[Z06] Titanium Connecting Rods - Pics
09-21-2015, 08:31 AM
#1
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Titanium Connecting Rods - Pics
During discussions with a good friend that worked at GM, we had several conversations about the LS7 engine and specifically about the connecting rods.
He was aware of the problems of the wear and destruction of the titanium rod where they are right next to each other. He described the root cause of the issue as "float" and that this was an engine that used fully skirted pistons. What he meant by "float" is beyond my understanding but thought I'd include it. When this issue was uncovered, the supplier had to change the manufacturing process and the metallurgy was modified. This may have been the famous "coating" that has been discussed on this board. If anyone else has pictures of their LS7 connecting rods, I'd be interested in seeing them for comparison.
They also had problems with the crankcase venting as the engine would only run 1800 RPM maximum. He described taking a hole saw and drilling "vents" at the recommendations of the engineers to see if they could get it to perform better.
Anyway, here are a couple pictures of three connecting rods that were developed for the LS7 and LS9 programs. The left one is steel, the middle is titanium and the right is from the LS9 engine and the material is forged titanium. He said that it came from a company in Germany by the name of PankL that would guarantee the 650 HP on the supercharged engine. He said they were over $2,000 each for the prototypes. They are now available for just over $720 each from Pace. It is much lighter that the LS7 titanium rod and my buddy said that the entire prototype LS9 engines cost between $800,000 and $1,000,000 per copy.
They would blow them up and determine what failed.
HH
He was aware of the problems of the wear and destruction of the titanium rod where they are right next to each other. He described the root cause of the issue as "float" and that this was an engine that used fully skirted pistons. What he meant by "float" is beyond my understanding but thought I'd include it. When this issue was uncovered, the supplier had to change the manufacturing process and the metallurgy was modified. This may have been the famous "coating" that has been discussed on this board. If anyone else has pictures of their LS7 connecting rods, I'd be interested in seeing them for comparison.
They also had problems with the crankcase venting as the engine would only run 1800 RPM maximum. He described taking a hole saw and drilling "vents" at the recommendations of the engineers to see if they could get it to perform better.
Anyway, here are a couple pictures of three connecting rods that were developed for the LS7 and LS9 programs. The left one is steel, the middle is titanium and the right is from the LS9 engine and the material is forged titanium. He said that it came from a company in Germany by the name of PankL that would guarantee the 650 HP on the supercharged engine. He said they were over $2,000 each for the prototypes. They are now available for just over $720 each from Pace. It is much lighter that the LS7 titanium rod and my buddy said that the entire prototype LS9 engines cost between $800,000 and $1,000,000 per copy.
They would blow them up and determine what failed.
HH
Last edited by HoldHard; 09-21-2015 at 08:44 AM.
09-21-2015, 09:27 AM
#2
Melting Slicks
During discussions with a good friend that worked at GM, we had several conversations about the LS7 engine and specifically about the connecting rods.
He was aware of the problems of the wear and destruction of the titanium rod where they are right next to each other. He described the root cause of the issue as "float" and that this was an engine that used fully skirted pistons. What he meant by "float" is beyond my understanding but thought I'd include it. When this issue was uncovered, the supplier had to change the manufacturing process and the metallurgy was modified. This may have been the famous "coating" that has been discussed on this board. If anyone else has pictures of their LS7 connecting rods, I'd be interested in seeing them for comparison.
They also had problems with the crankcase venting as the engine would only run 1800 RPM maximum. He described taking a hole saw and drilling "vents" at the recommendations of the engineers to see if they could get it to perform better.
Anyway, here are a couple pictures of three connecting rods that were developed for the LS7 and LS9 programs. The left one is steel, the middle is titanium and the right is from the LS9 engine and the material is forged titanium. He said that it came from a company in Germany by the name of PankL that would guarantee the 650 HP on the supercharged engine. He said they were over $2,000 each for the prototypes. They are now available for just over $720 each from Pace. It is much lighter that the LS7 titanium rod and my buddy said that the entire prototype LS9 engines cost between $800,000 and $1,000,000 per copy.
They would blow them up and determine what failed.
HH
He was aware of the problems of the wear and destruction of the titanium rod where they are right next to each other. He described the root cause of the issue as "float" and that this was an engine that used fully skirted pistons. What he meant by "float" is beyond my understanding but thought I'd include it. When this issue was uncovered, the supplier had to change the manufacturing process and the metallurgy was modified. This may have been the famous "coating" that has been discussed on this board. If anyone else has pictures of their LS7 connecting rods, I'd be interested in seeing them for comparison.
They also had problems with the crankcase venting as the engine would only run 1800 RPM maximum. He described taking a hole saw and drilling "vents" at the recommendations of the engineers to see if they could get it to perform better.
Anyway, here are a couple pictures of three connecting rods that were developed for the LS7 and LS9 programs. The left one is steel, the middle is titanium and the right is from the LS9 engine and the material is forged titanium. He said that it came from a company in Germany by the name of PankL that would guarantee the 650 HP on the supercharged engine. He said they were over $2,000 each for the prototypes. They are now available for just over $720 each from Pace. It is much lighter that the LS7 titanium rod and my buddy said that the entire prototype LS9 engines cost between $800,000 and $1,000,000 per copy.
They would blow them up and determine what failed.
HH
Oh and how much lighter is "much lighter" and how did they manage to knock that much weight off an already extremely light (200-250 gr lighter than steel) titanium rod?
Cheers, Paul.
09-21-2015, 09:33 AM
#4
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Production LS9 rods are almost identical in weight to production LS7 rods (ie. in the 462 gr range). So are the rods you're speaking of (which are "much lighter" than LS7s and available at $720 each) a non-production special version of rod available along side of the production LS7 and LS9 rods they already sell? And do these special rods still use a .985" pin of the LS9 or are they .925" like the LS7 or are they traditional .927" pins?
Oh and how much lighter is "much lighter" and how did they manage to knock that much weight off an already extremely light (200-250 gr lighter than steel) titanium rod?
Cheers, Paul.
Oh and how much lighter is "much lighter" and how did they manage to knock that much weight off an already extremely light (200-250 gr lighter than steel) titanium rod?
Cheers, Paul.
HH
Last edited by HoldHard; 09-21-2015 at 09:35 AM.
09-21-2015, 10:08 AM
#5
Melting Slicks
As for Whatcop's ZR1, looks to me like it was either a piston pin failure, or a rod bolt (and an ARP at that!!!)...the rod itself doesn't look like it was broken, at 884 rwhp and tons of abuse.
Cheers, Paul.
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C6 Curtis (09-21-2015)
09-21-2015, 04:29 PM
#6
Burning Brakes
Like I said, IF they are standard production rods I'm sure they will be within grams of the 462 the LS7 rods weigh, they are shorter at 5.980 vs the 6.067 of the LS7 rod. IF the rod your buddy has is significantly lighter than 462 you can be pretty well guaranteed it is not a production model and therefore not available, even at $720 each. That said, I'd love to be wrong about this.
As for Whatcop's ZR1, looks to me like it was either a piston pin failure, or a rod bolt (and an ARP at that!!!)...the rod itself doesn't look like it was broken, at 884 rwhp and tons of abuse.
Cheers, Paul.
As for Whatcop's ZR1, looks to me like it was either a piston pin failure, or a rod bolt (and an ARP at that!!!)...the rod itself doesn't look like it was broken, at 884 rwhp and tons of abuse.
Cheers, Paul.
-Curtis