Not all aluminum rods are created equal. Different manufacturers use their own alloys and design concepts that greatly affect the performance and longevity in your motor. Aluminum rods have advantages and disadvantages alike, depending on the type of racing you are doing. In warmer climates, some people run aluminum in street cars for as long as 50,000 miles. Over the years, aluminum rods have been used in many different types of racing from Top Fuel, Pro Stock, Pro Stock Bike, to endurance and circle track racing. Taking advantage of the aluminum rod benefits depends on the design of the rod and how the motor is assembled and used.
For a turbo drag racing application, the rods are lightweight and can act as a shock absorber for the extreme conditions these high hp, high rpm motors can see. For an all motor application, they are lightweight and can help carry more power further in the rpm range than a heavier steel rod. The light weight can also help with crankshaft flexing that occurs in these high rpm applications. 4 Piston works directly with GRP engineers to come up with rods to match your application. We use different blanks for different applications to keep weight down and match the correct rod to your horsepower level. You do not need the same rod for a 400hp all motor engine as you do for a 1000hp turbo engine. We turn our super lightweight all motor rods up to 11,000 rpm every pass. There is no steel rod on the market within 100 grams that will handle this abuse as long as these aluminum rods.
Because each application is unique, we build the rods to order. Some applications are in stock, such as OEM length K24 and for our stroker kits.