if your looking to build a powerful ls/vtec motor i would recommend ditching the ls rods and getting yourself a set of eagle h-beams with arp rod bolts. the poor rod to stroke ratio puts a lot of strain on the already weak ls rods and cylinder walls. also the pistons in an ls block suck for all motor, theyre very low compression. try some itr's or aftermarket ones. and lastly make sure you dont rev the piss out of it. the ls bottom end was only meant to rev a shade over 7grand max(unless u get a girdle). also use a stock ls headgasket, i tried one of those cometic "lsvtec" head gaskets and blew it in like 3 weeks. make sure everything is measured and installed correctly and it will last you a very long time.