At what power levels are a "worked" set of ABA rods obsolete?

[nextproject]

Everyone knows that ABA rods are GOOD in stock form, at what point would a set of shotpeened/magnafluxed/resized/balanced stock ABA rods NOT be up to the task?

Im talking about high HP on a daily basis (boost obviously is the name of the game here).

[CrankDaBewstmun]

I have stock rods in my aba-T. 12-15 psi for two years now. Not driven all year round though, car gets stored over the winter. Dynoed at the wheels 178 hp, 240 ft-lbs.

If you are going stock rods:

1. Use ARP bolts on the rod caps (have big end re-sized after install). I did not do this but I bet it would increase strength. I'm doing this for a 16VT project (already done just need to put the motor together)
2. Like you said any additional processing is likely to help strength such as shot peening, balancing etc.

Big reason that rods blow through blocks=Over-revving. If you properly size the turbo, you can keep the rev range down, make lots of torque low to mid rpm and have fun without blowing stuff up. All it takes is a mis-shift to over-rev and break things.

Read up on how inertial forces work inside an IC engine. You would be surprised how rpm increases the load (forces) exponentially on connecting rods vs. actual output power increasing. I read this in Corky Bells book called "maximum boost". Great read

[Jay-Bee]

See SalsaGTI's 2.0T for any concerns on power, 300+ whp on stock ABA bottom end, however ANY build can fail if the recipe is off.

[nextproject]

arp hardware would be a given, i forgot to mention that, 400hp is the goal here, i wont be converting to solid lifters or anything like that so the revs will be kept to a max of 6500.

so the largest benefit of going to, say, a set of IE rods would be weight savings?

[1997SLOW]

when installing arp rod bots it is required to have the rods resized goodluck if you diddnt

[Prof315]

arp hardware would be a given, i forgot to mention that, 400hp is the goal here, i wont be converting to solid lifters or anything like that so the revs will be kept to a max of 6500.

so the largest benefit of going to, say, a set of IE rods would be weight savings?

No IE rods (and Scat Rods for that matter) use ARP 2000 Cap screws,much stronger than even ARP pro series rod bolts. A bottom end, properly built with IE or scat rods and good pistons should be just about bulletproof.

[root beer]

I'm going to see what stock rods with ARP's jammed in can handle with nitrous. Not the same torque curve as you turbo folk, but i'm betting they'll hold 350whp.

[Prof315]

I'm going to see what stock rods with ARP's jammed in can handle with nitrous. Not the same torque curve as you turbo folk, but i'm betting they'll hold 350whp.

FYI, ARP 5/16" 289 Ford rod bolts also fit. A set of 8 pro series wave locs costs about the same as a standard knurled VW set. MUCH stronger.

[root beer]

Hmph, good info

[Salsa GTI]

I was going to go for 400 wheel with stock everything on the bottom of an obd2 ABA
but my life got in the way and i sold the car and stopped vortexing...

[Salsa GTI]

See SalsaGTI's 2.0T for any concerns on power, 300+ whp on stock ABA bottom end, however ANY build can fail if the recipe is off.

320whp to be exact
and anything can fail with a chip tune...OOps did i say that...LOL

[root beer]

Come on man, sell the car whatever, but don't stop vortexing

I keep having to find new armpits of the forum where people might not suck.