If you were putting together an LSVTEC with stock rods, what rod bolts would you go with?

I've heard over and over that when putting together a mild LSVTEC that using the stock LS rods is "OK." It's easy to see that the rod bolts are the weak link in the LS block.

If someone is doing a mild LSVTEC build and hoping to rev it up to ~8400, I know the stock Honda LS Rod bolts are NOT going to cut it. People say to use ARP bolts. Are the ARP 208-6401 bolts (8mm) going to be sufficient for a street driven LSVTEC to be revved to ~8400 RPM? I ask this because the VTEC engines use a 9mm rod bolt. I've heard about some people machining rods to accomodate a larger bolt.

 

If you use either the 8 or 9 mm hardware, the rods will have to be machined. I've only used 8 mm Arp.

 

ARP ROD BOLTS... Y WOULD U USE ANYTHING ELSE?

 

I dunno why someone wouldn't use ARP Rod bolts...MAYBE THEY DIDN'T READ THE WHOLE POST!

Thanks for clarifying that, Mar. I appreciate it.

 

i never read what people on here say.. dont blame me.. half the people are ricers worse then me hahahah jk

 

YEAH...noone reads on here, anymore.....

 

8mm is plenty, using them in all the LSvtec's I've built and none have had issues. In fact, my GSR block with LS internals/ARP rod bolts is nearing 100k miles, no issues at all

 

im running 8mm D/b18a/b bolts and it works just fine to 8500.

i would recommend getting the rods resized after getting the bolts pressed in, and also not to run the 9mm bolts because from what i was advised against is, the money and effort anf issues that can come from trying to get them to work.

 

In all reality LS rod bolts are fine as long as you don't intend on revving past the stock LS rev limit. Ls rod bolts hold up to 350 WHP turbo builds on the regular. If you plan on revving past the stock 7500 RPM limit then ARP should be your only choice.

 

Going to hijack for a minute. What size are the stock bolts? It sounds like people have machined the rods to accept a larger bolt; are there any integrity issues with the rod?

The reason I'm asking is because I've been trying to find rod bolts for the f23, which ARP doesn't make. I've wondered about machining the rods to fit a larger bolt, but unsure if I'd be giving up too much integrity to make it worthwhile, and since it seems to have been done to the LS, thought I'd check in here.

 

stock ls and d's are 8mm, vtec B;s are 9mm