The V8 Owners Forum -

Hi all, has anyone got experience of the H-beam rods scat or eagle ones, and which would be best for a sbf 347 at about 420bhp and 250 shot of nitrous both seem good for 700 hp. All advice welcome rich

Hi
I have eagle H beam rods in my chevy build they look nice, came as a "ballanced" set, 6 were within a spread of 1 gram , two were 2 grammes lighter than the heaviest pair (they came as "pairs" which were within .2 grams of each other) nice shot peened finnish in well made, uncertain of country of origin .
Mike

I'm listening too

Cant wait to get started on the 302!!!

Mike so not as balanced as described then??. ive read on other forums of eagle rods snapping, but not sure if that was i-beam rods or h-beam, and what bhp they were trying toget out of the engines ??, TC i found some scat rods yesterday for £267 in usa,but by the time they get here they wont be much cheaper than eagle rods from real steel rich . plus what about the timing chain or timing gears??

Hi
My rods claim to be good for 750 to 800 BHP like the crank, I think they are unlikley to snap in any use I can put them to. My kit claimed to be "ballanced to +/-1 gram" , by selecting the parts I had sent to me, rods, gudgeon pins, locks and pistons and assuming the crank neutrally ballances I achieved better than this ( +/- 1/2 gram across all 4 journals and +/- .75 on each assembly on each journal) so it depends how you interprate the claim . I think they are good rods, and for the price excellent, however I also suspect they are Chinese forgings/ machinings with the ballance and surface finnish done in the US ( the Eagle crank I have has all the usual jingoistic "the best from America", "US quality product" all over the box with Eagle logos plastered on all faces, except the one with the small made in China stencil on it. I have no problem with this as atleast it means It didn't come from Mexico where all the dodgy blocks come from.
Best regards
Mike

Cheers Mike, eagle rods should be ok for my use. .Now for roller rockers, steel or alloy ?? so many questions to ask rich

Rich,

Definitely get ally. You'll get some talk about reducing the mass and inertia of the timing assembly but what you're really looking for is the 0.2% increase in pub bragging rights over steel.

Ian

Unless you pay big bucks...all of those "cheap" rods are made in China....likely by the same place !!

HP rarely kills rods. poor rod bolts and high rpm can do though.


So just pick a set of rods that fit, and use quality rod bolts. I'm sure it'll be fine.

FWIW, the rods I'm using whilst they carry a slightly better name...cost me $450 lol Although I think they have went up in price since then to maybe $550.

The steel ones are more about consistancy of production meaning you chuck fewer out on QC.
Mike

the ones ive been considering are comp cams magnum roller rockers made of 8620 chromemoly steel and i need them to be 3/8 stud ones , these would be used on the rhs alloy heads ive already got, i just need to get through the sales pitch, they all sound good, but i get easily confused (which isnt that hard to do ) rich

The Comp Cams magnums are a great product and actually lighter than most ally rockers. Have a look at drag racing online for an insight into their customer service. If they fit your application you could certainly do worse and are unlikely to do better. Big plus is steel won't fatigue like aluminium.

Alan

We need to find a friendly american who doesn't mind gathering bits for us and shipping them over- so less shipping and no duty to pay

I'm going to the states next year- but a bit late for me and you rich!

cheers Alan, thats what i needed to know, steel it is. Thats eagle rods with arp bolts, steel roller rockers soughted. next, timing chain or gears ??. TC by the time ive got money toget stuff it will be next year rich

bones wrote:Hi all, has anyone got experience of the H-beam rods scat or eagle ones, and which would be best for a sbf 347 at about 420bhp and 250 shot of nitrous both seem good for 700 hp. All advice welcome rich

Hello... been using Eagle & Scat rods & cranks for many many years
for street engines & all out race engines with budgets in mind.

Fact : Eagle & Scat rods are forged in China & machined & QC'd in the USA as are many other well know US companies cranks & rods...

Eagle & Scat both have US staff in China @ forging plant to oversee production & quality there.

In regards to who makes a higher quality product Eagle or Scat... i call it a draw.. both are of equal quality.

When buy'n rods for HIGH BHP race applications EG: 500+ up BHP upgrade rod bolts from standard bolts they use 8740 ARP to ARP 2000 bolts is a very good idea & money well spent.

There are a couple new players in the crank & rod game here in the USA
one of the companies we have been testing is RPM USA crankshafts & connecting rods all are 4340 forgings & use ARP cap screws 8740 & ARP 2000.upgrades
RRM 's cranks & rods have excellent machine quality & very high standard QC control we have had 0 issues to date.
IMPO RPM has higher over all quality over Scat & Eagle we've been using there cranks and rods in track & drag & pro street engines now 4 years with 0 failers or issues.... & RPM is priced better then Eagle or Scat products Ford SB 4340 H-Beam EG: @ $356.00 set.

We are freshing up UK Sprint car # 17 UK & Europe 07 & 08 Champion engine he's sent back for inspection & up grades to heads & cam.
3 full seasons of all out race'n with Eagle 4340 crank & RPM ULTRA LITE
4340 I beam race rods with ARP 2000 cap screw bolts.

Crank is 100% mint needs no work.. rods 100% mint they do not need resizing... thats is real world R&D results.... Eagle makes an excellent race crank for the money & RPM's products stand the test of total abuse and are an excellent value.

On roller rockers.... high perf flat tappet & hyd roller cam'd engines were spring pressures are in the range of 120 to 140 seat pressures & up to 380 lbs open pressure.... Good quality ally rollers are fine... Comp Cams or Sig Erson or Sharp or Warhammer are a good value @ $150 set

Here we used them on this SS Chevy 327 /350+BHP hyd roller cam'd engine.


For solid cam engines with HIGH spring pressures i'd recommend steel rollers... and like PRW steel roller

Regards Dr.Dee

Rich- maybe we need to try and get a discount for 2 sets of H-beam conrod sets and some other goodies, shipping would be cheaper too!

I'm sure Dr.Dee wouldn't mind shipping them over marked "gift" too to save the wretched import duty