'I've never used Eagle stuff and have no intention of ever using it but there are plenty of people who do use Eagle parts and their engines stay together. So take that for whatever it is worth. If I'm going to build a "budget" engine for someone then I'll typically use Molnar crank and rods and try to find a shelf piston that matches the compression ratio that they want. SCAT is also pretty good and I've used 440Source kits. I've used K1 before as well but Molnar seems to me to have the nicest parts in the "budget" category. The fact that I can buy at dealer pricing from him helps a bunch too.

If a customer wants a serious engine then I step up to the "good" stuff. The Molnar parts work up past 700 or 800 hp but I wouldn't build a guy a 1000 hp engine using Molnar parts. Tom might disagree of course.

Neither have I. This one didn''t come from either of those two. Anyone who knows Hemis would have not expected it. I didn't.

Anyone seen a Molnar Crank or rods fail - at any power level?

Raise your hand. I’ll wait.

Does a Molnar crank and rods with CP pistons count?
I'm not sure which part fail first yet, block or piston
But it wasn't the rods or crank though

Yes it counts - in my book.

Seems, looking at past posts, guys here argue that horsepower is not a factor in rod failure, more along the lines of engine speed and piston weight.
Yet it still gets thrown in the discussions.

Molnar explained rod failure and how to arrive at the conclusion that the engine broke the rod/s due to over speed.

I bought Ohio Crankshaft H-beam rods about 8 years ago, thinking they had the best deal going. I saved a few $$'s on the cost, but then it cost me quite a bit more before I was able to use them. Pins would not even fit into the bushing, had to have them fitted at the machine shop. Then I find the big end is not round. I had ordered the ARP 2000 bolts as an option, but it looked like they just changed the bolts out. When I torqued the bolts to the lower torque (for 8740 bolts), the big end was round, but when torqued them to the higher 2000 spec, they were egg shaped. Back to the machine shop, more $$'s. When I checked the balance on them, 4 of them had to be corrected. After all that, they were pretty good parts.
The last two sets of H-beam rods that I bought were Molnar. Out of the box, the pins fit correctly, the big ends were round and all 8 rods were weight matched perfectly, both ends. Clean them and use them. You get what you pay for.


Brian Dunnigan