I thought about the stress issues you raise wrt drilling, but also think that it won't be an issue at 6,000 rpms - although the metal thickness at the point where the hole would be drilled is less than what is on the OE rod. I still think it should be ok if the inlet port is chamfered.

I also thought about dynamic balance issues from removing the drillings weight from only one side of the rod, but I doubt if that's much of an issue either. The factory rod has a cast bump at the nozzle that adds back some of the weight removed by the drilling, but I think it serves more as a nozzle extension and/or a less angular surface to drill into for the nozzle bore.

I installed a 10:1 Diamante rod and piston in an open block and turned the crankshaft to BDC to see how far the skirt is exposed - it's about 0.500":


Then, I compared an OE piston to a Wiseco and found the same 0.500" differential in skirt length:


So - that removes one source of potential cylinder wall lubrication.

There's a very good engine machinist in town - I've never used him, but I've heard a lot about him and everyone I've talked with says he's extremely good with race engines. I like the fact that he works alone and no one in his shop does any machine work but him. He also has the only align boring equipment in town, so I need to get to know him anyway. I'll see if he can shed any light on it - my instincts tell me to drill the rods if it can be done without harm to them.

I wouldn't know where to begin to look for EDM drilling equipment around here, but that would be neat to watch.

Frank