383 chevy long rod vs short rod

[ProPower engines]

Lighter pistons available today make some cranks harder to balance and there fore more costly as they were designed for a 1850ish Gram bob weight, When you get to 1700 or less most times metal has to be added which costs more money.
JMO

You have that backwards. A lighter bobweight will need the counterweights cut or drilled. A heavier bobweight might require heavy metal/tungsten.

And although I prefer Scat as well, the Eagle stuff has gotten much better. I've used a bunch of their Olds H-beams lately with no issues.

No its not backwards.
I do at least 2 assemblies a week and the lighter bob weight is easier to balance with no added weight needed for an internal balance and not use a counter weighted balancer

As I mentioned to use the crank for a 6" rod as they are closer to target weights and they cost less to balance then the 5.7 rod crank.

Even if the weight is 1800ish its less work to balance and less material to remove.
The 6" rod cranks are just easier to work with and if you do end up with a 1700ish bob weight the need for heavy metal is not required because the 6" rod crank has extra material so its always in need of removal.

I know you guys do not pay much for balancing down there but up here the average cost for a straight forward balance job with no heavy metal is $325 to $400.

So it makes component choice more important to save balancing costs which was the reason for mentioning it

[levisnteeshirt]

the short rods are a drop in deal with a balance ,, standard cam base ,,, saw many of them do well ,, i know of them lasting over 15 years in a weekend type street car ,, over 5 years in drag cars and circle track cars ,, I'd say the motors I saw were below 500 hp

[CNC BLOCKS]

the short rods are a drop in deal with a balance ,, standard cam base ,,, saw many of them do well ,, i know of them lasting over 15 years in a weekend type street car ,, over 5 years in drag cars and circle track cars ,, I'd say the motors I saw were below 500 hp

Are these engines you built or is this here say??

[user-z68766209]

the short rods are a drop in deal with a balance ,, standard cam base ,,, saw many of them do well ,, i know of them lasting over 15 years in a weekend type street car ,, over 5 years in drag cars and circle track cars ,, I'd say the motors I saw were below 500 hp

Not really................depends on who's crank and who's piston...
If you take a stock 400 crank and grind mains down to 350 mains and use a stock 5.565 rod and a stock 350 piston 1.560CH
the piston skirt will hit the crank.
Simple fix...just need to re-radius some of the skirt of the piston and was not very much to remove.

[firebuick]

the short rods are a drop in deal with a balance ,, standard cam base ,,, saw many of them do well ,, i know of them lasting over 15 years in a weekend type street car ,, over 5 years in drag cars and circle track cars ,, I'd say the motors I saw were below 500 hp

Not really................depends on who's crank and who's piston...
If you take a stock 400 crank and grind mains down to 350 mains and use a stock 5.565 rod and a stock 350 piston 1.560CH
the piston skirt will hit the crank.
Simple fix...just need to re-radius some of the skirt of the piston and was not very much to remove.

yeah i think that the cheap way to do it mune is mostly for the street