Overhaulin'

Chrome Plated Rods?!? (Engine Rods)?

okay, I saw the movie Grease recently on TV, not the first time (I'm 25 years-old, I watched it like 5 times IN school before for whatever reason) that being all stated, in the song "Go Grease Lightening, you're tearing up the Quarter Mile"...John Travolta sings the Lyrics "...& Chrome Plated Rods, Oh Yeah!!" now, I was raised helping my dad restore & then work on and fix classic cars, my mom's '55 Chevy, that was the 1st one, his 1968 Plymouth Road Runner which has a 426 Hemi (NOT a 426 Wedge...a '426 Wedge' Has Wedge Shaped Combustion Chambers, not Hemispherical Combustion Chambers; Hence "Hemi", but now I'm getting off topic).....What could POSSIBLY be the use for Chrome Plate Rods, OF COURSE UNDERSTANDING, That Rods are what Connect the Pistons to the Crankshaft of an internal combustion engine....The only thing I could think of would be to show wear more easily...but if you're running a motor in such a way that you need to have the piston rods show where the stress is affecting them most...then you should probably switch to a car with a Rotary Engine...in a Rotary Engine, there's no Pistons to do stuff like that & there's no Moving Parts that change direction in a Rotary Engine...

Public Comments

1. That is probably a reference to all the chrome used on hot rods. "Chrome plated (hot) 'rods". That would be my take, although I suppose chrome plated rods would tend to hold onto oil less than a rough surface lol.
2. Chroming the conrods would only make them more brittle and likely to crack. But some highperformance engines used polished steel alloy rods that would be tougher and would look like chrome .