rev limit on good hipo rods

One of the previous owners of my 66 GT350 converted it into a full spec B/P racer in 1972. He told me routinely shifted at 7K, the engine was stock except for some mild head porting and had been balanced.

It depends on your assembly as well. If you are running quality ARP replacement fasteners and light weight pistons, the rods should not be a problem. TRW pistons are heavy for example so that would add more strain on the rod bolts. But the short stroke and large bore 289 can rev high with out problems.

I can tell you from experience that a Hipo rod will break at 9300rpm with a heavy piston from years of drag racing.With light pistons I've turned them well over 10,000rpm and had no problems.It's all in the parts,how you check them and assemble short block!

I, for one, would like to hear a hipo/small block FORD turning even 9000 RPM<img src=images/icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=images/icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

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...I've turned them well over 10,000rpm and had no problems...<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana" size=2 id=quote>

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In the early 1970s a local man drag raced a 1966 Mustang GT coupe with its original HP289 modified with most parts from the local Ford dealer. We recently discussed that car, he said he ran to 9,200 rpm on the quarter mile drag strip. He never broke a rod. I used to run SFM5S142 to 8,500 rpm with stock rods except for aftermarket bolts. In 2006 we looked a the busted engine in an early HP289 Mustang that the owner had been drag racing for several years. He said he transmission failed and the tach tell tale went off scale about the time the front main bearing web came out of the block and took everything else with it. The busted piece of crank still had two beat up but unbroken rods on it.

Check out Pure Stock and Pure Street in the NMRA. Revving to the stratosphere has more to do with the valvetrain and camshaft design that

keeps the lifters on the lobe and prevents the valves from bouncing. Most of these cars launch well over 8500 rpm. More has changed in the last 15 years in the performance industry then in the previous 40 years. We have come a long way since the sixties. I have a Pure Street spec motor in my 1993 5.0 and have shifted it well over 9500 rpm. It wasn't built on junk parts or old technology though. The camshaft design is a one off built for my combination from a leading camshaft designer for the series. But, the cam is now two and a half years old and in this series can be considered an ancient design. Most of these cars will hit 10,000 rpm easy. But, don't confuse a K-code 289 to a competitive SBF race motor. Two different animals.

The stock thin wall casting cylinder block is the weak link. You will split it down the middle before a rod will let go. This is true only for a well prepped mild motor. On a high mileage beast, anything can happen.