what pistons and rods should i use?? for 400whp
 

hey guys,
gonna be doing a build up.. just looking for anyones experiences with the different kinds of pistons and rods and rings... what do you all reccomend (those with experience please).

looking to make around 400whp...

Re: what pistons and rods should i use?? for 400whp (queez)
 

cp or je piston
eagle rods, eagle rods and eagle rod will do fine for the rods https://honda-tech.com/forums/images...s/emsmileo.gif https://honda-tech.com/forums/images...s/emhammer.gif

Re: what pistons and rods should i use?? for 400whp (sleeper007)
 

i wouldnt trust eagle rods at that HP, id go crower or pauter.

Re: what pistons and rods should i use?? for 400whp (queez)
 

I've used arias pistons and eagle rods in 3 400hp setups so far, and je pistons with eagle rods in a fourth with no problems at all. btw, get the upgraded rod bolts for the eagle rods.

Re: what pistons and rods should i use?? for 400whp (Jared)
 

What about Weisco?

Re: what pistons and rods should i use?? for 400whp (turbo Si)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by turbo Si &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What about Weisco?</TD></TR></TABLE>

they should do fine in there too. right up there with JE and Arias in terms of quality.

Re: what pistons and rods should i use?? for 400whp (untensadude)
 

get crower or manley rods.

Why would you use a rod (eagle) when there have been horror stories about them? Dont let those reassuring words from peoples success make you feel better. Id go with a company with the less horror stories, such as crower or manley.

Re: what pistons and rods should i use?? for 400whp
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Why would you use a rod (eagle) when there have been horror stories about them? Dont let those reassuring words from peoples success make you feel better. Id go with a company with the less horror stories, such as crower or manley.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

PLease explain why...I'd like to know...::crossing legs and sitting back in chair::

Re: what pistons and rods should i use?? for 400whp (MiraiZ)
 

ok im not attacking eagle here. My simple point is that why would you use a rod that have broken in the past or has some kind of track record for breaking, when you can go with a rod with less history of breaking? It just makes sense to me. I know there are many successful motor running eagles, but out of those, there have been more negatives. Kinda like a ratio.

Im not sure if you catch my drift. I know a lot of failures could be due to installation error, not upgrading arp bolts, ect ect.

my above post is just my opinion on why he should choose manley or crower. No pissing contest intended.
https://honda-tech.com/forums/images/smilies/embeer.gif

Re: what pistons and rods should i use?? for 400whp (intekragsr)
 

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=472807

reference here and make your own decision.

Re: what pistons and rods should i use?? for 400whp (intekragsr)
 

One of the reason is price. The eagle rods goes for $350-400. How much are the crower/manley/pauter rods? Most of the time money is an issue.

Re: what pistons and rods should i use?? for 400whp (brryder)
 

quoted from tony1 on this board:

"I say they're junk. The first and only one set i ever used came straight out of the box and to the machine shop. The wristpins wouldn't fit in the rods. What kind of quality control is that? On top of the cheap quality, the rod bolts are puny. I think a stock honda rod with arp bolts are just as strong as eagles. Just my opinion though, what do i know..."

Re: what pistons and rods should i use?? for 400whp (brryder)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by brryder &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">One of the reason is price. The eagle rods goes for $350-400. How much are the crower/manley/pauter rods? Most of the time money is an issue.</TD></TR></TABLE>

if the guy wants 400whp then he should have a good set of rods in his budget. 400whp isnt bolting on a greddy kit (as im sure you know anyways)

IMO spending the couple hundred extra dollars for crower or manley its much better then having to tear the motor apart to find out your rod broke and now you have to do everything all over again. not to mention spending alot more extra money then you would have spent if you just went for the more expensive rods in the first place

Re: what pistons and rods should i use?? for 400whp (gritsak)
 

my thoughts exactly. Ive learned from my mistakes of skimping my motor on only the highest quality parts. you get what you pay for.

Re: what pistons and rods should i use?? for 400whp (intekragsr)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by intekragsr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">My simple point is that why would you use a rod that have broken in the past or has some kind of track record for breaking, when you can go with a rod with less history of breaking?
Im not sure if you catch my drift. I know a lot of failures could be due to installation error, not upgrading arp bolts, ect ect.

my above post is just my opinion on why he should choose manley or crower. No pissing contest intended.
https://honda-tech.com/forums/images/smilies/embeer.gif </TD></TR></TABLE>

Ok...so you're basing everything on word of mouth and not actual experience(with these rods)?

Here are the facts:
- I have been using Eagles on a boosted ITR pushing near 300whp (doing 250whp and reving to 8000rpms daily. So far, not a squeek from these rods.
- Before I put them in, I inspected them carefully, and despite the price, the quality is top notch.
-Eagle rods come with EXPILCIT instructions on how to install them, and admits that the standard ARP bolts are weak. I also negleted to read that part and unfortunately they got installed with the rods. But I am confident in my builder's and tuner's skills that they will hold.
-One of the guys who recommended them to me is running 230whp (all motor) on his b18c and revving to 10,000rpms daily...not a squeek.
-Larry (at Endyn...you know, "Mr. Popular") Also highly recommended these to me when I talked to him last summer. I regard him as a very comptent and skillfiul builder.

If we are going to go by word of mouth, then:

-Arturbo said he's seen 600whp out of these rods.
-Ben at Importparts says "I don't sell anything I don't have faith in" and recommends them.

Finally, I say to those who have had problems was to due to either bad installation or bad luck of getting a bad lot of them. Rods will break! None of them are bullet proof; it all depends of your mechanical skills as well as your driving skills to keep them in shape...my two yen

Re: what pistons and rods should i use?? for 400whp (MiraiZ)
 

I understand and respect your opinion. I just based my decision upon what Ive heard and the saying "you get what you pay for" Word of mouth right? Isnt that the best way of advertising? Why cant it be related to buying too?

