Belfab rods and pistons/
 

How many people are running these now? I remember last year they were quite the rage, but I've not seen anything lately positive or negative about them. I'm thinking now I can start on my engine rebuild and looking for those goodies.

I am running the rods which I bought for roughly 280 shipped back in the day w/ wiseco pistons. Seem to be working well.

yeah but it's not like you are pushing +230RWTQ....oh wait, yes you are ;)

Sounds good enough for me, I'm not pushing super lofty power goals. I'll be happy with 200-220 whp.

ok ive heard from a diffrent site that there where some issues with diffrent measurements on the rods i can dig up the post any info on this? Also are the ETD,Belfab, CAT, all the same rods? what about the Eagles? i know in the domestic crowd eagle is a good trusted name and i see there making some now too. It seems like there are many rods out now for are BP's i wish someone could get them all together and compare

There is much suspect to that...

Belfab used to sell the rods as Super C.A.T., now they are just "belfab"

ETD sold theirs with the same exact part number, and they came out at the same time. Same with Fuji Racing.

Eagle and K1 seem to be slightly different as they use different ARP hardware.

i talked to m-tuned guys in person and they assured me that they manufacture rods locally to them (canada)

how much are M tuned rods?
i dug up an old post if anyone wants some info on pros and cons
Check out this news about EDT and Belfabs rods, it will surprise you. - Page 2 - Club Protege

im still confused i dont know what to buy. i wish i could afford the carillos and sleep well at night but i cant so i need to take a gamle on second best....

I have a customer that is putting in eagle rods. I will let you know how it goes.
Stephanie

I got the chance to see some ETD/M-tuned rods a few days ago at a local miata specialist shop before they were getting installed,I would have no problems getting those rods,they look pretty good and they weigh in pretty much dead on to each other.

Maybe Marc can chime in and clear the air on who makes the M-tuned rods,or the difference between the M-tuned,CAT and Belfab rods.

There is an issue with the rods as I personally experienced it with Wiseco Pistons. The clearance for the piston pin is way too tight on the piston end of the rod and has to be machined down. Mine were clearanced by polishing.

I don't believe any of the two motors that were built locally here with belfab rods and weiscos had any problems.

My motor is getting Eagle H-beams and Weisco's. I should have it back by friday.
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Some say that it's to give latitude to the machinist with the pin insertion. I prefer to have it tight and pass a reamer in the hole to have the exact dimension it needs than have it loose and can't do nothing about it.

yeah, agreed. It's really no big deal to polish them to size and you definitely know they are correct as a result.

Really? Marc has posted that the ETD/M-Tuned rods are forged in Japan and machined in North America.

https://www.miataturbo.net/forum/t25446/#post302559

I have the bellfab parts and are happy with them, the machine shop that balenced my assembly seemed to think they were good quality the rods, pistons and the +1mm valves

Looks like M-tuned rods are just CAT rods reboxed. He list them as "M-Tuned Miata / Escort / 323 GTX Connecting Rods CRS-5230". Googling CRS-5230 shows that's a CAT part number for a miata connecting rod they sell.

CAT's website.
http://www.catpep.com/default.asp\
CAT's BP connecting rod
C.A.T.
M-tuned connecting rod
Welcome to M-Tuned.com 2.0

Hard to believe it's not a CAT rod when his M-tuned rods are listed with a CAT part number. I will also note that CAT advertises the weight of their rods w/ bolts, where M-tuned advertises them at 470g without bolts and says that's the "industry standard".

Belfab's part number for their miata connecting rod is "PRO-5230". Part looks identical to the CAT/M-tuned rods and specs and description are very similar.

BELFAB RACING PRODUCTS

So who knows the truth. I'm inclined to believe they're all the same. All the descriptions are pretty much the same.

Looking around I found a set of "CRS-5230" CAT B6/BP connecting rods for 299!
RACINGMANUSA.COM 4340 "H" Beam Super Racing Rods-3D plus

I'm running the ETD/M-tuned ones. I turn 8k RPM on occasion, a bit over 7,000 miles on them so far, no issues at all.

Thought i should add when i ordered my belfab kit they sent me the wrong gasket set so i called them up and they told me to keep the ones they sent, and go buy new ones localy and they would send me a check. I got the check about 2 days after i told them how much i spent.