I will be needing a crank soon. I was thinking of Scat; or Eagle, etc. But I recently was surprised to learn that these are supposedly made in China. Is that true? China as in mainland, or taiwan? Heck, even some of Mac Tools are being made in Taiwan now.

But back to the question: is there testimonials out there from folks who have suffered failures of their expensive engines because of using a so called China forging?

Who makes USA cranks, as in actually made here, not just machined here?

Does anyone have anything good to say about the "china" cranks?

Thank you!

 

China means mainland, if something is maid in Tawain it will say so.

 

Not sure how this is Advanced Tech, but I'll respond.

I ran into the same thing when I was spec'ing parts for my stroker build-up. I know alot of people have had good luck with the imported stuff, but I didn't want it in my motor. Looking around a bit, the price difference between the imported forged cranks and the American made cranks didn't seem that much. AFAIK, all the parts I ended up with are made in USA or Canada, although I'm sure there's some imported stuff here and there. Here's the parts I used:

• Callies Dragon Slayer forged crank.
• Callies designed (but produced in Ohio and are no longer available) forged connecting rods.
• SRP pistons.
• Comp Cams custom grind cam.
• Comp Cams Pro Magnum roller rockers.
• Comp Cams Comp R lifters.
• Comp Cams pushrods.
• GM LT4ED timing chain with Cloyes oversize crank gear.
• Melling HV oil pump.
• Canton baffled oil pan.
• ARP bolts (every bolt has been replaced).
• GM and Felpro gaskets.

I know I forgot to list some of the parts, but I tried to be conscious about the origins of everything I bought.

 

Curt: I didn't know where else to post this. I couldn't find a Forum specifically for internal engine parts.

Anyway, thanks for your input.

 

I build circle track engines fo late models and have seen numerus brands of cranks used. The import stuff should be avoided as it won't hold up in circle track engines as the engine helps decellerate the car causing the crank to be flexed one way and then when you get out of the gas it twisted the opposite direction. This fatiges the crank and will break after a period of times depending on hp and tracion.
The eagle cranks seem to hold up ok on steet and drag engines but they are terrible on sizing, stroke, and phasing. They are slowly getting better though. The last several brought in (new) needed to have the mains ground as they had extemely bad concaved mains (the outside of journals .0015 bigger then the middle which was about the right size) people miss this because they just mic the middle of crank and can't figure out why the crank locks up or drags hard after you torque the mains. I've seen the phasing off up to 5 degree's between rod journals(why bother degreeing cam if some cylinders are ahead or behind that far). Most of the time you'll have to rregind crank. If you get a good deal on the crank say 550.00 then have to have index ground 125.00 you got 675.00 in it and for 700.00 you can get a dragon slayer from callies. I don't sell them but they are a best crank for the money in a budget crank.
The cola's are pretty good to.
The scat's are import forging but machined here. the billet cranks are real good but the forged one's don't last long in a circle track engine. I'd pass on the scat or eagle and get a cola or callies.
The over sea's material doesn't have meet the requirments as it does in the USA. So a 4340 forging oversea's isn't nowhere as strong as a 4340 USA forging.

 

Posted By TAYLORMADE
"The last several brought in (new) needed to have the mains ground as they had extemely bad concaved mains (the outside of journals .0015 bigger then the middle which was about the right size) people miss this because they just mic the middle of crank and can't figure out why the crank locks up or drags hard after you torque the mains. I've seen the phasing off up to 5 degree's between rod journals(why bother degreeing cam if some cylinders are ahead or behind that far). Most of the time you'll have to regind crank."

That's the exact reason I don't use them. Most people don't have access to equipment to check for dimensional correctness. They look at price, and assume that because it's forged, it's equal to other forged cranks. Balancing can also be a challenge.

 

TAYLORMADE: thank you very much for that insightful information!

 

I do not trust the quality of Chinese parts and have no desire to support the economy of what will likely be our major strategic rival during this century anyway.

Rich Krause

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'95 Z-28 383 with Vortech, nitrous, etc.
"1FASTZ28"

 

imported cranks: bad
imported rods : good

thats my opinion

 

Ditto that.
All American-made stuff in my engine.


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Tom
1997 30th Aniv. SS <<383 Cubes of Nitrous Huffing Power!
2FASST.com <<< Holy s***! It's really here?!?!
Motown Muscle <<< Dedicated to today's musclecar!
2002 Ford F250 Powerstroke diesel. More torque than my racecar!
"...Now go away, or I shall taunt you a second time!"

 

Does anyone disagree?

Just curious because all the "budget" forged rod's I've seen are imported (Scat, Cat, Eagle, etc) and no one seems to have problems with them. Then again I hadnt heard of any problems with Eagle cranks either until this thread.

Thanks!



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Jason
93 TA, M6

 

Before I bought my parts, I talked to several engine builders, and I kept hearing the same thing -- with the imported cranks, there a high likelyhood that there would be an imbalance bank-to-bank, and with the imported connecting rods, there would be inconsistancies between rods that would make balancing them more time consuming.

Again, I know alot of people have had good luck with the imported stuff, but unless it's made in Germany, I'm not using it in my build-up.

 

man stop it you guys are scaring me lol. my eagle crank and rods are holding up just fine in my car. i did get them for a steal though......4340 crank and 6" h-beam rods brand new still in the box sealed in plastic for $525 out the door off of a vendor at a meet here in ohio. i did spend some mucho bucks getting it internally balanced though. cost me $310 (had to add heavy metal to the counterweights). my motor sees 7000+ rpm on a regular basis and it just seems like it has power from idle to redline. just thought i'd share my personal experience.

Rich

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84 trans am, forged 383 w/ 6" h-beam rods, ported heads with 3angle valve job, ported weiand stealth intake, edelbrock 750 with choke removed, GMPP solid lift cam, mallory unilite distributor, accel wires and coil, msd 6-al w/8500 rev limiter, hooker long tubes with 2.5" 40 series flowmasters, TH400 with rev. man. valve body and tci 3500 convertor, 9" ford with disc brakes, ladder bars, 4.33 richmond gears. jegster 8-point cage, jegster frame connectors, poly racing buckets with 5-point harneses. vehicle weight reduced

 

I dont think the question is will they work, but how long will they work

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Ken Mook - 97' SS #2544
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New Project Underway :0

 

Not only a question of longevity, but also how efficient it is.