So I am in the process of building my stroker SBC and one of the last pieces of the puzzle are the rods. I remember when the offshore stuff was considered very low tier, like the old PEP rods. There are offshore parts in it already (Eagle crank, “speed master” intake, MSD distributor, ect). But for some reason I’m kinda hesitant about the rods. Are Eagle rods good to go or are they trash? $250 dollars more from the high end Eagle gets you into Callies territory…but on the opposite end the speed master stuff can be as much as $450 cheaper…. What are your experiences with the offshore forged rods specifically…I’m intimately familiar with the offshore intakes…pure garbage. going into an SBC stroked and blown with a bit of squeeze looking around 650-700hp.
there is a lot of chat on various places about these, Not brand name but some non brand name have fake ARP bolts and they do fail. Stick with stuff like Scatt or Eagle, also dont go over the recommended HP for a part.
I've got a full Eagle rotating assembly in a 383ci SBC build that made 578 hp / 620 ft.lbs., centrifugally supercharged, making around 8 lbs. boost. Used their forged 5140 H-beam rods in that one. I built another stroker SBC, naturally aspirated, using the same Eagle rods that made 362 hp / 446 ft.lbs. I wouldn't hesitate to use them again.
Place they are made isn’t the problem, the quality of the manufacturing is. There is some good stuff coming from outside the country, but it is made under strict watch. I would say the cheap o stuff is lesser quality, made to a lower standard.
This is true, I helped set up production overseas for our bike line. You get what you pay for. For us, we had a full time agent named Brad that lived over there and oversaw our daily production
I got to know Tom Lieb that owns SCAT. We had some long talks about his buying overseas. He would much rather buy US, but doing that would price him out of competition. Reluctantly, he went overseas. He had quality problems initially, but got that straightened out. He has right of refusal on ALL goods. A few containers sent back and no money paid brought the raw castings and forgings up to snuff. He still 100% inspects everything and rarely has any problem. All machining and finishing is done in house. I've used Tom's stuff for years without any problems and he would even donate quality parts to my auto shop class to use as training aids. His parts are high quality and he is a stickler for correct. Where it's manufactured is not as import as the quality of the parts involved. But, it is still the responsibility of the buyer to do his/her own due diligence investigation because not every part, off shore or home grown is high quality.
In todays market it would be hard to compete without being a super high end producer, and doing the finish work and testing in the states does make a difference, as I have witnessed the stark difference from straight off the boat vs cast and finished here with a few intakes…..and one of those intakes still don’t line up… Thank you for the reassurance! It is nice to know there are quality parts to be had without resorting to something way overkill for my build.
I met Tom Lieb when I was 17 and he worked out of his parents back yard. He has always been fair to me and my son. We use his cranks and rods in our Perris Speedway Super Stock. We found one of his super lite rods broken in a semi catastrophic engine failure where we and others could not identify what happened first. They made us an offer on a new set we could not refuse even tho we did not ask. We have also never hurt one of his long stroke cranks. Like said above it’s all machined here.
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