For cut-and-thrust street...
For cut-and-thrust street jollies, the stock Ford powdered-metal modular connecting rods are OK as long as they are prepped with stronger bolts. But once forced induction is put into play, the entire rod must be replaced with a stout aftermarket unit. D.S.S. uses a 4340 H-beam forged rod (left) in its Windsor Pro Mod and Windsor Super Mod short-blocks. The prepped stock rod is shown at right. D.S.S. says its H-beam rod and Cobra crank combination is good for 750-plus horsepower.
Perhaps most exciting due to its wide application and reasonable pricing is the $1,799 Romeo Mod. D.S.S. builds these using seasoned-core Romeo blocks-that's a fancy way of saying a used 4.6 Mustang GT block that has taken its final thermal set. Likewise, a used crankshaft is prepped and balanced "to race specs," which is plus or minus 1 gram. The connecting rods are stockers fitted with high-strength SPS bolts, the pistons are forged, the rings are moly, and the tri-metal bearings are from Federal-Mogul. This short-block is aimed at the replacement and street-performance market where it will give reliable service in naturally aspirated form up to 7,000 rpm. The Romeo Mod may not have the sex appeal of its more extensively prepped siblings, but it's all the foundation many street-driven GT engines need. Given the low price and freedom from piston or rod breakage in less-than-power-adder service, this combination ought to prove highly popular.
For those ready to step up $400, there's the Windsor Mod. What it adds is a new Windsor block with the peg and slot main-bearing crossbolt fea-ture. D.S.S. buys these service blocks new from Ford, then machines them as necessary to arrive at perfectly flat decks; chamfered holes; and other basic, prepped block features.
To match the stronger block, a new crankshaft is used in the Windsor Mod and higher short-blocks. It is balanced to better-than-new Ford, or race specs. The rods are factory units with SPS bolts, and the forged pistons, rings, and bearings follow the Romeo Pro Bullet practice as well. The result is plenty of engine for the drive-it-like-you-hate-it, naturally aspirated crowd.
Forced induction means the stock connecting rods cannot be used, and for that sort of work, D.S.S. will step you up $800 to the $2,995 Windsor Pro Mod short-block. It too uses a new Ford Windsor service block, along with a new forged eight-bolt Cobra crankshaft and beefy D.S.S. 4340 H-beam connecting rods with ARP 2000 bolts, as detailed in the photos and captions. Furthermore, ARP main bearing studs are substituted for the stock main bolts, and the bearing package is stepped up to harder-shelled, severe-duty units. This engine will take care of all streetable boost and nitrous levels and just about any track-only tune-up as well.
Finally, D.S.S. offers the all-singing, all-dancing $3,999 Windsor Super Mod short-block as the ultimate expression of what the stock-block modular engine can take. As with the Windsor Pro Mod just described, this is an all-forged assembly with studs, heavy-duty bearings, and all the rest. What the extra $1,000 buys is a slew of D.S.S.' blueprinting trickery that's worth 30-40 hp.