The book "The Step-by-Step Guide to Engine Blueprinting" by Rick Voegelin ISBN-13 978-1-884089-26-8 gives a lot of advice on how to make racing rods out of standard ones.
All of everything I have ever ran has been NA. Sometimes the rod bearings were not designed for the loads of modified motors. One thing I did, and still do when I can, is make sure the engine is spinning at about 2/3 of the way to redline before I give it full throttle. This change in habit saved me a lot of problems.
