Shot peened rods

Some say if does nothing at all, some say it is there to prevent tiny cracks from forming.

I would love to keep the stock rods, and I wonder if I should get em shot peened.

I plan on doing a mild build.

What do you guys think?

Shot peening them will give you a little added strength, but the increase is so inperceptable that unless you are shooting for someplace north of 500/600 horses, it's not worth the money or time. On a mild or even moderate build, I wouldn't waste my money.

I would however, as Randy suggests, clean them for any flash or burrs. You want a smooth-ish surface on internal engine parts. The thoughts are for oil run off. You want everything getting oil on them, but still want as much oil as possible getting to the oil pump for circulation. Also be careful when you are cleaning things for burrs and rough spots due to weight. When I clean a set of rods, or anything that moves internally in an engine, I use a scale. I have a small kitchen (used for weighing food) scale that I use to weigh each rod to make sure I keep their weight the same. When and engine is spinning at 4000 rpms, those rods are really flinging around. A small difference can give you a vibration and early wear on the bearings. (I actually use the same scale when I am sharpening my lawn mower blades.)

 

there's specific procedure to do it properly, the whole rod doesn't get shot, specific pressure, distance & shot

 

I agree the improvement is next to imperceptible

 

an old bud had a batch of 10 sbc rods X-ray'd, 2 of them showed internal flaws that were not visible to the eye

 

luckily he still had 8 good rods left to work with