Building my block..Built motor owners chime in!

[HHIVR4]

I'm about to send my block off for bore,deck,polish crank yada yada.

I can't make up my mind about what to put in it once I get the specs from the shop.
Ive been reading and reading and reading and being as there is so many options so I thought I'd get some first hand advice..

The car will not be a DD but I will drive it fairly regularly on the street and want good manners and long term reliability.

My power goal is +/- 500hp

Im not against doing the standard big rod 2g piston build but I would like to have some room to grow later on.

 

[gaylantvr4]

If money is a concern i would go with eagle, ross or eagle, weisco. You can not go wronge with either choice.

 

[bustedsm]

I've found that with Wiseco pistons the wall between the valve pockets and the cylinder wall is extremely thin and brittle so it's been prone to cracking and breaking off.

My winter build I'm unsure of at this moment, but it should be enough hold some power.

 

[Dialcaliper]

Wiseco puts large intake valve pockets in that are designed around oversized pistons (0.40+), so if you use a standard or 20 over piston, that area ends up really thin.

 

Ross/ Eagle guy here.

I am really impressed with the 2nd and 3rd ringlands on the Ross pistons. Beef.

Plus chromoly rods don't suck either!

Even in 15 degree weather, the piston-to-wall clearance, and the ring gap I used, which is about .002 tighter then recommended, makes for no noise on startup. Something Cold regions are concerned about when using silicone forged pistons.

 

Go with Ross, you won't be sorry!

 

[Gordian79]

go ross but at least get manley H beams stay away from eagle garbage.

 

[HHIVR4]

Ive heard some horror stories about the eagle rods and am staying away.

Whats the consensus on Scat rods?

 

[Dialcaliper]

Scat's are supposedly made from the same forgings as Eagles, but the machining is done by Scat in the US (a very reputable forged crank manufacturer among domestics), so they don't have the quality control/tolerance issues.

There aren't many stories, which is a good thing - you'd probably hear about it if they were failing all of the time. I'm planning to try a set for a stroker/street build later this year.

 

My Eagles were tight as spec as even Crowers i've seen, nothing more then +/- .001 between all 4. Weight were almost identical as well. Pretty good stuff.

Besides, now they make full stroker kits, and have been running in domestics as long as scat has.

Chromoly is chromoly is chromoly imho. And as always YMMV. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif

 

[atc250r]

I would get a set of Manley rods before I bought Eagle. Personally, I would probably go with Crower if I ever built another shortblock for my car.

John

 

[bazeng]

I say a budget build, go for eagle / wiseco

I made excellent power with that.

It will handle 500+ at the wheels without any issues.

But if you have more money, go manley clover rods. They are thicker and heavier, but will never break! As for pistons. I haven't had experience with anything other than wiseco's... The wiseco's haven't done me wrong yet...

 

[bazeng]

Don't forget to get yourself a kiggly girdle!
They are a good investment for your block...

You may have to level your caps and give it a line hone..

 

Torque-plate hone the cylinders, and line hone the mains for sure.

 

mines running eagle rods/ ross pistons. made 519 to the wheels on race gas. No problems after 3 years or so.

 

[Bonezilla]

Dont know if you would be interested but my friend is selling his race block for fairly cheap. 20 over eagle/ross combo. ceramic top pistons and teflon sideskirts. 2.0L crank refreshed, pro-gram billet main caps, arp's. Rods, crank, and bearings oil resistant coated. More info if your interested, just let me know.
click

 

I went with scat rods for my stroker. They have a reputable name and i found a set for 330 shipped. I chose to go with the Mahle pistons. Low expansion aluminum and extremely light. I think they said 350 grams with pin and rings. The wrist pins are very beefy as well. They feel like they're heavier than the piston. Mahle has been making pistons for F-1 cars for awhile now and i wanted to try something nobody else is runnin just to see.

 

[Romanova]

I watched a scat video last night... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[Mark]

Manley sells rods that are a little better then eagles and about the same price. They are pretty good. I would go with a manley/ross or arias or JE combo. I have 3 seasons on my ross pistons and not one problem yet.

 

Ross Coated Tops and Skirts, Eagle Rods here.

I am very happy with the setup. As long as you spend you money on the machine work you will be good. Make sure that you have a shop that knows what they are doing. Be sure to run good bearings in the car also. The tri metal ones.