Were just wondering if these were any good given their place of origin ... any thoughts

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/4340-H-beam-Conrods-MGB-1800-ARP-Connecting-Rod-Con-Rod-Rods-Conrod-/200761149761?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2ebe4c0941

I believe several people are running these rods currently on this forum without any issues. I’m sure you will find negative issues as well because they haven’t established their reputation that Carrillo or Pauter has. However thoughts companies had to start somewhere too building confidence and quality and that’s what you’re dealing with this Chinese company. The Chinese are building many components for many car manufactures today shipping them all over the world to be installed in the cars that were driving today, which I'm sorry to say.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/17/2012 05:07AM by BlueMax1.

Hi Gavin,

I have not used the above rods personally but have heard quite afew not so good things about them.

Tom

They wanted me to be the manufacturer's rep for them and I asked them to send me a set to try on the dyno. They said to send them $520 and they'd send a set. After a few go-arounds, they were unwilling to let me test them before selling them. I figure if they don;'t want them tested, we don't want them in our engines. Be careful. Basil 707.762.0974 basiladams@yahoo.com

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Basil C. Adams
1956 MGA Coupe (Show Car)
1957 MGA Roadster (Driver)
1958 MGA Coupe (Racecar)
1959 MGA Coupe (unrestored)
1960 MGA Coupe (unrestored)
1960 MGA Roadster (Driver)
MKIII Elva Courier (E1056)
1967 427 Cobra
1972 Alfa Romeo Montreal
A coupla late MGBs
1960 Austin Healy BN7
More Cars than Brains

You're not not alone Basil, they have sent me scores of emails as well, and I'm sure if they found you and I, they found everyone else in the bizz too. This is one of those things where even the cheapest of us don't want to leap on this, we want both top quailty and a great price, but when it comes to a relaibilty item like a race connecting rod, top quailty wins out for most of us, it is peace of mind and guess what the good stuff breaks too. Being directly involved with Chinese manufactuers, I can tell you firsthand, they are perfectly capable of building a good a race connecting rod as Carrillo, Pauter, or whoever. These days the most state of the art manufactuering machinery is going to China, not the US, or the UK., so they are very capable. First thing I notice is they, Maxspeeding have stood the test of time, for most folks splashing on the market, if they sell junk, they last may 1, 2 years tops, I got email from them as far back as 3-4 years ago form them. Truth is alot of connecting rods already being sold in more popular markets like SBC, SBF, Honda, etc, have been using Chinese rods for years now. I'm somewhat tempted to try a set in my back up motor I have planned, and they offered me a very good deal on a set of them, alot better than $520.

FWIW, the POS H beam connecting rod I ever saw, or had my hands on was made in the UK, by some obcure Mini tuning shop, thse cats didn't have clue, fully length threaded machine head bolts for rod bolts, and housing bores that was CNC machined, really, seriously dude, who on earth doesn't know a CNC machine can not do this type of job with a cutting tool, obviously not these cats, then to top it off the rods weighed almost what a stock rod weighed, clearly things that these guy had no notion what people actaully in the know would buy a aftermarket connecting rod for.

A well done set of race prepped stock connecting rods can stand up to anything we can put them thru at the race track and relaiblity was never what you wanted to buy a set of aftermarket race rods for, whether one knowed it , or not, the reason one wants an aftermarket rod is not because our stock rod are not strong, it is because they are freaking heavy as hell.

Basil , remember when the MGB racers on SCCA prod board all harping on forever wanting aftermarket connecting rods for MGBs for limited prep, based on reliablity, remember the one cat who had broke a couple of sets of rods in race engines, well he finally called me one day, it was obvious the guy had no clue, he couldn't even answer simple engine build questions, was using stock rod bolts, and had his pins riding on the rod with no bushing , he didn't need better rods, he needed a clue on how to prep them for racing


Can the Chinese build a good, even better aftermarket race connecting rod, if they choose to, or want to, you bet your ass they can, is this the one, well time will tell I guess. Right now I have a new set of race rods in my shop, and they are Pauter, not Maxspeeding, because my customer wanted a reputation, not a specualtion, and until someone "in the know" gives Maxspeeding a chance to prove themselves in our engines, then they only have the latter.
Basil, not picking on you, but why would expect Maxspeeding to give you a set of their rods? I'm sure they heard that song and dance before. If I were truely interested in their rods, I wouldn't ask them for a full set, but maybe one rod on loan, even if I paid for it, to check out, and the first thing I would do is check on the Sunnen AG300 rod gauge, then check the weight to see if their claim is correct, they have sent me data on the wieghts of their rods at my request, I can't remember the numbers off hand but I think it was around 620 grams, which is about 20-25 grams heavier than Carrillo, or Pauter, they offer ARP 2000, and ARP L19 rod bolt options, just like Pauter. And If I were Maxspeeding I would probably be more interested in letting SBC, or Honda guys try my rods for free, not such a small market like MGBs, I mean if 20 sets of aftermarket rods got sold in the US each year for MGBs I would be shocked, and that would be a good daily target for sales numbers to the SBC crowd. Bottom line we just not important enough of a market for these types of companies, and I am somewhat shocked they even made rods for our engines to begin with.


OH another interesting fact, Maxspeeding US Ebay feedback numbers are over 2700, 114 pages long, and only 2 negative feedbacks from customers, one was in foriegn language, and one for some knucklehead who wondered why he took more than a week to get his parts from Hong Kong, and MaxSpeed responded that he did indeed sign for the delivery about 2 weeks after they shipped it, seems fair for parts being sent by mail half way across the world (free shippong by the way). Also you can explore their feedback list and see people who have bought MGB,and 1275 rods, and email them direct for more in detailed feedback.

