Chinese or US?

[In-Tech]

Just check these and place your order..

http://www.alibaba.com/Connecting-Rod_pid100006309

I just max'd out my credit cards

[Mark O'Neal]

Like everyone here I'd like to see everything made here in America.

The one factor you have all left out is your customers. You tell the vast majority of them that cranks are two grand and rods are thirteen hundred and all you'll hear is a dial tone.

The fact is, I used to stock Scat and Crower billet cranks for Fords. I had to discount them to get them out of inventory. No one has even asked in at least five years.

So....what do we do......close our businesses? There is not enough volume in American made parts to support this industry, and American parts aren't getting cheaper.......

If you don't want offshore parts, that list isn't accurate (and so, is highly problematic)...and some of the best known American companies are owned by foreign corporations.

I am still making pistons and main girdles here...everything else I make (shaft rockers, etc) I am dropping. They just don't support themselves. In a bigger market I didn't really care...now I have to.

[user-9613590]

As anyone can see the China companys offer H-profile rods from $10-100 a piece.Well,if you want a $10 conrod it's probably just that! It may look like Carillo but certainly isn't!!
But if you order $100 rods and have given the specks what they should be and inspect that you get what ordered there is no reason to put them down.So much OEM stuff is made in China so the ability is there if you are willing to pay for it.
Problem is that some unscrupulous guys try and sell those $10 rods as a quality pieces at $100! Done enough money they disappear before the bad rap spreads..

[Cris]

"If you don't want offshore parts, that list isn't accurate (and so, is highly problematic)..."

Mark:

You may know better than anybody where all the brands are being made (and which factories produce quality products). Would you share your list with us?

Thanks, Cris

[Mark O'Neal]

I'm sorry, I can't do that.

I don't like lawyers...not even my own.

[Mark O'Neal]

As anyone can see the China companys offer H-profile rods from $10-100 a piece.Well,if you want a $10 conrod it's probably just that! It may look like Carillo but certainly isn't!!

Anyone that expects a Chinese rods to be a Carillo equivalent at $10 OR $100, should wear a helmet when they go poo poo. Everyone knows what they are, they may want a Carillo rod for a Chinese price, but they know better. Incidentally, I've only been at it for 23 years, but I've never seen a $10 rod.

But if you order $100 rods and have given the specks what they should be and inspect that you get what ordered there is no reason to put them down.So much OEM stuff is made in China so the ability is there if you are willing to pay for it.
Problem is that some unscrupulous guys try and sell those $10 rods as a quality pieces at $100! Done enough money they disappear before the bad rap spreads..

You know what they are, and it's still far cheaper to resize both ends and (maybe) spot face them, than it is to buy a American piece.

In this economy especially, when much of this industry is on it's knees, I suggest everyone apply a healthy dose of Vagisil and build motors that are commensurate with the customers ability to pay for them.

Look around....it isn't nearly as much of a willingness to pay as it is ability to pay. Most everything we do is a total waste of money...personally, I ain't going to push it. You look at the application and you look at the budget and you make them match.

That is what our customers expect from us....and we can leave our personal feelings out of it. I sometimes provide parts from American companies I think suck too....but as long as they reliably perform the intended function, I bite my tongue and bolt them up.

[melsie68]

Anyone that expects a Chinese rods to be a Carillo equivalent at $10 OR $100, should wear a helmet when they go poo poo.

I can't help but laugh...but it is very true.

[wrenchbender]

You know what they are, and it's still far cheaper to resize both ends and (maybe) spot face them, than it is to buy a American piece.

In this economy especially, when much of this industry is on it's knees, I suggest everyone apply a healthy dose of Vagisil and build motors that are commensurate with the customers ability to pay for them.

Look around....it isn't nearly as much of a willingness to pay as it is ability to pay. Most everything we do is a total waste of money...personally, I ain't going to push it. You look at the application and you look at the budget and you make them match.

That is what our customers expect from us....and we can leave our personal feelings out of it. I sometimes provide parts from American companies I think suck too....but as long as they reliably perform the intended function, I bite my tongue and bolt them up.

Amen Mark....sad but true. That's why I'm glad I only build engines on the side as a hobby & fun.

[user-9613590]

Mark;I also haven't seen a $10 conrod but the chineses offer them at that price.Difficult to understand how they do it even if the material is just something steel what just happens to be around..

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/24688 ... g_rod.html

[MadBill]

I've mentioned before the experience of a friend of mine. He was Plant Manager for a large OEM/aftermarket exhaust system company. To complete a large contract on time, they sublet the manufacture of a few thousand systems to a Chinese source, but maintained full QC oversight of the product. Delivered to their loading dock in Eastern Canada, the Chinese systems cost them less than the per-pound price of the raw materials, F.O.B. the mid-West US. Try making that up via greater productivity, wage cuts, etc.!
Pretty obviously, major Chinese government assistance is facilitating the 'dumping' of steel in NA in the form of finished products..

[Mark O'Neal]

The Chinese government also subsidizes the manufacture of product. It's easier to keep your prices down in a Command Economy when you don't have to make a profit to keep the doors open.


On the upside.........Obama will gt us there shortly.....