440 build 500+ hp build
- Thread starter Miszny
- Start date
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PRH
Well-Known Member
I wouldn’t call that a “crack”.
To me, A crack implies it was once whole, and now the material has been over stressed....... and now there is a crack where the material failed.
I would call that more of a “fold”, where the material ended up with that small void during the forging process.
In any case, I wouldn’t use it.
I’m probably just cynical....... but I’d prefer to buy rods from a source where that was a major portion of their business model....... not just one of thousands of items they sell.
Thats not to say you couldn’t have still found one like that from Eagle, Scat, K1, etc.
To me, A crack implies it was once whole, and now the material has been over stressed....... and now there is a crack where the material failed.
I would call that more of a “fold”, where the material ended up with that small void during the forging process.
In any case, I wouldn’t use it.
I’m probably just cynical....... but I’d prefer to buy rods from a source where that was a major portion of their business model....... not just one of thousands of items they sell.
Thats not to say you couldn’t have still found one like that from Eagle, Scat, K1, etc.
I agree with the rods, idea was to use these instead of factory LY rods and it is what it is now. I was curious what these rods look like in person given price and weight at 800 grams which is around 50 less than LY rods, also they take .990 pin…
Plan for this engine was to get decent set of parts for decent money and get decent power in return. Nothing fancy.
I used to drill and bush factory rods with full balancing etc and they worked with .990 pin no problem at over 600hp range but I always felt it’s a risk given their age. I think 440 source rods are no better than these speedmasters, they look identical but have better bolts and obviously better quality control. Cores look the same.
For sure Scat or Molnar rods are in different league overall but they are more than twice the price and are heavier. We have to rethink this part… I am curious what speedmaster will do looking at photos I posted here.
PRH
Well-Known Member
Well, obviously..... we know what they “should” do.
Let us know how it plays out.
Let us know how it plays out.
Transmission is done for now.
It was not as expected, had 3 pinion planetaries and 3 clutch front drum.
I put 4 thin clutch plates and thinner snap ring in, tf2 kit, sonax servos and bolt in sprag.
Hope it lives thru 2022, once this season is over I will put 6 clutch drum, and 5 pinion steel diesel planet with 4 pinion rear planet. It will also get deep pan.
It’s just too much money to spend at once for all this and waiting time with shipping to Europe really sucks. Also I had bad luck recently and some packages were stopped by customs, I wasted few hundred in taxes.
It was not as expected, had 3 pinion planetaries and 3 clutch front drum.
I put 4 thin clutch plates and thinner snap ring in, tf2 kit, sonax servos and bolt in sprag.
Hope it lives thru 2022, once this season is over I will put 6 clutch drum, and 5 pinion steel diesel planet with 4 pinion rear planet. It will also get deep pan.
It’s just too much money to spend at once for all this and waiting time with shipping to Europe really sucks. Also I had bad luck recently and some packages were stopped by customs, I wasted few hundred in taxes.
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I will not use this thing, I removed material to see how deep it goes. I will x ray the whole set because I'm curious. Choosing this brand was risky enough. Also if anyone wants to buy these, be prepared to do some work prior to install even if you don’t get junk like I did. Amazingly they measure out fine and were withing 1 gram off each other.
To be exact 6 were 805g and 2 were 804g.
Now the one I ground on is 800g.
I checked weights of rods from many big blocks and the worst one had 49 gram weight difference from the heaviest to the lightest rod. They worked normal.
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Good idea.
I bought some speed master rods too, however mine are nearly perfect. They're honed as close to perfect as can be and mag'd just fine.
I however changed my build to go another step up on power and choose Molnar power adder rods.
But, I will be using the speed master rods in something street friendly probably another 470
Yes measurements were fine, oiling holes on small end needed de burr and machining on big end sides was not as expected. Also they are rough in hand and surfaces that you’d expect flat are not that great. Thing is that they were 299$ with 8470 arp bolts and comparing to LY rods they are very nice. I had bad luck I guess.
Must've used some heavier peening material.
