On connecting rod side clearance the only thing a wider than recommended side clearance would just result in more oil splashing around My Power source book for Buick V6 says it affects it greatly
I have that book too. Back in the 80's/90's the V6 stuff & the little bit that KB did was the best we had wrt building 350's.
Stock specs are for stock engines. HP engines require different specs, based on the loads your seeing. Rod side clearance does two things..lubricates the camshaft and piston pins with spray, and allows oil to move across the bearing surface, which also removes the heat. A good spec for rod side clearance is .0012 to .0015, My 470/482 combos are designed for that spec.. When I use factory rods in a performance engine, then one of the extra cost processes required to use those rods, is having the big end sides ground on a magnetic surfacing machine.. the factory motor goes together at typically .006 to .008, you should have double that for a performance engine. Now, I am not saying that if you have .008 your engine is going to fail.. just my opinion, (shared by many in my field) that around .015 is the desired side clearance for rods on most performance engines. Remember that the V-6 Power book is dealing with the even fire Buick V-6 split rod journals, which is totally different than your 350 crank. In that case they have just one rod on a journal, and not two.. JW
Im glad you chimed in Jim, so what your saying confirms what I was told years ago by my machinist about side clearance. Its funny how you read a book again that you've read a hundred times before, and you read something new. I had forgot about the even fire V6's only having one rod per rod journal verses our odd fire V8's having two making a difference. Learning stuff all the time
