[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by GTO-relic

If you're not going to use the factory forgings, the only other acceptable rods are vintage aftermarket like Crower Sportman, or buy new Carillo, Oliver rods.
Not the Chinese Dollar General stuff.

There is a large misconception of what is Chinese and us made. Basically just because it says usa doesn't necessarily mean it's made in the usa. The majority still comes from China, only 1 or more processes are done in the US and using that loophole many claim USA made when in reality it came from China to start with. Not all companies are that way but the majority are so no matter how hard you try to keep everything USA made I guarantee there are Chinese parts mixed in whether someone wants to admit it or not. And all this complaining about China this or that is a mute point when I don't see anyone complain about the price.

But I don't care about any of that. There are plenty of excellent rod choices out there, we don't need to be sorting through 60 year old rods to put in engines that already cost $10-$15,0000 to build. Anyone that wants to do that is just a crazy person. And all the victories you speak of were again, 60+ years ago when you could buy the rods new. This ain't 1962 anymore last I checked. But hay if you want to source relics and then spend $100's on them to make them usable, no one is stopping you. We might think you're nuts but you're welcome to it

[Shiny]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

There is a large misconception of what is Chinese and us made. Basically just because it says usa doesn't necessarily mean it's made in the usa. The majority still comes from China, only 1 or more processes are done in the US and using that loophole many claim USA made when in reality it came from China to start with. Not all companies are that way but the majority are so no matter how hard you try to keep everything USA made I guarantee there are Chinese parts mixed in whether someone wants to admit it or not. And all this complaining about China this or that is a mute point when I don't see anyone complain about the price.

But I don't care about any of that. There are plenty of excellent rod choices out there, we don't need to be sorting through 60 year old rods to put in engines that already cost $10-$15,0000 to build. Anyone that wants to do that is just a crazy person. And all the victories you speak of were again, 60+ years ago when you could buy the rods new. This ain't 1962 anymore last I checked. But hay if you want to source relics and then spend $100's on them to make them usable, no one is stopping you. We might think you're nuts but you're welcome to it

This all makes sense to me.

IMO, China isn't the problem. I view it as US companies compromising quality to get cheap material and parts. All that metallurgical QA GTO-relic describes can be done in China. But it costs money. If an aerospace company is buying metal or parts made in China or India, I suspect they get what they want and they pay for it. They aren't going to blindly buy stuff and hope it's good.

If, however, a US aftermarket company depends on low costs to stay in business, they have a hard time paying for QA.... especially on low-volume parts. Just my 2c. I think accountability got lost when manufacturing got farmed out. It's easy now to blame your quality and reliability issues on a supplier that you choose not to manage, then try to fix it by changing suppliers.