Connecting rod strength

[rascal]

First off, I do not mean for this to be another PMR vs. Forged discussion if that is what it turns into.

I am doing as much research and planning for my upgrades early next year and as I was going through past versions of my diesel performance magazines I came across the Nov. 2011 issue of DieselPower. In it the provide a guide for performance mods for 94.5 to 03 7.3's and the parts that are needed/recommended to reach certain power levels.

When the guide gets to the 450hp to 525hp range and above every section from then on has a note reading "For safety and longevity, we recommend aftermarket connecting rods once 500-rwhp mark is breached." It says this for all 94.5 - 2003 models.

My truck is a 2000 with forged rods. I was thinking it could handle this kind of power without much issue. Now they do put a disclaimer in the article that careful tuning is required to help with life of rods.

Are there a lot of people out there running in the 450 - 525 hp range and who have been doing it for awhile while maintaining reliability?

Thanks,

[Jrz13]

From everything that I have read forged rods max out at about 500hp. I have not tested it myself lol, like I said from what I ave read. If your going to be building from the ground up anyway, a girdle might help you out.

[MKeeney]

The questions is, how much are you willing to risk your very expensive motor. With stock forged rods you're gonna be touching the upper limit of their rating. With aftermarket rods you'll be comfortably at the low to mid range of their performance rating.

[rascal]

First off, thanks for the replys.

I am not lookin' to rebuild the engine. Heck the tuner, injectors, turbo, hpop, & clutch are gonna cost enough. I don't want to buy the connecting rods as well.

So what ya'll are tellin' me is that when I talk to the tuners and I tell them what I am looking for I shouldn't let anyone tell me "Oh yeah, you can go over 500 and have reliability...no problem".

I want power but I need reliability so if I shoot for 400-450hp and upgrade my clutch accordinly I should be "safe".

So far I am leaning towards modified H2e, undecided about injectors, DieselSite HPOP, PHP tuner, MBRP exhaust, and a Valair clutch.

[jesilvas]

Php should recommend safe levels for you anyway. A good tuner should do that anyway.
Fwiw, PHP is running over 400 hp on pmr rods. And 400 is generally considered the pmr limit

I made my Samsung SGH-I997 send this.

['01SilverBullet]

A lot of it is also how you drive it. You could make more than 500 on forged and be just fine if you don't beat the tar out of it...on the flip side of the coin, you could do a lot of damage to the rods at less than 500 if you were to constantly beat on it...