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ChinaBay rods acquired

mopar318

mopar318

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 8, 2013
Location
Fort Wayne
I decided to see if the Ebay rods were any good, so I spend the $200 to find out. These came straight from china, and took 3 days via DHL.





Initial findings indicate they are pretty good quality. I don't see any chatter indicating using worn out tools. Forging looks very good. It has a nice bead blasted finish as well.

I will do CMM checks on all of the rods Friday and report back with the findings.

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE.

The results are in! Dimensional they are pretty close to perfect. Rod small end will need re-sized. It is obvious these are piston steered.

 
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Well are you sure you got the right rods for stock pistons? Take some measurements and make sure you got piston steered, off not your gonna be up the creek and have to spend money on custom pistons
 
cosbySweater said:
Well are you sure you got the right rods for stock pistons? Take some measurements and make sure you got piston steered, off not your gonna be up the creek and have to spend money on custom pistons
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I will be using custom forged pistons....purchased through a vendor.:)
 
Discussing vendors who may or may not be able to provide parts is not a performance topic.

edit: and...deleted some posts. keep it on topic please.
 
mopar318 said:
Unfortunately I don't have a cmm at home. This will need to be done when I go to work, and I have tomorrow off.
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CMM is just going to tell you dimensional deviances. What you should be concerned with, with the parts coming from China and all, is the metallurgy. That's about 50% of what makes a rod strong. Since it's China, I doubt you'll get a material report......

That's what interests me. If the measurements are great, but the rods break or bend under normal conditions or conditions that RSI rods would be fine with, then you know to send a sample into Bodycote or something if this is an actual test.

Any good shop can make a part like a rod from a drawing. It's very simple to make. What harder is picking the right materials and designing to suit.
 
Isn't the "standard" for those forged H-beams 4340 alloy, with shot peened finish and a ~55 hrc treatment?
 
blkaplan said:
Isn't the "standard" for those forged H-beams 4340 alloy, with shot peened finish and a ~55 hrc treatment?
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No idea. Curious though. I'm sure some mfg's specify specific materials based on their designs though. Hell, some make Ti rods!

Forged is key. 4340 is some strong steel too and that wouldn't surprise me at all.
 
And I think part of the issue with Chinese products is that even if you specify '4340', you may or may not get it.

It's up to the person ordering it to verify, I'd suppose.
 
JohnMc said:
And I think part of the issue with Chinese products is that even if you specify '4340', you may or may not get it.

It's up to the person ordering it to verify, I'd suppose.
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Good point. And was my first point I posted, with the metallurgy test if they break!
 
Alot of it can come down to material quality too, they are many different quality grades of 4340. The good thing is since its forged there is a lot less chance of having casting quality issues.
 
blkaplan said:
Alot of it can come down to material quality too, they are many different quality grades of 4340. The good thing is since its forged there is a lot less chance of having casting quality issues.
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Exactly. Which is why the knives I'm making come with a material certificate from Bohler, stating the origin as well as the composition. They will also come with heat treatment certificates, hardness certs, and coating certs.

4130 does not equal 4130. Especially where recycled metals is concerned......
 
Wait a minute here - didn't we finish speculating on the quality of chinese rods in about 2005 or so?

Over the last few years, the examples of people making well north of 100whp/cylinder on chinese rods outnumber the examples of people with failures or dimensional issues by at least 100:1

All I did with mine was balance them with a postage scale and a frickin die grinder. Otherwise I did not touch em. 7600rpm, 540whp, 467wtq. My story is typical. If you don't like them don't buy them but arguing about the quality is pointless.
 
< deleted quote >

Uh, OE Specs? The rods that I "did work on" still balanced out to a tighter tolerance than OEM spec right out of the box. The bearing clearance and wristpin clearance needed absolutely zero work, right out of the box. Every aftermarket rotating assembly will get balanced manually. Doesn't matter what components you use. That fact that you don't know this says enough in itself.
 
yeah this thread has gone way beyond the fence line in left field.

stock replacement chinabay rods are fine. the rod bolts are not smaller than stock, I measured both. Incidentally, they're the same rod bolts used in 1500hp supra applications, but naturally that doesn't carry any weight here. They're not the biggest available either, if that factors into your decision making process and end goals, talk to one of our many vendors and get solution more suited to your needs (or hey roll your own).

Yes we know others led the way on this deal
Yes we know other things have gotten "ripped off" by the Chinese
No we really don't care.

Yes we all know every vendor has hosed something up along the way, and yes we know the bandcamps for those vendors get twisted up at the first mention of disparity amongst the ranks (well, unless it's john whatshisname with the vintage stuff).

for the ~$280 or whatever the out of pocket cost is for the rods and bolts, if you're freshening up an engine shooting for mo par it's a no-brainer. The oe rods are all ****, the internet told me so.
 
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