[Tom Vaught]

Originally Posted by slowbird

Those early billet Scat cranks weren't that great based on my experience. But i was turning some rpm with mine also.

I think Jack G. ran one of the Scat Cranks for some period of time and I never heard that he failed the crank, but he may have had issues. SCAT is for sure not Moldex.

Tom V.

[Tom Vaught]

Originally Posted by PAUL K

NOTED! Good info thanks for sharing.

You are welcome, Paul.

At one time there was a local Chevrolet guy who was selling the 455 SD rods
(new pieces) from a pallet that supposedly "fell off a truck".

I stayed away from deals like that. The guy has gone to hell probably,
passed away years ago. Long time Chevy racer.

I think I still have a full set of "B" rods in my original 64 GTO engine.
I bought them thru my Uncle, the Pontiac Dealer.

All of the "M" rods went out west. Learned some stuff today. Thanks.

Tom V.

[PAUL K]

Originally Posted by Tom Vaught

You are welcome, Paul.

At one time there was a local Chevrolet guy who was selling the 455 SD rods
(new pieces) from a pallet that supposedly "fell off a truck".

I stayed away from deals like that.
Tom V.

You gotta be careful with deals like that. A buddy long ago bought a set of SD rods at a swap meet many years ago. He wasn't able to use them for his build because he found out the big ends had been machined (width wise) to fit in a Buick. Sadly, he recently passed and his son told me he found several sets of SD rods when he was cleaning out his place. I told him about the Buick/SD455 rods and sure enough he found the set that had been narrowed.

[Tom Vaught]

If you were having a Moldex crank made, it still would not be worth the bang for the buck to use the modified SD rods.

Have a great day, Paul.

Tom V.

[PAUL K]

Originally Posted by Tom Vaught

If you were having a Moldex crank made, it still would not be worth the bang for the buck to use the modified SD rods.

Have a great day, Paul.

Tom V.

Agree Sir! I'll try to use them in a Buick build one day.

You have a great day also, Tom

[slowbird]

Originally Posted by Tom Vaught

I think Jack G. ran one of the Scat Cranks for some period of time and I never heard that he failed the crank, but he may have had issues. SCAT is for sure not Moldex.

Tom V.

All i know is 8200-8500 rpm with steel rods my billet scat was a noodle waving in the wind. Never broke or cracked it, it just flexed around a lot!

[tom s]

I have only used the SCAT forged cranks,never owned a billet crank from anyone.Tom

[Tom Vaught]

I can believe that with steel rods, at that rpm range.

Even the Carrillo Rod guys said they would prefer that I stayed below 7800 rpm with their steel rods on a 3.5" stroke short deck engine.

And we are talking a 6.385 long steel rod vs a 6.625, 6.7, or 6.8" connecting rod. The application will not be drag racing though.

Tom V.

[hurryinhoosier62]

Originally Posted by Tom Vaught

I made this post back in 2015.

"The RA-V rods were in my mind a sub-grade deal made by a company in the Ann Arbor area of Michigan. Heavy and not a good finish at all. I have a set of Carrillo RA-V rods that are a work of art. The 455 SD Rods were made by Teledyne Continental, A Aircraft Engine Manufacturer in Muskegon, Michigan. A very good rod with constant upgrades as the Rods were produced. They started with "A" connecting Rods and I have owned "M" rods so a few changes over the years. I still have the "TC" rods in two engines.

More info:

Continental Aerospace Technologies is an aircraft engine manufacturer located at the Brookley Aeroplex in Mobile, Alabama, United States. It was originally spun off from automobile engine manufacturer Continental Motors Company in 1929 and owned by Teledyne Technologies from 1969 until December 2010. Wikipedia.

So the 455 SD parts were very good parts once you got past the "A" & "B" connecting rods. The "E" connecting rods thru the "M" connecting rods were far better vs the other rods out there. Pontiac tried to come out with a number of sets of the 421 SD rods in 1969 for a short period of time. These were to go into the 1969 RA-IV SD engines but were mostly bought up by the Pontiac guys (working with a parts guy) to get a full set of rods.

Most of this info was posted in October of 2015 by me on the forum here.

Tom V.

The proper heat treat was not an issue on the "A" & "B" rods as much as the small end of the rods did not have enough rod material around the pin and would fail there over time. It was a design problem not a heat treat issue.

Saw a lot of TCM connecting rods in twenty-four years in corporate and general aviation, but I never saw one fail in service. They were heavier than a ship’s anchor, but extremely well engineered.

[Tom Vaught]

That is just about all you need to say about the Machining and the Service Life. Thanks HH62.

The "B" rods have been in my GTO engine for 40 years and I never had an issue with them. But the engine was only a 3.75 stroke engine.

Tom V.

[Hooter]

I purchased from Rick Johnson about 15 years ago one of the Crower ultralights. 4.5 stroke with Honda rod journals. Only around 800hp, but it’s still in service. I’m sure it was China sourced.