My question is exactly that.

 

I've seen about 350whp on those rods. IMO you should be safe if you keep it at about 350whp. The factory cast pistons are the weaker point in the motor and they are good for about 300whp.

 

You could get them shotpeened and improve the strength of them a good amount.

 

So shotpeened with ARP Bolts? Have you guys check out the forged rods from sparkracing.com for the b18bs? They are asking like 210 for them. I might just go with those. Im building a 190-200 HP LS Vtec Setup with a rev limiter NO higher than 8600. I was thinking I might be able to get off using the stock rods with ARP bolts for that. Im using type R pistons.

 

The stock rods should be more than sufficient for that kind of power. You could shotpeen them for the added security but aftermarket rods are complete overkill. Like you said, stock rods with ARP bolts would suffice quite nicely.

 

Has anyone had a LS that revved over 8k rpms with stock rods?