WD connecting rods

Are the connecting rods the same between a WD and a WD 45? I know the stroke is 1/2" longer on the 45.

Thanks in advance.

Good point. I remember reading somewhere that the 45 had shims in the mains but not the rods. So, if I bolt the caps on the rods, without bearings, if they are WD rods, they should not be round, because they need to be shimmed. 45 rods should measure perfectly round, no?

I always though rods and pistons where the same other than the dish and it was the crank that gave it the half in more piston height

CTuckerNWIL wrote: A WD piston with a 45 crank ups the compression ratio way beyond what the 45 had.

Wouldn't this be a little dangerous?  Blow the engine or the head?  What gives the D-17 (same block) more horses?

The 55 WD45 I just did took shims on the rods. Crank was turned 0.20 on the rods and 0.10 on the mains. Had shims when I took it apart.

Ted J wrote: CTuckerNWIL wrote: A WD piston with a 45 crank ups the compression ratio way beyond what the 45 had. Wouldn't this be a little dangerous?  Blow the engine or the head?  What gives the D-17 (same block) more horses?

No,  compression ratios were low on the W201 to start with for burning kerosene. As things developed the CR went up a bit and engine rpm went up. By the time the 175 gasser came out they may have been 8.25:1.
 Quote from an old post in yesterdays tractors.
 "I completed this conversion on my WD45 and it worked out very well. There is a 1/4" difference in pin height between the two pistons plus the difference in piston top design (flat vs. dished) which brings the compression ratio up to 10.54:1 with a stock 4" bore, 4.5" stroke, and a .075" thick head gasket. There was still at least a 1/4" valve clearance with the WD piston tops when using the stock lift cam. I also converted the tractor to 12V, and using the stock 6V starter, it cranks and starts the engine very easily. (I am not sure how easy it would turn over on 6 volts though). It idles the same (or better) than the 6.4:1 CR WD45 engine and has noticeably more torque. I was also surprised that the exhaust was not much louder than stock. It runs fine under light loads on 87 octane gasoline but you should probably run at least 91 octane, add octane booster, or switch to E85 under heavy loads to avoid detonation. Note: If you are going to run used WD piston sleeves, make sure they do not have any top ring ridge as the pistons will now travel a 1/2" farther up the cylinder than they did with the 4" WD crank, which could break a top ring. (My sleeves were used off ebay and had a small ridge that I was able to hone out) This is a great power upgrade!"