I could have guessed Europe by that exhaust in the background , lol. Trans Looks good, hope it lasts for you too.
Duster went thru some changes, still need to put port injected nitrous setup on but can’t find time.
There is also some interior to be done and wanted to put new vinyl top on. Glass removal scares me a bit and I’m delaying it year by year.
Oldiron440
Well-Known Member
A friend was drilling a counter weight on a BBC and found a bicycle chain in the crankshaft. Quality control must have been sleeping that day, damn Chinese parts...
Dang, that's insane
In the end we bought a set of Scat rods part # 2-440-6760-2374-990A. These have ARP2000 bolts. I had no problems using these in 1100hp nitrous fed big blocks. Overkill but if the owner of this decides to build 500ci, these will work no problems. I’m going to have them airmailed so hopefully will be able to resume work on the engine in 2 weeks instead of waiting 6 weeks for standard package.
In the mean time speedmaster want me to return the whole set. Explaining to them that shipping both ways will cost more than the rods is not making them decide to send me a single rod yet. At this point they don’t even want to sell me a single rod! I will update how this ends. So far it’s a major disappointment. I guess you get what you pay for service included.
In the mean time speedmaster want me to return the whole set. Explaining to them that shipping both ways will cost more than the rods is not making them decide to send me a single rod yet. At this point they don’t even want to sell me a single rod! I will update how this ends. So far it’s a major disappointment. I guess you get what you pay for service included.
Man, I really hope for you they'll do what's right.
Somehow I doubt they will respond to my emails any further. I’m already ignored on their Facebook.
That sucks, sorry to hear that man.
OK Speedmaster told me to kiss my *** my own ***. Their response is that they can replace the whole set. I can't buy or get a single rod. Initially they started about balancing issue so I told them I can handle this, then they said replacement of the whole set is the only option. Explaining to them that I risk almost 300$ for shipping and customs both was with this process does nothing!
They do not understand that I dont trust their product and I gain nothing financially. I may just as well buy another set, almost the same money.
People, better stay away, these rods are not worth your time and effort. They need work out of the box and cost 400$ with tax where for under 600$ you have Scat rods with arp2000 bolts.
My final lesson to stay away from cheap junk, not the chepest one. I really dont understand how company that needs good reputatiin can afford this approach toward customers.
They do not understand that I dont trust their product and I gain nothing financially. I may just as well buy another set, almost the same money.
People, better stay away, these rods are not worth your time and effort. They need work out of the box and cost 400$ with tax where for under 600$ you have Scat rods with arp2000 bolts.
My final lesson to stay away from cheap junk, not the chepest one. I really dont understand how company that needs good reputatiin can afford this approach toward customers.
So I picked up the block and crank from machine shop. As usual geometry of the block was off, both decks were not in line with crank, holes not in the right place, etc. We did what we could to make it better. Rotating assembly was statically and dynamically balanced. Lot of meat came off the crank.
I prepped the heads, did some port work, 3 angle valve job, back cut the valves. Turned out 5 valves needed to be changed, they were bent. I didn’t do max wedge port, I maxed out small port size and matched the heads with intake. Also I plan to use valley pan as heat barrier for the huge intake.
I’m impressed how perfect the real tdc matches marks on Mancini balancer! It’s dead on. Degreed the cam out off curiosity and it’s also almost perfect.
I gapped the rings for 250 shot of nitrous just in case ;-)
This thing will look nice when finished. Intake is made by A&A, has their markings on.
I prepped the heads, did some port work, 3 angle valve job, back cut the valves. Turned out 5 valves needed to be changed, they were bent. I didn’t do max wedge port, I maxed out small port size and matched the heads with intake. Also I plan to use valley pan as heat barrier for the huge intake.
I’m impressed how perfect the real tdc matches marks on Mancini balancer! It’s dead on. Degreed the cam out off curiosity and it’s also almost perfect.
I gapped the rings for 250 shot of nitrous just in case ;-)
This thing will look nice when finished. Intake is made by A&A, has their markings on.
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