This is just a hypothetical question, but what would you buy?
Lets say that this would be 7500 rpm, 550-600 crank hp engine.
I'm talking about 4340 forged 6" H-beam rods.

1. Brand new Manley rods that are somewhere in $600 range.

2. Brand new Eagle rods - $520 range

3. Used Carillo rods for $600 ($2000 for new)

4. Something else? (manufacturer and price?)

rods, if straight, are fine. Strangely enough, they don't wear out.

Many folks use factory rods on a rebuild.

Are the Carillo rods titanium? For that kinda money I would expect them to be.

Carillo rods are not titanium, but prices for Carillo are
really high.

If you buy used, you have to add some dollars to have a good machine shop check them for straightness and sizing/out of round on both ends. If they need rework, more dollars.

Id buy nothing but new at that level. Sure a used one could be reworked/machined but not $ worth it.

Oliver.

Oliver billets were $1300 when I purchased mine, and last I checked, they were over $1600. That may be a bit out of his price range.
Aaron

You're right. Oliver's are arround $1400 and Manley
Pro-Series are similar priced and that is a bit too much
at this time.

That is mostly why I asked. Is it better to buy new
forged H-beams in $600-$700 range or to buy used
top class rods for same price?

Manley H-beam 4340 forged rods are rated to 700HP and
8000rpm and that should be more than enough for me.
Callies Compstar are similar.

I just bought a set of used Carrillos with 7/16 Carr bolts.
Those should be as good as you can buy. For $264 I just
didn't want to pass on that. New ones are $2154.

I'll have them inspected when they arrive and install
new bushings, and I think that I should be more than safe
for my goals (550-600chp/7500rpm).

I had this very discussion with an engineer and an engine builder.

Fact of the matter is it was both their independent opinion that you don't need $2000 rods on this level motor. It's overkill. A good set of $500-600 rods will be fine.

I have Scat. At some point you're geeting down to the brand name argument. They are probably all the same for this application.

Just a word of warning. Callies and Carillo have their "consumer grade" product which are about $600. These products have little or no relationship to their $2000 counterparts except for borrowing the name. They are made in a different factory under different QC standards. Basically, the name was licensed for lack of a better description. Don't get sucked in.

I didn't want to break a rod, so I did a lot of homework on this. Pick a decent set, for $600 or less you can get a nice set regardless of brand. All about the same. For those goals there is ZERO benefit to spending over $600 for rods that will give you years of service.

Again, you don't NEED a $2000 set of rods, totally overkill. Unless of course if the goal is to impress your schoolyard chums. I am told, again independently, that my bottom end should support 1000HP, and I don't have $2000 rods. Don't pick shiny parts over the right one for the application, there's no benefit to spending more for what you're trying to do.

Quote:

GREAT DEAL!!!!

If your keeping the car for the long haul then get some good bottom end parts. If u can only afford the cheap chit then re-think it. Nothing wrong with used as long as the parts are as new condition. What r u planning?

Well, so far I have l-98 2-bolt block that I plan
to convert to 4-bolt splayed mains.
I have Callies Dragonslayer crank 3.750" stroke.
Now, I have Carrillo 6" rods.
I plan on Wiseco, JE, Ross, or some other good
forged pistons and that should be it for rotating
assembly.

My plan is street/strip (road race) driven car with
550-600 crank HP and 7500 rpm redline.

I know that I could've gone with cheaper parts for that
goal, but I'd like this to be as reliable engine as possible.

This engine won't be done any time soon so I have enough
time to think about top end, but I'm almost sure that
I'll go with 210cc range heads, cam that should match
required rpm range, and probably with carb setup.

Quote:

Thanks! I was leaning towards new Manley rods but I just
couldn't pass on this deal.
I'll have to invest a little bit more to get them into as
new condition, buy new bushings, have them resized if
necessary, but I think it's worth it.

I have a few friends here in Croatia that are driving
1.8 and 2.0 liter engines with 500-700HP with Carrillo
rods, and they never had an issue with them. I've seen
broken pistons, deformed blocks on those engines,
but never any issue with rods.

Quote:

I'm always happy when someone gets a deal!!

My point was one of the guys I spoke to was Deakins. He builds race engines for a living. He said the same thing about rods, it's a rare occasion they break even on the motors he builds which run 8000 RPMs all the time race after race after race at higher HP numbers than we're accustomed to. Guys like us realize no advantage to these exotic, expensive parts. Unless you include bragging rights (although I don't know who would brag about pissing away money) as an advantage. I verified his information again through two other sources.

If you didn't get the deal any of the other ones would have worked fine. None of them are junk. Bogus points out something similar, Rods don't wear.

Now go get that thing together! Have fun with it.

That is a KILLER deal. Even if you have to spend money on machining, that is a LOT of machining!!!

Quote:

I have seen a couple of Prelude VTEC motors (2.2 litre, I4) with turbos that put out 750hp.

The old Toyota GTP cars that Dan Gurney's team raced in the early 1990s had a 2.1 litre I4... turbo... 750+hp.

Or the 1.5 litre F1 turbo era... Both V6 and I4... Turbo... Upwards of 1500hp in qualifying trim.

And for a touch of history... 1927... Harry Miller... True genius... The Miller 91 was a 1.5 litre (91 cubic inch) I8. Supercharged... Somewhere about 275hp with a redline of 7700 RPM. In 1927!!!! This engine cost about $7k then.

It's utterly amazing...

Yeah it's really crazy power for so small engines.
But there is allways a downside.

I drove my friends VW Golf with 1.8 liter 20 valves
engine that has arround 550 hp.
This car is REALLY FAST, but only on straight line.
If you lower engine rpm's under 5000 it's dead.
Turbocharger is so big that it doesn't even start
to spin below 5k. And when it starts, eruption of power
is so great that it's really hard to control the car
even on the straigh line.

At what stage does it become a turbine engine with a piston engine in the middle?