DOWARD: Bryan Maloof's Shop, Rods/Pistons setup

[PapichuloMKIII]

I tried to PM doward but his inbox is full. So i decided to post a new thread.. Maybe he was not the only one who used him. And i need everyone's honest opinion on him and also for choosing the RODS/PISTONS.

I was researching through the forum for which was the best pistons and rods and i stumbled across something DOWARD had mentioned about Bryan Maloof(Maloof racing)in buford,GA? Do you know him personally or heard about him? The reason why I am asking is because I am having my engine torn down on Monday and will be taking the short block and head to him for the rebuilding. My friend(mike) who has been working on imports such as HONDAS/RX7 for over 17 years swears by him being one of the best and a perfectionist. He also stated that Bryan has built robust engines for supras that held power for over 1500hp and so forth. Do you have an opinion on his work?

Second, at the moment im shooting for 550hp+(crank) however i want the engine to handle 700-800hp until my ct26 60-1 goes out and replace it with a bigger turbo, injectors, etc...in the future. I am getting different opinions back and forth. My friend (mike)said Arias pistons were great since that is what he used to put in his friend's(alex) 700hp prelude which was also built by BRYAN MALOOF. I was thinking of going with Arias, Probes or JE's? Rods, i wanted to go with eagles but my friend, MIKE, said NO. Apparently the rods from the manufacturer came out of spec frequently or the machine work from EAGLE was not done well that Maloof had to fix them to be perfect?? Your opinion? Another user on this forum said "NATE" hit 840WRHP+ on eagle rods?!! Mike recommended SCAT rods? Have you heard of these? I'm sorry if this was too long, but this will be a great a investment that I would like for it to be done right the first time!:icon_bigg

 

[PapichuloMKIII]

Anyone? This was not just for Doward....

 

[IJ.]

Doward's on vacation for a month or so.

 

[Zumtizzle]

http://www.supramania.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17572&highlight=maloof

Post Number 2.

 

[PapichuloMKIII]

Ok cool thanks! Makes me feel a lot better taking it to him. However he is moving his shop to another location which might be another week or so until he starts working on my engine:3d_frown:. Any suggestions to my second question ?

http://www.supramania.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17572&highlight=maloof

Post Number 2.

 

[Supracentral]

You will not go wrong following Bryan's suggestions. Personally I like Arias pistons.

Let's put it this way. Bryans motors tend to last us a full season. At 1400+ rwhp. Running 7 second quarters at 180+

 

[jdub]

No experience with Arias...JE's are good. I would not use Probe in a performance build...there are better pistons for that. Take a look at CP pistons...the 2J guys have been using them for a long time.

Eagle rods get a bad rap...some of the earily problems with the rod specs have been corrected. Any rod needs to be checked (and resized if necessary) before you install them. The Eagles will likely need to be "balanced" out weight wise to each other. If you want to go top-of-the-line, get Pauters.

I hope you are having the crank straightened, journals resized/polished, balanced, etc.

 

[suprarich]

Would you believe that the last 4 sets of Eagle rods I have worked scaled within 1 gram of each other? Sizes where pretty much good too. Quality control has stepped up over at eagle.

 

[turbodriz]

No experience with Arias...JE's are good. I would not use Probe in a performance build...there are better pistons for that. Take a look at CP pistons...the 2J guys have been using them for a long time.

Eagle rods get a bad rap...some of the earily problems with the rod specs have been corrected. Any rod needs to be checked (and resized if necessary) before you install them. The Eagles will likely need to be "balanced" out weight wise to each other. If you want to go top-of-the-line, get Pauters.

I hope you are having the crank straightened, journals resized/polished, balanced, etc.

I have been asking this question with no good response. What is the deal with probe pistons?

 

[PapichuloMKIII]

I hear you have the best prices in town for eagle rods? I was wondering if you also carried SCAT rods? Let me know!

Would you believe that the last 4 sets of Eagle rods I have worked scaled within 1 gram of each other? Sizes where pretty much good too. Quality control has stepped up over at eagle.

 

[PapichuloMKIII]

I am pretty sure Bryan will make sure the crank is straigtened, journals resized, balanced and so forth! However since he is moving his shop to another location it may not be for another couple of weeks until he starts working on my engine.:3d_frown:

No experience with Arias...JE's are good. I would not use Probe in a performance build...there are better pistons for that. Take a look at CP pistons...the 2J guys have been using them for a long time.

