[Fot] Steel Connecting Rods for a TR6

[Enquiries Road & Track]

i've used dozens of sets of cheap chinese rods in my engine shop and never
heard of a failure in service

in fact, conrod failures are very rare even in race engines. its usually
the bearing or the bolts that fail, not the rod itself.  In 40 years of
Triumphs, i think i've only seen 1 or 2 triumph rods fail, and these are
the late 6 cyl ones with a relief hole for the big end bolt.

HOWEVER, we regularly find the cheap chinese rods with very poor size,
finish  and alignment control. The "better" makers like Carillo & Pauter go
to extreme lengths to get sizes and alignments perfect. the cheaper chinese
ones dont, so you often have to do some minor remedial works.

The things to look out for are normally:
the little end is not bored parallel to the big end, because they are often
honed, not machined. hard to detect if you dont have an alignment device,
but not impossible when dummy assembling the engine (piston is cocked over
to  side)
the big end is honed to a barrel shape. easily detected with an internal
micrometer

INMHO as an engine builder, discussions about rod strength in an old ,
relatively low powered TR engine,  border on sillly

Terry O'Beirne