I am too busy to start a war. But I will answer a few questions posed by a vendor, who calls his methods, "looking for clarity", but it feels a bit more like 'directing traffic'. What is worse, in the Field of Opinion, he states his case, strongly and with no attention to some critical details. Before he attempts clarity, he should have checked sources. For example, why didn't he ask ARP if they produce assymetric bolts? We see the obvious advantages and think that is a very valid point. He could have spoken to me...
Also, not only should a rod vendor have distributorship with ARP, but he should install and finish the rods WITH THE SAME BOLT INTENDED TO REMAIN IN THE ROD! We know that is a problem elsewhere. Also, something we see nearly everywhere else is the lack of attention to detail for the joint between rod and cap. Very few bother to break the edge of cap and rod, which is a fault.
We can provide our prints. I am not interested in doing so. Those who know me, trust me. You want to reverse engineer them? BUY A SET...
I trusted Rosten... at least we felt that way until disaster struck. Since then, I have become more interested in accuracy and I think a vendor of parts should take quality into check themselves. We ended up with some very poor rods. It is my fault for not inspecting prior to install. It is the vendor's responsibility to replace bad rods, but more than that, to make sure no bad rods hit the streets. As for Geir Rosten, I hold no grudge against him. When things went poorly for him, he did what he could to correct the problem. He left us, at that time, with no solid thought of continuing with the rod business, so we set out on our own. He has made his decision; we have made ours. I wish him well. I would hope there is no rancor simply because, at the time, he left me to my own recourse.
As for '15 year old design', we have seen modern design. Pricing pulls very hard for making cheap and calling it better. For example, what happened to Sprint cars this year is a sham; changing the requirements to I-beams when H-beams have been the standard for those engines for years. At the time the change happened, there were almost no manufacturers of I-beams for those engines, and suddenly, the racer has to pick a rod. That sounds like politics to me.
About I Beam rods; They are cheaper to build. There is an open argument what is better, and we feel affirmed we are not making something that is going to be a problem. But with the I-Beam, add cracked rod technology and it is about 30% cheaper to build. Better? You might talk to some of the FSI engine owners about the failures.
We have seen torsional support for I-beams as compared, dubious, when matched up against a properly built H-Beam rod. I know there was a comparison picture floated around showing a H-beam against an I-Beam construction. Knock it if you will, but when our technical expert examined the difference, he said "...comparing a reasonable I-beam design against a poor H-beam design is an unfair comparison. We do not build our H-Beams like that poor example, but we are also not interested in showing our competition the difference".
So, when it comes to 'clarity', I would suggest you first do some additional homework. The thread design we are using with our rods...IT IS AN ARP BOLT. Don't tell me about what you DO NOT KNOW. Not only have we tested, but the design is already built and we have rod sets sold and installed in running vehicles.
Since you do not understand the ARP assymetric thread design, perhaps you should read up on what the advantages of what the thread does and why it works so well. The thread in the connecting rod itself is identical to a stock 3/8' ARP 2000 series bolt. So, for someone with a bunch of digs on me for what I am doing wrong, why don't you back up and do a bit of homework?
The webbing? What are you talking about? The webbing is machined.
And our accuracy is 50 millionths.. not 1 ten-thousandth .00005"/ .0001" That is a two-fold improvement. We got called out on the equipment used by our manufacturer; a Sunnen AG-800, which is apparently not known by some, so then, apparently, it does not exist. Accuracy counts. Informational accuracy also counts. If you are going to 'clarify' try to get your information right.
You got the pricing of my rods wrong. We are not selling them for $445. It's $475, for the time being. But it is not the nearly double price we see with some competitors. Even then, this is an introductory offer, which cannot last, as we have already had a pricing increase on a product that is cut to the bone.
Lastly, go ahead and buy I-beams if that is what you prefer. Put some fancy name on them, if that makes them better. I think that is silly...talk about marketing. To be quite honest, whichever way, we will be happy to install our own rods in our own engine builds. We know what we are getting and appreciate the accuracy and reliability. I hope you will agree with us it is a well-engineered rod at a great price.
Btw: We continue to bring benefit to the TDI market. We now have the 2.0 TDI rods in stock with the 53.7mm big end that fits the BHW and common rail engines.