Which Forged Rods and Pistons
 

Have been searching the net for forged internals and was wondering what peoples opinions are when it come to rods and pistons for FI.

Thinking of going to a 9:1 piston (on ozzy 98 fuel)

Have listed brands below and would like to hear the good the bad and the ugly (if there is any)

Rods ; 1) Brian Crower I Beams
2) Manly Turbo Tuff
3) CP Carrillo

Pistons 1) JE Forged
2) CP Carrillo Forged (leaning towards these as have heard only good things so far).

Looking at APR head studs and was wondering if it's worth putting wet liners like the "Darton Scion FRS Subaru BRZ MID Sleeves". :iono:

Any first hand experience would be good but please keep it on topic

Pauter not an option for the rods?


I've had CP's in my last 2 built EJ257's, the first one was built loose and used 1L of oil per 1000km, the next bottom end was assembled by a different shop (perfourmance) and it uses no oil.


I had Pauter rods in the first engine and now have Manly's in the current engine. I'd say your power goal/RPM range would be the biggest influence on the rod selection.


Any particular place in mind for the machine work?


If I need to build my FA I'll be going with 10:1 CP's and Pauter rods, probably wouldn't sleeve the block as then I'd be really pushing the power limits and turning the gearset to mush. I'd use JHH for the machine work and assemble myself.

Didn't know about the Pauter rods but will check them out.

Haven't got a place in mind as yet and would be in Perth but will be doing most of the work myself at this stage .

What's the idea of 10:1 compared to 9:1 as would be running about 18 psi and I've been told that with lower comp it is easier to tune and you can put more timing in so more power safely . :iono:
Was going to go 10:1

don't forget you have direct injection available so you can push more boost with higher compression ratio.


18psi from what turbo?


You'll be more likely to hammer your rod bearings than crack a ringland with CP's if you make it detonate.

Generally, low boost on anything over 11:1 CR, mild boost (12-20 psi) on 10-11:1 CR and high boost (26+) on anything lower than 10:1.

how about 9.5:1 ?

That's what I was thinking but Carrillo doesn't do 9.5:1 only 9 and 10:1 :bonk:

You can run a 10:1 DI boosted engine on U.S. regular unleaded (87 AKI, 91 RON).

Don't go too low. I wouldn't go less than 10:1 on a DI engine. That's already a drastic drop in static compression...

you can get custom cps made :)

Id suggest 9.8363051:1 CR. Sounds about perfect.

Cp carillo seem to be the only rods with a sawtooth split between the cap and rod. Probably to reduce chances of spinning a bearing.

I've got arp head studs, pauter rods, acl bearings, JE 10:1 pistons and built heads.
My tuner recommended this setup, and element tuning is running the same setup on their race frs with great results.
Good luck with the build

Thanks for the info and wondering how long have you been running this setup for and have you had any issue at all to date.

I only put about 35 miles on it, before my friend slid the car into a curb. The repairs should be getting finished up this week.
Its not really an issue, but the internals are definitely way louder than factory. My first forged motor and I was told their a little noisy but its pretty damn loud lol.

Anybody had any experience with Skunk2 gear in particular their connecting rods as while searching I came across these ... http://realstreetperformance.com/Sho...35/379-99.html

Look good got all the right sorta ingredients but when I looked at the price I'm thinking are these a bargain or are they :iono:

Did a search for reviews and found stuff all.

As said any first hand knowledge would be appreciated.

haven't seen these before but the price is pretty damn low compared to other forged rods on the market wonder what the biggest difference is and if anyone is running them.

subd to see if anyone else runs them

I can't speak about the Skunk2 rods, but Jay and the guys at Real St are all stand-up people - we use them a LOT at my shop (actually got the turbo for my car from them). I'd give them a shout and ask about them. They didn't mention those rods to us at TI a few months ago, so they might not have first hand experience with them yet either, but I could be very wrong.

Could just be too new. Skunk2 doesn't list the FA20 as an application on their website yet.

I looked for reviews on the Honda ones and couldn't find much. Certainly much cheaper than anything else out there. I've always read on the Honda side a bunch of those H-beam rods are made by the same Chinese manufacturer, no doubt these are as well.

Surely these will still be much better than the stock rods, and the price point would be very attractive to those not looking for massive power but more about reliability and peace of mind that the block won't be seeing daylight at 7000rpm.

I asked Real Street when I was building my internals and they recommended the Manley Turbo tuff rods. Because that's what they've used with good results on previous builds.

Update: I've got 800 miles on my motor and the extra noise has either gone away or I've gotten used to it lol. No issue's so far. Should be going in for the final tune in a week or so.