I had Eagle Rods in my last LS/Vtec. I choose Crower for this new motor since I have heard no "issues" with them.

Like I said, im not bashing eagle. Only what led me to rethink my decision for the long run.

Didnt you just finish breaking in the motor and get it tuned? Anyhow, good luck with your setup. I can tell you take pride in what you do and very carefully.

Re: what pistons and rods should i use?? for 400whp (intekragsr)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by intekragsr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I understand and respect your opinion. I just based my decision upon what Ive heard and the saying "you get what you pay for" Word of mouth right? Isnt that the best way of advertising? Why cant it be related to buying too?

I had Eagle Rods in my last LS/Vtec. I choose Crower for this new motor since I have heard no "issues" with them.

Like I said, im not bashing eagle. Only what led me to rethink my decision for the long run.

Didnt you just finish breaking in the motor and get it tuned? Anyhow, good luck with your setup. I can tell you take pride in what you do and very carefully. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Cool https://honda-tech.com/forums/images/smilies/emthup.gif ...I have no problems with word of mouth ...you're right, it is the best form of advertisement and the whole reason why H-T exists (I would think)...

However, being here for 3 years now, I have learned quickly about the H-T bandwagon. If everyone has it, it must be good. And if everyone doesn't have it, it must suck! This is the H-T law! https://honda-tech.com/forums/images...s/emsmilep.gif I tend to be the outlaw of the H-T bandwagon and have been quite successful at it.

Don't get me wrong, about 80-85% is good info, and very reliable (unlike club Si where its all bs!)...but you gotta take in account that a lot of people are biased. They are like race-horses with blinders on...all they see are what's in front of them. I admit, I can be the same sometimes, because its easy to recomend what you have. But having said that, I have been very careful to take peoples's advise so literally...ESPECIALLY being in Japan. Everytime something critical breaks on my car, its a month or more of downtown waiting for parts...so I gotta be careful.

But in the last six months, I've gotton pretty lucky and I 'm just about done! Bottom line, take word of mouth for what it is and do the reseach.https://honda-tech.com/forums/images...es/emsmile.gif https://honda-tech.com/forums/images/smilies/emthup.gif

Re: what pistons and rods should i use?? for 400whp (intekragsr)
 

You can't judge a product by a few failures, especially if its only word of mouth and you don't know the exact circumstances of the failure. If we all did that, no one would ever buy another Crower camshaft, phantom grip differentials would never sell another one, and chevrolet would never sell another car. But these are all good selling products and people continue to buy them because the occassional failure is a by product of mass production and in race car parts, its also a by product of under informed engine assemblers.

Re: what pistons and rods should i use?? for 400whp (MiraiZ)
 

I wouldn't run Eagle rods ever again, my motor is in pieces now partly because of them. Larry sells an upgraded Custom Age 625 which costed me $100 per set ( 8 bolts) for eagle, I haven't had the chance to put them in, and the eagle had started a tiny problem. I wanna say it's partly due to poor quality control, I never had any problems of fitting like Tony descrbed, but I did have problem aas far as streching of the rod caps.

I'll prolly never know what causes it, but I know one thing for sure, I did checked the clearances 4-5 times and I had to get 4 right out of 5 times to feel satisfied, and my clearnaces were dead on spec of OEM requirements.
Part of the problem could be when my car got stolen and was ran ~35 psi may have contributed as well, which in this case the eagle may have been outstanding to hold against that kind of pressure but weakens it over time.

in conclusion, This is my first experience of eagle rods, and I would not use them again due to bad luck, I would not use my judgement as far as buying decision, but take it for what it's worth and make your decision there.

Majority of us have only go through parts and experience of a certain parts once and only once, and if it was happened to be a bad experience, then we swore by it, just like what I am doing now. I am running Crower rods, just becasue I feel comfortable and I am raising my power goals and I would feel safer in crowers versus eagle due to my past experience.

My best advice is take everyone's experience, then decide if you;re willing to spend the money to have a little assurance or not. $300 a set versus $650 a set is a big difference, but I spent the $350 extra anytime than having to do all this shit again.


stan

i got some JE low comp pistons still in the box if you're intrested in a deal on pistons. email me if intrested.

Re: what pistons and rods should i use?? for 400whp (intekragsr)
 

Crower, Manley, or Pauter are my first choices for rods. Sure, They're all expensive ($680, $640, and $700, respectivly) but you don't want to pay big bucks for some darton or GE sleeves, some nice pistons, get everything balanced, get your turbo kit on their, make on pass on the dyno, have an eagle rod break and bust the sleeve(s), take a few pistons, probably the head or atleast some valves out, and potentially even blow some shrapnel out of the exhaust and destroy the turbo. Remember, the entire engine is only as strong as the weakest link.

Re: what pistons and rods should i use?? for 400whp (boosted92)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by boosted92 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Remember, the entire engine is only as strong as the weakest link.</TD></TR></TABLE>

you could not have said it any better https://honda-tech.com/forums/images/smilies/emthup.gif

stan

Re: what pistons and rods should i use?? for 400whp (Flamenco-T)
 

everyone talks about eagle, crower, weisco... are there any other reputable brands out there?

Re: what pistons and rods should i use?? for 400whp (queez)
 

I have a set of wiseco for sale 81.5mm

stan

Re: what pistons and rods should i use?? for 400whp (queez)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by queez &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">everyone talks about eagle, crower, weisco... are there any other reputable brands out there? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Contact earl about some CP pistons. Some good stuff.