Understanding West Bend Rods

[steve welte]

I already put this in the engine section but some of you may have missed it. The other 3 parts will be ready soon. This is long overdo for these engines.





https://youtu.be/XOo4wUPGGwk We have been racing West Bend 820s and US Motor Power 820s for a while now. We thought it would be a good time while building a couple of 820s to share some what we do in building these engines.

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[url=https://youtu.be/XOo4wUPGGwk]

West Bend Connecting Rods - Part 1
Discussion about West Bend connecting rods.....do's and don'ts
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[doug tenney]

Steve, the 4th and 5th rods in the lineup look very different on the small end. Can you shed some light on the difference?
Are the 310 ksi rod bolts available from US Motor Power, or are they specific to Dave Bonbright?

Thanks!
Doug

[steve welte]

The rod second from the left still has the complete needle bearing in the small end. The others have the outer races removed and you see the needle bearing laying by the rods. You will understand all this when the next 3 parts are released in the next few days. At this point you only need to pay attention to the big end and the poor early engine forgings. The special rod bolts are available from USMP (performance upgrades), Bonbright, Cat Cart and probably Dave Fillman. All the new engines come with the good rod but have the poor quality serrated head rod bolts that need to be changed out.