Guys,
Been running nova engines for a while now, and I've never had to change the conrod in them. In my experience, the bearings will wear out first before you need to replace anything. By that stage, it's probably cheaper buying a new one anyway. Re: 2630 pipe. Maybe a little thirsty, but I can still make 5 mins easy on a big track (Brendale, Australia) with a Plus12-3sct Tuned, even more on my smaller home track. The stock 07 353 will give you incredible mileage, but I prefer the 3sct. More grunt, and top end is just as good. However, the 353 09 looks pretty trick.
Mick