It has been discussed on this forum that forged H beam rods are a significant improvement over stock rods in performance applications. I am in the process of acquiring parts for an upcoming 455 build(target 450-500hp range) and haven’t been able to decide on which forged H beam brand to go with. I intend on staying with the stock 4.25” stroke. The two brands I have been researching are Eagle and SCAT. Apparently Eagle rods require block clearancing at the bottom of all 8 cylinders, while SCAT rods require no clearancing. I assume this is the result of different big end dimensions between the two brands. Both rods are listed to be constructed from 4340 forged steel.

Is anyone aware of the weight of each SCAT connecting rod? I attempted to get this information by contacting SCAT directly by phone, but the individual I spoke to said they didn’t have any in stock to check and otherwise didn’t have that information in their system(odd?). He did tell me that the rods can vary in weight between 50-60 grams(which I assumed was for a full set of 8). I was able to acquire a per rod weight for Eagle, which came out to be 795 grams per rod.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

Also check out Molnar Technologies

 

I cant say that either one is any better for your application but over the years I have always been disappointed with Scat's tech support. I had an issue balancing a Scat crank a couple of weeks ago and they could not even tell me a target bobweight. Eagle has always had the answer. I wouldn't worry about grinding the relief at the bottom of the cylinder. That is pretty normal in performance builds.

By the way, the weight variation they gave you is probably from set to set. Cant believe they would allow that much.

 

Big block Molnar rods aren’t available yet.
Scat’s have a smaller cross section vs the Eagle so you typically don’t need to clearance the block for those.
And yes, the weight variance is set to set, not within the same set. And take them apart, clean them, and retorque with lube. They’ll typically change that first time. More often than not you’ll need to recon at least a few of them.

 

Any idea when they will be available ?

 

Probably late summer.

 

I just had eagle h beams put in on my rebuild ..Machine shop-charged me 130.00 to notch the cylinders, no big deal..I couldn’t believe the weight difference of the stock rods and speedpro replacements that were in the engine versus the Eagle H beam and Wiseco pistons, something like 288 or more grams per cylinder…huge difference