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Hap Waldrop
MGexperience Supporting Vendor
Make Sure to check our promotions/product offerings in the Vendor Deals Forum here.



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 08/17/2012 09:53AM by Speedracer.

Basil's example of being approached by a Chinese company to be a distributor, but not being willing to provide a free set of their rods for evaluation and testing (especially when the incumbent (Carrillo) has such a spotless reputation)... is a great example of Chinese thinking. They manage costs more ruthlessly than anyone on the planet and they know there is more than one door into every room.

Not saying it is or isn’t, but Carrillo Rod company has been sold twice since Fred Carrillo sold it first in 2001 to Performance Motors Inc, then it was resold to Pankl Racing. I’m sure that Carrillo wants to maintain their good name and reputation and they have all of the testing equipment to maintain their standards. But who’s to say that the rod blanks could be foged in China, I don’t know but just saying? They have everything we have, we gave it to them!!

Here’s a nice article on Fred Carrillo and how he started his company.

http://www.hemmings.com/mus/stories/2008/09/01/hmn_feature15.html

Yep, for sure, I have to admired them on their payment policies, it's cash on the barrell head, or see ya. Where in the US, and many other places, it's let me see how deep in dept I can get with you, until you cut me off At VTO , Barry has to to pay so much money up front, before a production run start, and then the remaining balance before the order is shipped, just think how much better shape companies in this country would be if they did this. When I order custom parts thru one of my suppliers, they refuse to let me pay up front, even if it's just a deposit, if you think about it, thats down right ignorant, especially on a custom ordered part. I apprecaite their trust, but I like to pay as I go,and it puts me off, when i can't.

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Hap Waldrop
MGexperience Supporting Vendor
Make Sure to check our promotions/product offerings in the Vendor Deals Forum here.

Carrillo is owned now by the same group that owns JE pistons, I beleive it's SRP.

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Hap Waldrop
MGexperience Supporting Vendor
Make Sure to check our promotions/product offerings in the Vendor Deals Forum here.

Hap, I didn't ask them to give me a set but I asked them to supply a set and I would supply an engine and the dyno and then I'd disassemble and test the rods. They wanted nothing to do with it. They said "if you break one in a race motor we'd be out the money." I lost interest very quickly - they were unwilling to be party to any test and that turned me off. I'm with you on reputation - that's the collective experience of thousands of people. Basil 707.762.0974 basiladams@yahoo.com

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Basil C. Adams
1956 MGA Coupe (Show Car)
1957 MGA Roadster (Driver)
1958 MGA Coupe (Racecar)
1959 MGA Coupe (unrestored)
1960 MGA Coupe (unrestored)
1960 MGA Roadster (Driver)
MKIII Elva Courier (E1056)
1967 427 Cobra
1972 Alfa Romeo Montreal
A coupla late MGBs
1960 Austin Healy BN7
More Cars than Brains

I believed CP and Carrillo legally become one entity with 2 brands: CP-CARRILLO in 2010 so that makes it three hand changes that Carrillo has gone through. I'm not very familiar with the CP brand, are you? I would say however they would be a good marriage for related products.

Yeah, I guess it was 2008-2009 when I was last at SEMA in Vegas and they and JE were all together then, and they told me they had bought Carrillo, with how business is, that could have all changed by now. The last set of Carrillo rods I bought was about 2010, or so, since then it has all been Pauter.

I hear ya Basil, I just fiquire they don't care that much about our market, to do such a thing, they probably have a better test procedure than any of us could provide anyway, and they know what have. The people calling/emailing us are simply sales people trying to make a commision, they don't have enough company rank to give anything way, no different than the Indian guy that calls me twice a week trying to sell me little blue pills. It looks like they sold a couple of MGB sets from their US Ebay feedback, and one or more people that post here have got them as well already, I know Larry M. said he had set in a motor.

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Hap Waldrop
MGexperience Supporting Vendor
Make Sure to check our promotions/product offerings in the Vendor Deals Forum here.

this has been hashed over here many times

I run them to 7000 rpm with 9:1 CR , know of others who run them - no reported problems yet

if you have the $$$ for carillo or pauter - just go buy them - you will feel brilliantly secure and never ever worry when you hit redline & hold it for 3 minutes

if not, see these other disussions

max rods

. max rods 2

.
c

Like I said early, when I first heard of them, and they emailed me about a kazillion times, I pretty much wanted to run far way from them and never hear from them again, Maxpseeding that is. But they have stood somewhat a test of time, and now have reviews in our engines, and many others as well, which seem to be good so far, plain, and simple I'd try a set. I see they offer L19 rod bolts upgrade too, they com standard with ARP2000 rod bolts, which is the same rod bolt in Pauter, and I've seen,and heard of plenty of ARP2000 rod bolts breaking, most folks don't even know the ARP2000 rod bolts only has a torque cycle count of only 12 times, and that can come by the second refresh in a race engine, if you resizing rods. You can also update to L19 rod bolts in Pauter, Carrilo comes with a WMC rod bolt, which specs out about the same as the ARP2000, te WMC bolt Carrillo rods are about the same Price as Pauter, $1000, or so, you can get CARR rod bolts in Carrillo, which are king daddy mac of racing rod bolts, bascily their torque count cyvle is two human life spans , however this raises the price of the rod set $300-400, I was quoted by Carrillo for single CARR bolt, $56 each, 15 years ago. ARP also has some very uprated rod bolt for these type of rod, even well beyond the L19 spec,and they are crazt expensive too. One just needs to keep in mind to replace their ARP2000 rod bolts every couple of refreshes.

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Hap Waldrop
MGexperience Supporting Vendor
Make Sure to check our promotions/product offerings in the Vendor Deals Forum here.