Are their pistons and rods any good? Looking for some feedback on their 12343-030 pistons and 10068 rods. Anyone know about how much each of these would cost???

Thanks,

Brandon

 

I've heard their pistons are good quality. Did you search here?

 

I think i found my answer. They are pretty much junk.

Thanks,

Brandon

 

Really? From whom?

 

Searching...like you said to do above. Read the post from MachinistOne. I have used his knowledge many times in the past. He knows his stuff. Also others say that there are much better parts out there for the same price or less.

Thanks,

Brandon

 

I'd just go with an SRP piston, that or perhaps KB if it's an NA build. I don't think Probe are 'junk' and rather than throwing those words around, I'd like to see those 'in-the-know' explain why a piston is/isn't a poorly designed one. 'Junk' should be followed with pictures of the failed piston and an in-depth explanation of why the piston failed. Otherwise it doesn't mean all that much... to me anyways.

I do know a number of people who use Probe exclusively without issue.

Good luck.

 

Ok sorry let me rephrase my statement with a quote from MachinistOne:

"Cheap off-shore parts. You are much better off with Compstar, Scat, or K1.

Probe is the only vendor that I have seen rods fail for no reason, a 400rwhp 408 that the rods blew out the block on, found them to be cracked near the bolts due to a poor design - someone else built the motor, we just built it correctly the second time around.

Aside from that their tolerances are all over the place and their moderately priced pistons are poorly weight matched and of an out dated design compared to other vendors in a similar price range."

 

Ok - I'll chime in here...

Other's may have seen my posts about my dis-like of Eagle parts on here, I don't like eagle because their machine work is poor - journals out of tolerance and rods that have significant taper and out of spec... that is all correctable with time and money. I dislike Probe because their rods (cheaper line) have design induced failure problems, their cranks have all the problems of the Eagle parts to a higher degree and I have seen rear seal grooves cut in the wrong direction so that oil is slung out the motor rather than kept in. Their pistons are roughly machined and poorly weight matched which is why you pay $200 a set less than SRP, Wiseco, or Mahle. I warranty race motors and will not put parts that are inferior in them.

You may spend a little more for a Wiseco Pro-tru piston and Scat or Compstar rod - but it will be a much better product that should not require work out of the box.

Like was said above, the KB forged line is a nice piston for the price too.

 

Ok, good to know. I thought that Bret was on here at one time and he said that Probes were good pistons. I must have been mistaken.

I used Mahle fwiw and they are great.

 

Interesting. Being an ME and having worked in failure analysis for a number of years now, I'm always much more curious about the Why's, especially when it comes to part failure and manufacturing.

After doing some research on a private message board, primarily populated by engine builders and/or shop owners, this is the jist of what I can find on Probe's pistons.

1. Good value for the money
2. No pin oiling

The consensus tends to agree that pin oiling is not a huge issue for an NA street car but would pose an issue in force inducted and/or race cars... I agree with those opinions.

The weight matching was only brought up by one board member who just so happens to have an affinity for the '66 Mustang. What were the weight differences?
Weight inconsistencies are a QC issue and since it seems to be rare (no other builder mentioned this) I'd tend to believe it's not the norm for Probe. Yes, items get through QC. Open an 'Engineering Disasters' type book sometime and you'll see a whole history of this phenomenon.

Either way, I'm sure you called Probe about the problem? Possibly sent the pistons back for another (hopefully QC'd) set? What was their response?

Bad reviews all around for rods and cranks. OR... reviews that seem to suggest they'd go elsewhere for those items next time.

Personally, I've had great luck with cheaper Scat I-beam rods as well as Crower for the more expensive stuff. I don't see the need to use one of the heavier H-beam types in an NA street motor as a lot of people seem to do these days.

*Not trying to play Devil's Advocate, would just like to see more detailed discussion.

 

Good post and interesting research!

I only used H-beams in my car because they were a steal.

 

I am much more **** retentive about quality and tolerances than some others - I do not have a personal grudge against Probe, I just don't use their products if I can possibly avoid it due to quality control and design problems, their customer service has not been stellar either - when informed about the mis-machined crankshaft they simply replied "oh yeah, we had a bad batch of those come through" I was stunned to think that they would not inform their customers about a known defective part and just hope that it might not get caught.

Their pistons are dirt cheap, if that's the price range you want to play in that's ok. Just know that with machined parts, you get what you pay for.

I will post pictures of the rods to show the design induced failure.

 

OK one i have used probe pistons in a 383 stroker and a 406 never had any problem i know top engine builders who use them as well now as for scat i wouldnt use them nor compstar on someones engine i hated they arent even worth blowing and thats sad dude if you want a good piston go with probe JE is good as well but all your buying is a name (im not to big on probes cranks but pistons and rods work great) and btw what is this cheap off shore part?? hmmm......they are made in CA!!

 

 

did you think before you made this post? Compstar and Callies has one of the best reputations in the business, and everyone agrees.