Transmission, Connecting Rods Oh My

[Hades212]

So I blew my stock transmission a while back, and have a new Suncoast on the way. I have replaced Torque converters on 4x4 OBS trucks before but never fully pulled the trans, just dropped both transfer case and transmission as one.
Is there any special considerations for actual removal of the transfer case from the transmission?

After spending the money on that, and now paying the truck off I'll still have about 6000 left over, and I would very much like to do Forged Rods, ARP Headstuds, and valve springs.
My question is this, Is pulling the heads and then getting to the block and only doing new piston rings and new Forged C-Rods, without changing main bearings, a good idea, or is a total overhaul in order for the block, keep in mind this engine only has 119k miles on it right now. Should I get a valve job done at the same time? Any Input would be appreciated. And finally is this a job I should find a professional shop to do, I have quite a bit of experience on the 7.3 but never with the shortblock, but I have quite a few people that have built very nice track 350's from the block up at my disposal in the shop or that I know. I think we can muddle through it unless there is something major that I am not thinking of. I have all the ford specs in the 7.3 shop manuals, but if anyone has any suggestions or warnings please let me know.

Also a link to forged rods and 910 valve springs would be appreciated. Studs a fairly easy to find but I'm not real sure on the rods.

[SuperStroker10]

Originally Posted by Hades212

So I blew my stock transmission a while back, and have a new Suncoast on the way. I have replaced Torque converters on 4x4 OBS trucks before but never fully pulled the trans, just dropped both transfer case and transmission as one.
Is there any special considerations for actual removal of the transfer case from the transmission?

After spending the money on that, and now paying the truck off I'll still have about 6000 left over, and I would very much like to do Forged Rods, ARP Headstuds, and valve springs.
My question is this, Is pulling the heads and then getting to the block and only doing new piston rings and new Forged C-Rods, without changing main bearings, a good idea, or is a total overhaul in order for the block, keep in mind this engine only has 119k miles on it right now. Should I get a valve job done at the same time? Any Input would be appreciated. And finally is this a job I should find a professional shop to do, I have quite a bit of experience on the 7.3 but never with the shortblock, but I have quite a few people that have built very nice track 350's from the block up at my disposal in the shop or that I know. I think we can muddle through it unless there is something major that I am not thinking of. I have all the ford specs in the 7.3 shop manuals, but if anyone has any suggestions or warnings please let me know.

Also a link to forged rods and 910 valve springs would be appreciated. Studs a fairly easy to find but I'm not real sure on the rods.

i would order the powerstrokeshop kit, new bearings, pistons rings gaskets and all for around 1200 bucks. i have a set of stock forged rods for sale as well.
but if you pull the engine i would freshin it up at the very least with new bearings.

[layson]

I have read about guys swapping rods over a weekend. It can be done. The guys name is Mr. Bob on the nation. You should contact him.

As far as the tranny goes. Pull it with the transfer case attached. It balances perfectly with it on there. It is real easy to pull and takes probably 6-8 hours and you are back on the road. Just make sure you have a good tranny jack... or modify your floor jack... but it has to get low enough to get out from under your truck.

[Hades212]

I picked up a good 1 ton JET transmission jack in Nearby Corpus Christi today, and everything is ready to pull mine, now I'm just waiting on Suncoast to ship it out. Though it may have to wait, because I think my brother bent a pushrod on the way back home, in his 6.4 today, so we gotta get that into the shop and replace the stock exhaust and intake and all that fun stuff so it can go to ford, so mine may have to roll out for the time being.

I would like to use Crower rods but I'm not sure where I can order them from, though I have seen the ultimax rods at outlaw diesel, does anyone have much experience with these? I want to eventually use the ITP stageIV sticks, with a big oil setup whether Termy or stealth, and a 38R, But I want to get these rods out of the way first so I don't have to worry about windowing the block.

[SuperStroker10]

well ultramax rods from hypermax work just fine. if you do anything but stock forged rods you will be looking at 25-3000 BUCKs.

a good engine build to support those sticks, the air ect. is going to be very very expensive. 10K at least

[Hades212]

Yea I understand the cost involved with them, I was planning all along to spend 2500-3k on rods, I was just wondering how they stack up to the crower rods, considering I have seen mostly crowers used on here in the heavily modified trucks. If its a decent brand I have no problem using them.
Yea I will need some strong stuff to support ITP's IV's but those will end up being the last thing into the truck after big oil, turbo, new intercooler, and the like. But even if I go with a rosewood stage3 kit I still need new rods or I risk a block failure, so I figure that rods should be number 2 on my list after the transmission, since that got forced on me right now. and studs, springs, and pushrods at the same time as the rods, so a very large expenditure.
I am hoping to eventually go for broke with this truck, hopefully not literally though.

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Last edited by Hades212 : 07-02-2009 at 08:29 PM.

[SuperStroker10]

personally you should be pushing 550 or more, idc who you are i would recomend a girdle.. you will need that, think about a half fill of the block as well

there are plenty of good connecting rods out there. just shop around. R&R makes a good one. im going with carrillos.

[Hades212]

Yea a girdle is on the list with rods, just forgot to put it down, Im just trying to find what will work best from others experiences
Maybe its a pipe dream but I'm looking to make it into something that can compete with my brothers Spartan'd 6.4, how I wish I had known about powdered metal rods when I bought it.

[SuperStroker10]

ah whats his putting down for HP?? 540?? 580??

i have a friend of mine that made 564 cclb ran a 13.10 in the 1/4.
now it makes 584. and thats all on fuel. but no girdle on that engine.

[Hades212]

My brothers is at least 550, I'd say just from seat of the pants, but right now it ain't anything, a bent pushrod and at least one bent valve do that, It's failing the contribution test on 1,4 and 8.
Nice setup for a 7.3, your friend has.

The Transmission got here this morning, and we got mine down but not out so far, got the old cooler out and the new Suncoast cooler is ready to go in, and got the lines flushed. Hopefully I'll have time to get the truck jacked up and the new transmission in tomorrow night.

As for Rods I'm gonna hold off on for the moment and hopefuly get them in a few months.