Personally I didn't consider $600 (which is about what I paid) to be unobtainable, especially as a percentage of the total I put in to my build. My plans were for more than 2x stock power output.
The 'conventional wisdom' on TDIClub is the stock rods are good up to around 180HP or so. After that you are on borrowed time. Most of the components used in my build were chosen with a target in the 200-230HP range. When VW went to the PD engines they strengthened the rods, so evidently their highly experienced engineers considered it worthwhile.
As to the specific cause of the failures (rod bolts versus lack of oil versus actual rod failure) it is hard to know. Having not actually had one blow apart myself all I have is forum posts. There's been a handful of AAZs on here with windowed blocks though the rod bolts have generally been suspect in those cases. The AHU/1Z uses the same rods as the AAZ. My searching during my planning period found about a half dozen windowed AAZ/AHU/1Z engines all of which seemed to have oil in them at the time given the mess that resulted.
Iam really sorry I posted this now...
No positive energy here
GB
Iam really sorry I posted this now...
No positive energy here
GB
GB, ignore the trolls. You get thumbs up from me, but then again, I'm not the jealous and insecure type. Well, maybe a little jealous... :-) ...but not enought to keep me from enjoying living vicariously.
The AHU/1Z uses the same rods as the AAZ. My searching during my planning period found about a half dozen windowed AAZ/AHU/1Z engines all of which seemed to have oil in them at the time given the mess that resulted.
The AAZ and AHU rods are very different. The AAZ rod has the counterweight on the big end, whereas the AHU rod is waaay stronger with the channels of the H filled and then some with metal.
Toby, I am getting complaints about you again. Please comment on what you have knowledge of. You obviously don't know what the peak cylinder pressures do in more than stock HP engines. Overall if you can't be courteous when disagreeing with people here don't post. You have been banned before so this is your last chance.
Its bad manners to speak negatively about a item someone else are trying to sell, at least if there is nothing wrong with the actual item. Example if the stock rods were stronger than the upgraded. Its pretty clear that that's not the case here!
Questions and statements about how strong the stock rods are and if upgraded rods are worth it should be in another tread.
As i previously stated: upgraded is always better, even if stock is good enough. And i guess these are lighter then stock which is positive regardless of final power output...
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I saw enough broken rods on TDIClub that I decided to upgrade when I built my engine. If you are doing a performance build you probably are going to upgrade the rod bolts plus get your factory rods resized by a machine shop, so why not spend a little more and upgrade them. The cost of rebuilding an engine that has experienced a rod failure is waaaay more than the incremental cost for upgraded rods.
I went with the Integrated Engineering Tuscan rods:
http://www.performancebyie.com/integrated-engineering-tuscan-144x26mm-1-9l-tdi-rods
They fit the AHU/1Z perfectly including clearing the intermediate shaft oil pump drive gear which is a problem with some of the aftermarket rods out there.
Nice goods. I wish they'd had those when I ordered, they're half the price and I had to clearance #4 shoulder because it hit my intermediate shaft gear.
Yeah I figured they were a good option. Not as strong as the ones you have but plenty for my build and much more affordable!