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The connecting rods out of the '08 Corvette are powdered metal with cracked cap - they are one ugly, cheap rod - the beam isn't even symmetrical if you were to cross section the rod. Excellent example of cost cutting to make it just strong enough to scoot by. I've seen a lot of connecting rods come by my desk working with R&R to help develop their billet rods for countless applications and there is a whole lot of room for improvement in many engines.
The problem with the M96 rods is that the bolts are just junk, but because there is no good way to resize them being cracked cap, you can't put better bolts in them. The rods themselves aren't too bad - the bolts and then the crankshaft itself are the weak spots for sure. One of my aircooled customs stated that their shop sees alot of 997 engines with snapped cranks when taken to the track...
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