Every Saenz connecting rod is individually engineered and machined for each and every customers order

We start by purchasing quality materials from certified sources, many are the same since we began making connecting rods back in 1976. A spectroanalysis is performed to verify that received material conforms to our specifications. These are slight variations of AISI/SAE standards that have been developed by Saenz over the years to improve our products performance for the end user.

Our forgings are produced under strict controls for the purpose of obtaining the best grain orientation possible. The forgings are produced so that 100% of the decarburized material (caused by the forging process) will be removed by the machining process. We use various size forgings to be able to produce the range of products that we offer. After forging, the "blanks" are brought to our heat treatment facility where the parts are put through a two step process. One to regenerate the molecular structure that is disrupted by the forging process and one to temper the parts to facilitate the machining process.

The first machining operation is the grinding of both faces of the blanks. This assures us of parallelism and dimensioning for the balance of the machining process. We then make two holes in the blank to facilitate fixturing on our CNC machines for the balance of the machining. Our parts are then mounted in dedicated fixturing that allows us to machine up to twelve rods at a time. This not only eliminates some of the machine "dead" time but also insures that rod sets are machined consistently to each other. Parts are machined to within .010" (approximately) of finished size using sufficient "passes" so that superficial stresses are not created while machining. Our fixturing also allows us to machine the bolt holes and threading on the CNC machine, ensuring consistent dimensional repeatability. The parts are then deburred and sent back to the heat treatment facility where further processing gives the parts their ultimate strength.

We then separate the rod into two parts and mill the guide bushing seats. Then the rod and cap surfaces are ground to get the desired roughness and to insure perpendicularity between the cut line and the rod axis. The guide bushing is installed and reamed and roller tapped and the cap in attached. Then it is back to the grinder where we regrind both faces and approximate the big end diameter. Two important things are taken into consideration, that the cut should remain on the centerline of the big end bore and that the perpendicularity is maintained. The rods are then placed in a Rotofinish polishing machine and shot peened so that they have a uniform final appearance.

The big end bore is then honed to near final size and the small end bore is remachined to get the exact center to center distance as well as insure parallelism between the two holes. Every rod is then Magnaflux inspected for flaws. We then install the specially modified SAE 68 bronze bushing. Parts are returned to the honing machine for final sizing of the big end bore and then sent to our inspection department for final dimensional inspection on our Brown and Sharpe Coordinate Measuring Machine. The parts are then weighed to insure acceptability and a report is made that is sent with every order.