connecting rods
 

Hey guys, I'm in the process of trying to get sum engines together for my Fountain.I wanna run good stuff.Do you guys think,I beam rods or H beam rods,The shops around here in maryland say,Eagle rods and cranks are good . They also say Scat rods and cranks are good.One says use I beam rods and others say H beam.Hell one said use GM TRUCK RODS and CRANKS,they'll never break.I wanna be able to run this thing, I realize crower oliver ect ect is Good stuff. I guess they all got me going in different ways. I'm wanting 540" and I am running 8-71 blowers.GIVE ME SUM GUIDENCE PLEASE. I aint rich and don't wanna throw my money away..Sorry i went on . THANKS JOHN

Re: connecting rods
 

Personally,I would not run eagle,scat,elgin,wheeler or any other low buck chinese versions of them because I refuse to knowingly buy chinese crap and the quality is questionable at best. A good medium price alternative to the big buck oliver,crower stuff is the "howards racing cams" (HRC) ultimate duty rods offered by competition products in wisconsin. They run 700-800 $ a set,are made in america,vacuum degassed 4340 steel,magged,xrayed,machined dead on within 1 or 2 ten thousandnths,rated safe to 1000hp. I have ran them in my 540 blower motor at 10 psi of boost at 6000 rpm's with zero issuses,Smitty

Re: connecting rods
 

I agree. I have used those same rods in my own engines as well as quite a few hot street, drag and marine engines. They are excellent quality and no failures or problems to date. Highly recommended.

Re: connecting rods
 

nothing wrong with eagle rods H beam dont forget to run the L19 bolt type I have built many engines for happy custermers with no problems as far as USA made goes do you realy know where they are coming from? cant beat the price good luck with your build

Re: connecting rods
 

Get the best rods you can, cut corners else ware if you must. Almost nothing does more damage than a rod failure. I know from experience, and a ton of wasted money / boating. If you’re going to run 800+HP get the MAX series billet rods. Oliver makes them, and I know Carillo has a similar set, but you must ask. You can find them for around $1200 as set.

Remember to add another zero to that $1200 if one snaps and takes everything out. I remember now.:(

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How about CARILLO RODS ? I seem to remember from my racing days(many years ago) that these rods were basically unbreakable.

Re: connecting rods
 

one last word on rods and rod failure. 99% of rods that take the big dump are not the problen but the result. hydro lock,DETONATION, almost always the bearing, wrist pin or bushing gives out before the rod snaps, ive seen lots of pro stock, NSACAR and offshore blower motors and I can count on one hand rods that have "just broke" as for cuting any corners on boat motors I go for good machine work first,a tough ass valvetrain and a fuel system that is over kill and that means starting at the pickup in the tank , to the final exit to the engine be it injection or carb. I have seen more rod failuer from what I call " the french fry factor" than any other factor, good old DETONATION it aint your friend! good luck have any questions drop me a reply. I dont think I know it all but Ive seen my share of ****. wolffie

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Parts are so cheep in America there is no excuse for buying anything but the best. We just spent 3 grand on a crank and 1.5 on rods. You guys dont know how good you have it. If you cant afford a solid 800HP then build a solid 650HP. The last thing you want to do is build 800 twice. By the way. Our engine builder wont have a crank in his shop any less than the best one Eagle make. Thats his starting point. Jas

Re: connecting rods
 

Pro Comp H-beam rods are about $260 a set with ARP2000 cap screws. Eagles are about $360 a set with 8740 fasteners with a $80 upcharge for ARP2000 or L19 cap screws. I bought two sets of the Pro Comp rods from a distributor in St. Louis for $269 a set delivered to my door.
I also bought two Gen V C.A.T. cranks, 4340 forged, 4.250-stroke, internally-balanced. They mike out and index right on the money and have a flawless journal finish. The Gen V cranks are typically more costly due to the difference in rear seal design. These cranks were $420 each, delivered to my door.

Re: connecting rods
 

Crazyhorse,

What is the distributor's name? I would like to purchase the same crank & rods.

Re: connecting rods
 

Send me an email at [email protected] and I'll reply with his name and phone number. Super-nice guy to deal with.

Re: connecting rods
 

OK, I am the one who is going to say it.

The chinese knockoffs may be OK but you can't complain the next time you or a friend's job gets shipped to China or India.

Re: connecting rods
 

The Chinese make a lot of good stuff. Just not big block bottom end parts.

But hey we warned you, Enough said.....:drink:

Re: connecting rods
 

I have run Eagle crank and rods in a 540 with 10 71. Made 800HP on Nickerson's dyno with 7LBs of boost. They are still running today, nearly 5 years later.

Re: connecting rods
 

I have bought a few sets of those chinese rods as the cost is the same as setting up a nice stock set, But only for mild street engines. 500-600 hp. Would never dream of a set in a marine engine over 600. You have ask about the sence of saving $200 on rods of all things. Its less than the cost of a tank of gas. I would buy good American set and sleep well and if money is that tight, dont go boating 1 day and you back even with the good rods for 5 years or more. Jas

Re: connecting rods
 

We have a set of 6.550 oliver rods with ARP 2000 bolts in great condition. You can have them cheep. We went to 6.800 with the tall block. You will need custom pistons but pretty KB do them. Jas

Re: connecting rods
 

The chinese vs american rod debate comes up every time the subject of rods comes up. There are some people that don't care where something originates from as long as its as cheap as possible. I do not think that way but then again alot of my customers work for the auto factorys and I do not like to see manufacturing go overseas either. If you could buy a chinese built copy of a 200,000$ cigarette boat for 120,000$ would you? You don't see any pro enging builders putting eagle rods or the copys of eagle rods in any motors over 650hp,if your going to spend 15,000-20,000$ building a 850 plus hp blower motor spend a few hundred extra and get quality american made rods. If your pieceing something together on a shoe string budget and don't care where your money goes,give it to the chinese,its up to you,Smitty

Re: connecting rods
 

I replied to a couple of emails regarding the cranks and rods. I hope the information helps.

Re: connecting rods
 

100% agree....I spend it where i make it

Re: connecting rods
 

I have Callies cranks, Oliver rods and custom Lunati pistions in mine.

Re: connecting rods
 

Comp Star makes a really nice middle quality H-beam 4340 rod. I am running the Eagles H-beam 4340 rods in my naturally aspirated 565's with the L-19 bolts without any issues...112 hours so far, but the finish work and attention to detail on those Comp Star rods are very good....much nicer than an Eagle and about $150 MORE than the Eagle rods.

Re: connecting rods
 

Which brands are made in U.S.?