I killed some time the other day trying to find some kind of connecting rod reference for a comparison by dimension. I was hoping to find a rod from one of the more popular gas engines that's close enough. Of course stock gas rods likely aren't strong enough. But the thinking being that a really nice set of aftermarket rods can be had for hundreds instead of thousands. No joy yet though.


Of course if those PSD rods are all good I don't see any issues coming up with those. Justin made all that power on NA rods, if he made enough to brake PSD rods he'd be on the cover of a diesel mags.

 

Too short, 460 is 6.6 while 7.3 is 7.1"

 

Can you look up the length rod I-6?


bruteford is right Justin will need a break through in the fuel department to break a psd rod.


I was jus suggesting to look around, sometimes you get lucky

 

anything is possible with enough machine work... im sure about any big block rod could be made to work. Smaller journals though, so would have to grind the crank, could offset for more cubes, then run a shorter rod. Wrist pins are also too small, but could be bored and pins pressed in. Real issues would be the big end is too narrow on the gasser rods. $500 in rods for 1500 in machine work probably isnt that great of a deal....

 

GREAT INFO!
i suppose the rod length and the wrist pin are identical with the PSD VS the IDIT?

i think if i was gonna do some custom work like this, id be looking at a set of the forged I beams, but thats some mula!!!

another question i have is, with all the block flex in the IDI's at higher HP is it really feasible to do the rod swap?

not trying to go against your grain, out of the box thinking is what makes the world go round.

 

That would be great if they will work, but, the wide bearings may likely interfere with the generous radius on the crankpin. some bearing chamfer work may be needed.
And will likely be on a case by case basis.
Diesel crankpin fillet radii is critical for strength.

 

I doubt youll find any gasser Rods to work, the wrist pins on Diesels are significantly bigger than any gas engine, even the N/A stuff is.

 

The Rod Length, Wrist Pin, and Journal diameter are all the same. I sent my rods to my CNC guy to have him mod them to IDI specs. Im sure he can write a program that will work for both the Factory PSD stuff, as well as the aftermarket OTS PSD forged/milled stuff. If it works out nicely, I will offer them on the site, both as a send in option or core included. At the very least, it will give an Off-the-shelf alternative to having to find turbo rods for a stout bottom end build.

As far as the Block flex goes, Im not one who believes there is a whole bunch of block flex going on at higher levels. If a block is flexing enough to pop freeze plugs, your going to crack it right up the middle anyway. I think the ol' freeze plug story is a result of poorly installed freeze plugs, pushing combustion into the cooling system, or a combination of both... But anyway, thats my opinion until we get there again.

 

Here are a few pics of both the IDI bearing and PSD bearing installed on the IDI rod.

Straight Edge on the chamfer, its hard to tell from the pic, but the straight edge isnt touching the bearing, meaning its highly doubtful the radius will interfere.

IDI bearing in the IDI rod.

PSD bearing in the IDI rod.


As you can see, the extra material is mostly on the inner side of the rod, with only a little extra on the chamfer side. I measured the edge to the tang on each, and the PSD bearing was .107", and the IDI was .100".

I think we are in good shape with this, Im going to run a set in the bronco engine.

 

good...good.

 

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Like the info. What about the piston itself? What's the biggest difference? I know they are, just curious.

 

Well for one thing the top has a big crater with a cone shaped center for burning DI spray pattern instead of the butterfly depressions for flame spreading under the pre-cup throats on our engines.

 

I knew that there were differences. I've never actually seen a powerstroke apart.

 

Perfect, lets just say this bit me on a VW years ago.