others...The culprit, and I really believe my life saver, of the knock was: The number 6 connecting rod was bent the worst and it was shorter. so on the down stroke the bottom of the piston skirt was hitting the oiler bar. Man i was lucky for that. All of the bearings look to be in pretty good shape seeing how bent the rods where...i have tons of pix but heres a few views of the rods:

left to right: #6-1


Closer view of #6/5/4


Closer view of #3/2/1


Side view of #6


Side view of #5


Pistons look great. No scaring or scoring on the cylinder walls. Crank journals are great. motor i very clean. Still consider myself VERY lucky! If it wouldnt have bent just that much to barely hit the oiler bar I would have pushed it harder and more than likely to a much more dramatic end!

 

Holy shiet!!! How do the cylinder walls look?

EDIT: NM just read it. Good luck on the rebuild!!!

 

The walls are perfect. Still see the swirl marks from the factory. just perfect. crazy huh. I cant believe the bearings are in such good shape..yeah there is wear on them...45k miles with 13-14k miles of that well above 400whp...but still no scoring or scars...just a little wear

 

What rods and pistons you gonna run now???

If you haven't picked up the parts or a sleeved short block give me a shout and I will hook you up with a killer deal.

 

damn, that is the first time I've seen an actual picture of a bent rod rather then just reading about it. wow. Thanks for sharing. What do you have planned next for replacement?

 

how much is well above 400hp?

 

wow...that looks pretty bad. Good luck on the build

 

I'll have to check on the "funds" lol and see where that stands...but was thinking about eagle rods...Arias ED...should be just fine for me...keeping my options open though.

Your welcome about the pix...kinda hate they really are my pics tho lol

 

lol

 

Tuned to 426whp when I got it back.

Left it there for awhile

Got W/I then took it up to 485whp with the meth injection

My guess would be after 465whp it started to bend the rods and more and more as power increased

 

Stock VQ rods....

 

You wanna sell your meth injec kit?

 

those pic,s are cool as ****,i think thats about as far as you go before ........snap crackle and pop.i have never seen rods bent like that without causing some serious problems.i even started out working in my cousins machine shop and thought i saw everything.albeit a loong time ago.

 

Good for you tearing the engine down before **** hit the fan...

thank you for the pics, those rods are BARELY hanging on...

 

Sorry about your problems... glad you caught this early while the block was still usable.

Thanks for sharing the pics -- I have seen bent VQ rods before, but never bent in both directions at the same time! Great pics.

 

I would but I plan on rebuilding so Imma stick with it

 

nice, glad to actually see first hand the weakness of the VQ

thanks for the pics, and good luck getting it back together

 

Yeah if it wasnt for the piston hitting that oiler bar I would have never known and would have just pushed it harder and for sure would have snapped one or more.

 

Man that is amazing. Good thing you got it broken down when you did.

 

Thats a scary picture. Bet it was a pain getting that apart. Good luck with your future plans.