Anybody used the steel rods on E-Bay from Germany?

Oranoco · Mar 9, 2015

Look to be a bargain with lifetime warrantee and ARP bolts. An extra £200 now is worth spending, not sure about £500 though.
Length 144mm
Big end 50.6mm
Small end 20mm

Thoughts and/or opinions. Getting my shopping list ready for when the motor comes out at the end of the month.

aragorn · Mar 9, 2015

They look like the same chinese rods that everyone rebrands. They generally work ok, though some rod designs dont agree with the internals on the AEB engine due to it having a stupid intermediate shaft driving the oil pump.

I'm not sure what category those ones fall into.

Broken Byzan · Mar 9, 2015

aragorn said:
They look like the same chinese rods that everyone rebrands. They generally work ok, though some rod designs dont agree with the internals on the AEB engine due to it having a stupid intermediate shaft driving the oil pump.

I'm not sure what category those ones fall into.

Pretty much any of them that are I beam fall into that category, H beam were only ones to drop it and IIRC only pauter make those now . I had to machine my IM shaft and the bottom of the bores, but the bore thing may not be needed on std stroke

aragorn · Mar 9, 2015

Yeh, IE did a "058 compatible" I beam rod for a while, which had a tighter radius near the big end which cleared the IM shaft, but i dunno if those changes ever made it into the normal chinese rods.

Broken Byzan · Mar 9, 2015

Not that I've seen. They are all patterned on the 06a ones. Even ie stopped doing them. No idea why they didn't continue with these as they'd fit any application without issue. Ho hum. Easy enough to turn the Im shaft down to suit while it's apart

Bradderz_1988 · Mar 9, 2015

We talking about the arlows ones here ??

Dont think there riffle drilled are they ?

Oranoco · Mar 10, 2015

Not expecting miracles for the money but would hope to give it a chance of staying together.

What needs modding on the intermediate shaft and how? Any pics would be awesome.

aragorn · Mar 10, 2015

see the machining to the gear in these pics:

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...the-IM-shaft?p=7232746&viewfull=1#post7232746

I bought Brute rods to avoid this, but Brute have since changed to use the same ones as everyone else.

Broken Byzan · Mar 10, 2015

Pics on my thread too iirc

aragorn · Mar 10, 2015

Mine are like these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/I-beam-Conn...Parts_Accessories&hash=item4d2d62fc02&vxp=mtr

I wonder if they have changed the design...

Compare this pic:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/For-Audi-A3...Parts_Accessories&hash=item232ad3a0a1&vxp=mtr

to this pic:

http://px6.streetfire.net/0002/84/09/2044890_600.jpg

The IE rod is much chunkier around the big end, where it catches on the IM gear. The chinese ones seem slimmed down in that area?

slepy · Mar 10, 2015

Here some good machining pics

Oranoco · Mar 10, 2015

Damn, the images and Audizine link are blocked on my work laptop

Is it a case of machining the shaft down to reduce its diameter around the offending rod(s)?

aragorn · Mar 10, 2015

its the oil pump drive gear on the end of the shaft which catches the rods. The fix is to machine away half the gear.

I'd seriously consider the I beam type, or do some more research into wether those chinese ones i linked actually do have more clearance than the IE ones.

Oranoco · Mar 10, 2015

I beam rods seem to be circa 500 whereas the eBay items are 200 delivered. Trying to find out what I can but info doesn't seem readily available. Short of buying and comparing the original and after market rods side by side not sure what more I can do.

Bradderz_1988 · Mar 10, 2015

If your shaving down the IM shaft you may aswell buy custom pistons, clearance the block for ABF crank and stroke it whilst your at it !!

Oranoco · Mar 11, 2015

Not spending a fortune on this one. I want kick its teeth in on track so don't want a pricey build to worry about.

aragorn · Mar 11, 2015

The two styles rods in my links are both the same price, did you actually look at them?

Oranoco · Mar 11, 2015

Yes mate. The Chinese rods are the same images as used on the BIN items I had looked at, there's no guarantee they aren't a generic image though and not having the engine apart in front of me I can't see what is likely to foul and where. I'm only at the looking at and considering options stage. With a lump of boost being thrown in there and my tendency to rev it hard I thought a set of these (of whatever type) might offer some degree of longevity.

aragorn · Mar 11, 2015

Yep.

Heres the way i see it:

We know the IE H beams catch on the gear.
We know the Brute I-Beams dont catch on the gear (becuase i've fitted them to mine: http://friesian.lr90.org/gallery2/d/2185-2/DSC_0140.jpg)

The chinese H beams might catch on the gear, as while they're the same as the IE's they do look a bit slimmer round the big end.
The chinese I-Beams probably will not catch on the gear, as they look identical to the Brute rods i bought.

So if it were me, i'd buy the I beam type. Throw one in the engine and test it. Worst case you have to clearance the gear anyway.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/I-beam-Conn...Parts_Accessories&hash=item4d2d62fc02&vxp=mtr

gmx · Mar 15, 2015

IE Tuscans as well as Scat rods drop in to 058 blocks IIRC.

Anybody used the steel rods on E-Bay from Germany?

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Dont replace it, Upgrade it !!

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Dont replace it, Upgrade it !!

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