For manufactures for cranks and rods that are on the lower end of the cost scale, how do you rank these manufactures?

Monlar
K1
Scat
440 Source
Eagle

I wouldn't touch an eagle, I don't do many BBs so no 440 source, the other 3 are all about the same.

Every one you listed probably come out of the very same factory with a different name on them.

I would list them as you have it

I've dealt with Molnar and am very pleased with their products. Measurements and weights are spot on. Tech support is great. Motor is backed off to run 9.25 index@3350lbs I've put 200 passes on the rods. Bearings look great and are going back in. Just purchased a crank. (4.500/2.200 rod) 5.4 lbs lighter than my old crank. Balanced w/o Mallory easily. I wouldn't hesitate to buy from them.
Doug

When I was building my 493 I had the opportunity to look at all those brands of rods and a few cranks side by side when I made my decision.
The best looking rods were the K1's so I chose them because the first 4 out of the box were identical. I looked at the cranks and if you didn't label them I couldn't tell the difference I ended up going with the Eagle because it had been cut 10-10 and the radius was much cleaner than the others after a pro crank shop had cleaned it up.
In all fairness I didn't compare an "out of the box" Eagle crank to the others
I just didn't want to buy a "kit" online so I ended up with an Eagle crank,K1 rods,and Wiseco pistons and it runs solid for almost 7 years now.

Gus

IMO, they are all decent pieces IF the finish machining is good. Most all the cheaper stuff needs machining to be useable out of the box. People don't want to hear that their brand new $800 crank needs to be turned before it can be used, or that the rods need to be resized b/c the caps are cut wrong, but that's how it is. The guy that did my cranks always says he's never seen an Eagle crank that didn't need to be turned. He is anal as hell, so he's probably way more picky than most, but he's one of the best. DEI and RCR used to send him pallets of cranks to turn for their NASCAR cup engines. I say "used to" only b/c he's retired now.

I have never used anything from 440source, so I can't comment on them, but have used all the others. I agree w/ Mr Pbody, your list has them in the order I'd put them in.

I have a K1 crank and a set of Molnar rods for a 540" hemi in the shop that needed no extra machining when new to be useable.
I used some SCAT rotating assemblies for some SB Chevy circle track engines I built several years ago that just needed balancing.
Callies Comp Star is another reasonably priced line of cranks and rods that are good at this level.

After an Eagle crank has been corrected, it is a good piece. We ran an Eagle crank and rods for YEARS in a 434" SB Chevy running 6.0 index classes. Put a LOT of passes on that thing w/ no issues...making a lil north of 700 hp.

FWIW...my thinking is 750-800 hp or less, the cheaper stuff is all good as long as you check everything and correct what's out of line. Above that power level and you need to get the expensive stuff.

Never had a problem with an Eagle crank, from 735hp to 1022hp

We used an Eagle steel in my brother's motor..I was surprised how well it measured. I have an Ohio crank here now. It's nice as well, and I have good measuring tools.

I have only used eagle and molnar. One of my machine shops told me that eagle polishes the crap out of their crank journals. Thats why they need truing up out of the box. Molnar stuff measures excellant on everything.

Molnar crank and rods in my stock stroke 440. I was very impressed with the quality and machine work on mine. The ONLY thing that mine needed out of the box was balancing, and even that didn't require very much at all. Tom Molnar offered to balance mine for me (and no extra charge if it needed Mallory), but I hadn't decided on a piston when I ordered them.
I wish all vendors had quality customer service like Molnar does.

Brian

Amen!

He is one of the best!