996 GT3 Pankl rods

[Arlo911]

A while ago I acquired a set of 996 GT3 Pankl rods (5 used ones and 1 new) in a parts lot. They were rebushed to 23mm and 127,30mm length, according to the seller to be used in a 930 build.

Is there a way to have the rods checked to make sure they're still useable (X-ray) and I don't have 6 cool paperweights?

Any dead giveaways to check if they had a hard life?

[Henry Schmidt]

Send them to Supertec. We rebuild them all the time. We don't have them x-rayed anymore. The better test method is a penetrating die.
Your challenge with mis-matched rods will be seeing if the rod weights are compatible.
Big end vs small end weight differences can be crazy even if overall weight is the same. Pankl GT3 rods are coated (probably hard anodized) titanium. That means in order to balance them, you will be grinding through the coating. I'm not sure that's a sound practice.
If they truly are 127.30 and not 127.00mm ( 3.2, 3.3 and 3.6 length) or 127.8 mm I'm not sure what you have.
The 930 turbo had a 58mm big end. Early GT3 rods with the 23 mm wrist pins were 127.8mm and they had a 56mm big end. Same as an SC. Later Mezger GT3 rods were 130 mm OAL, These rods had 21mm, 22mm and 23 mm wrist pins.
The early rods were unique in that they had a bolt, nut & washer configuration vs the later GT3 rods that just had a bolt with a threaded rod cap.
Even though the early rod bolt, nut and washer would appear to be heavier than just the bolt, the early bolt was titanium while the later bolt was steel then later inconnel.
Ti bolt, nut & washer weighs 25.75 g while the steel bolt weighs 30.3.
The weight difference between early and late is 421.50vs 427.8 respectively.

[Arlo911]

Henry, I was hoping you would reply. I've taken them out of storage, and took some pics. One of them is marked 127,30 and the bushings are offset. Think I might just use them as wall ornaments.

[Henry Schmidt]

The off-set is certainly evident. My guess, someone's custom build.
Every Mezger 911 engine built after the 2/0-2.2 generations compromised rod length to stroke ratios, so the fact that this rod is even shorted suggests whoever was planning this build with these rods may not have had a clue. They may have had a 964 crank reground for a GT3 rod trying to match an existing piston. Maybe a 100mm piston designed for 74.4 mm crank. Piston height would need an off-set bushing.
Those bushings could be replaced to bring them back to a standard OAL.
The big end is showing more fretting than I ordinarily see in normal use, even high hour race engines.
A complete rebuild is recommended but only if you can match weights and have a specific project in mind.

[Tippy]

Those big ends look concerning.