Putting together a street/strip motor with Venolia aluminum rods . They recommend minumum bearing clearance of .0035-.004 and to add an extra .001 for heavy duty use...thats contrary to the .002 every one swears buy? anyone have experiance they can share?
Have used the Venolia rods several times on BBC engines but for race setup. Clearances .002 - .0025 on those. For a mild street/strip setup, no NOS or tubo, .003 - .0035 will be sufficient. Unless you plan on seeing over 6000 RPM regularly then I would tighten it up.
I have set up several AL rod motors and I try to keep the clearances at around .003. MY GSE motor has them right at .0028. I have yet to have any issues with this set up there are many different opinions but that is what has worked for me. One thing to make sure is that you have all the mods done to your oiling system to keep up.
clearances Have used Howards and currently have Bill Miller in "Scat".The Bill Miller motor has over 800 passes,I know contrary to eveyone that aluminum won't last that long,but it is.Had them checked for stretch at 350 passes and it was negligble,maybe shifting at 6000rpm extends the longevity.Anyway,I use .002-.0025 on the rods and .0025 on the mains. gary
