First off I'm glad there are still thinking people here. As some may know I spent 25 years running a full service auto machine shop. During that time I was trained and trained others on every machine we had. The rod shop area had then and still does a Sunnen Rod machine, piston vise, rod vise, dial bore gauge, rod alignment fixture, rod and cap grinder, magneflux equipment and a press with all the piston adapters. 

Since I'm still treated like family when ever I drop in, I take full advantage of it. The current cost of removing bolts and reconditioning 4 rods runs $95. US. I have always removed rods with pistons then press the pistons off rods, box the pistons and tie wrap the rods as a set. I don't bother to clean them till I'm ready to work them. While pressing apart I watch the press gauge and mark any rod that the pin moves to easy. When I have four I tie wrap as a set. They can be converted to floating without bushing or fitted for a small end bushing. I have never been a fan of floating steel to steel but I know it is done and with enough clearance and a oil hole in the web to force feed the pin on the down stroke it will work. Speaking of floating most of the new rods I see for sale are either floated std pin and more and more 18 mm pin requiring a special piston. Even the reasonable ones are $1000. US. If you want to e mail me a link to press fit rods new or used feel free. I can spend a couple extra min. or two on rods for $1000. I have broken plenty of cranks only one came out the side of the engine but it did bring it's Cooper S rods with it. And they had been heavily lightened all over. 

Think about it, anybody who can does their own work weather that's good or bad we wait to see. The people who can afford to have their work done want and expect a great result as well they should. They are also shocked as am I, at the cost of building a top shelf power unit. If building from a customers core one would expect the cyl. head casting, block, crank and rods would all be reused and they would be if all passed inspection. Build from a pile of left over parts does not sound like a great idea. As for blocks and heads we are kind of stuck. Everything else is easy enough new and heads can be bought new. I guess there is someone selling new blocks. Thanks for the feed back. Steve (CTR)

Finding a good set of roughly matched weight rods, balancing them, peening them takes time & money and the supply is dwindling.  I'll agree with Mur, comparing that to the cost of a brand new set of budget rods and it's a no-brainer really if you're paying someone to do the work.

CTR is the other side of that balance though - he's the one charging for the work and it's his livlihood...   On the other hand, if I were Steve I'd be looking for a good trade deal on new rods and upsell them - the saving in time and effort would be mahoosive along with better quality control.  Even the el-cheapo Chinese rods are better than 45 year old bent things.

When building an engine, for oneself or for a client, for a road car or a race car, the economics of parts choices becomes fundamental. Brand new connecting rods, available now from many vendors, offer great value. I literally cannot see myself tapping the bolts out of another set of BMC rods.

Quick update on the cranks. New cranks come in a box with new bearings. I was surprised at the number of small balancing holes drilled in the counter weights. I have been more accustomed to a corner notch or some hot and heavy grinding given the blue metal where ground. I decided to have one spun balanced just by it's self. So as not to waste time I took along a new two pc. S balancer/ pulley, a new uprated pressure plate ( with new center installed ) and a new light Verto steel flywheel. First call from machine shop was to tell me the crank was well balanced and no correction was required for the crank. I think this is good news as I have all engines I build balanced. Second call was that the pressure plate and flywheel were not very close at all. He ask I bring my puller the flywheel was stuck and a soft tap with dead blow was not doing it. We will pop the flywheel assembly off, take it apart and balance each part separately to see where the issue is. Pressure plates have always been an issue in my experience. I guess reconditioning a set of Metro rods with new bolts and balancing them will give me a balanced assembly needing the pistons to be checked when type and size is decided. Steve (CTR)

Inno rods, GT rods ( I think are different from AA ) are all hard to find these days. As for fitting cranks into blocks there are thrust washers for all combos. Worse comes to worse they can be made. I keep every thrust I ever remove from an engine taped as a set. By part # design or thickness I can come up with a fit. Have a MK1 front door glass glued to emery both sides different grades to hand finish. 

If I recall when the rolled radius cranks first appeared there was talk of grinding them till all the roll radius was gone and finishing with a proper ground radius. 

If anyone has a set or two of metro rods I'd be interested in talking. I have lots of mini stuff and plan to have less next year. Steve (CTR)

Interesting conversation. Let's hope this is a sign of this forum's quality improving. I have a 12G1279 block and am looking at used(of course) Cooper S crank, rods and pistons. Are these compatible? What would be required in regards to machining to make this come together? 

Ron

From memory, the 1100 cranks are EN16T as opposed to EN12T for the A+ cranks - although the stroke is longer and there is little or no overlap on the journals, they are still technically stronger.

For smoooooth street engines, I'm inclined to try using the 'Inno' rods  - you know, the deeply unfashionable ones with the upgraded material spec but huuuge balance weights on the end cap. 

My thought train is that the extra weight will help offset the reciprocating piston but not harm the rotating mass too badly as the weight is right in the centre.  Coupled with a lightened flywheel and electronic ignition to damp out lumpiness at idle, I reckon it could be a winner for cruising in grand manner.

Grownups can have informed discussions from opposing viewpoints without resorting to silliness.

Well I'm glad there are still people here willing to share a thought. Yes I also have a collection of EN 40 B cranks to build with. I think of every build as a performance build. I have received and installed $25,000. Vintage race units and watched them run around at 8700 RPM. The current generation of street engines I'm building rarely reach 5500 RPM. 

Yes, I also have read why the cranks went larger on rods when a lesser material was chosen. I have also seen AA cranks off set ground .125 and greater to stroke. I have nothing against Metro rods just don't have a bunch of them. 

Thanks for the reply and I respect your opinion just don't happen to agree. I have built engines using AA auto cranks some of which are small rod, lesser material. I spent 25 years working at an auto machine shop with two crank grinders running every day. What people don't realize is most cranks are now made of cast steel not forged steel. To make things better most rods are now made of powdered metal heated and formed into a rod like the newer rocker arms for minis. 

I have thought about sending them for wedge and heat treatment as well. Don't think it will be required for street units. 

Oh yeah, is the 1100 stroke as long or longer than a 1275 and what material and rod size do they run? Steve (CTR)

PS not looking for a fuss just sharing thoughts.

I agree with Alex and have used new A+ rods in the 1293 build and have a spare set of new A+ rods on the shelf.

The A+ rods are up to almost any mayhem one can imagine with an A Series engine.

My 2nd set was being held for use in a Metro turbo build...still have them, the +20 Omega pistons, Longman head, and prepared crank.

One of the reasons for going to 1.75" big ends from the smaller 1.625" S size was to allow for a lower grade of steel in the crank but nominally keep the same strength through having more material.

If you go down the route of reducing the diameter of the big ends just to use up the 1.625" rods don't use them in any customer performance engines...

A+ Metro rods are actually very good.

As time moves on and soon all classics will be 25 years or older some parts will become harder to locate. I have blocks which will require sleeves for a fresh start. Due to snout wear and taper issues I have a pile of cranks I would not use. I have in the past stripped a number of Sprite inline engines as well as AA autos and anything else I can find. This has left me with a fairly large collection of 1.625 con rods and a few sets of AA 1.750 and some metro 1.750 s. I have never been a fan of AA rods or the GT ones. I have been buying new Metro cranks and considering using Metro rods. Now I think I will have some cranks reground to 1.625 and use up the S and Sprite rods instead. Spoke with a somewhat local shop that only does cranks yesterday. He agreed to give me any radius I want and knock out a couple at a time. Of course the stroke could be adjusted at the same time. No they would not be EN 40 B S cranks nor would they have a price like they were. Steve (CTR)