Eagle rods get a bad rap...some of the earily problems with the rod specs have been corrected. Any rod needs to be checked (and resized if necessary) before you install them. The Eagles will likely need to be "balanced" out weight wise to each other. If you want to go top-of-the-line, get Pauters.

I hope you are having the crank straightened, journals resized/polished, balanced, etc.

 

[PapichuloMKIII]

I was researching last night about the 7MGTE and I stumbled across......OMG 731WHP+++ on stock internals by X-MAN?? That's amazing!! I wonder how he acheived that because I would love to do that! I pm'ed him hopefully he will respond. He must have rebuilt the Bottom end but was it with the internals that originally came with the car or ordered new stock internals and rebuilt to be such a ROBUST beast??
I would not mind at least 600whp+. I'll wait to order the after market parts and see how he did it. I have the machinist Bryan Maloof who can build it but the tricky part is finding a reliable TUNING shop:3d_frown: Anyone here recommend a shop that would be reliable and capable of tuning it properly?

 

[jonny87turbo]

I have been asking this question with no good response. What is the deal with probe pistons?

I would like to know as well. I see that about 4 or 5 people are selling there probe pistons in this forum.

 

[bigboost7m]

I would like to know as well. I see that about 4 or 5 people are selling there probe pistons in this forum.

My personal experiences have been anything but good with Probe pistons. I've never built a 7M with probe pisotns, but I have built quite a few "budget" minded builds on V8's with probe pistons. Each one had a really awkward skirt profile; the wear pattern was never the same on any of the pistons. And I know for dam sure the machining was done correctly, it was all done on CNC machines at my old job (Livernois Motorsports). Each set of pistons typically had +/- .0006" difference between the 8, and they were all measured at the recommended measure point (.400" from the bottom of the skirt). And also, each set of pistons had pin oiler grooves, but they were 180deg apart from each other (9 and 3 o'clock position), the proper place for them would be closer together, near the 11 and 1 o'clock positions, that would intern lead to excessive wear on the pin boss bore.

But then again, none were on a 7m though. I think what usually is true for one is true for all. If it was me, I would go with the JE's, no question about it.

Rods- Eagle has deffinetely stepped up their game, and you cant beat the price either. Im sure the Crower Billet steel rods arent too shabby either, :naughty:

Good luck with the build!!!

 

[Doward]

Bryan's the best machinist I have ever had the privilege of having a conversation with.

The man's ethics are second to none, as well. I will not hesitate to drive 16+ hours to bring him any machine work I need in the future!

Probe pistons: Big boost 7M, what V8s specifically have you built with the Probes? I've built 3 different 355s, a 302, and a 400 Poncho (had these custom done) and have never had a problem with the Probe pistons. Have heard nothing negative about the 7M ones - and considering I put my personal stamp on them (and helped design them) I'm pretty picky about things like that

Eagle used to have really shoddy QC. They have seriously stepped up their game, and Bryan and I had a long discussion (while checking out a customer's '53 Vette roadster and admiring a 462 Pontiac that he was having to rebuild do to a different shop's screw up) about how Eagle has worked to improve their quality control.

In summary, I'm the pickiest son of a bitch you will ever find when it comes to measurements and engine blueprinting.

Bryan had zero problems with anything we discussed, took a noticeable amount of pride in his work, and even made a few calls above and beyond what I was looking to do (he took my cressida 7M crank, and bent it from .0005" to .0002" - it was originally completely within TSRM specifications, but I told him the plans with the engine, and he knew I'd want glass smooth at 7200 rpm - I never asked him to straighten the crank out! )

 

[figgie]

I was researching last night about the 7MGTE and I stumbled across......OMG 731WHP+++ on stock internals by X-MAN?? That's amazing!! I wonder how he acheived that because I would love to do that! I pm'ed him hopefully he will respond. He must have rebuilt the Bottom end but was it with the internals that originally came with the car or ordered new stock internals and rebuilt to be such a ROBUST beast??
I would not mind at least 600whp+. I'll wait to order the after market parts and see how he did it. I have the machinist Bryan Maloof who can build it but the tricky part is finding a reliable TUNING shop:3d_frown: Anyone here recommend a shop that would be reliable and capable of tuning it properly?

Tuning, Tuning, Tuning, Tuning! With a good tune. The stock internals can be made to live for a while under most adverse conditions. One Detonation or one lean run and that is all she wrote!

As for Seans pull, he did that with a STOCK bottom end.

 

[bigboost7m]

Probe pistons: Big boost 7M, what V8s specifically have you built with the Probes? I've built 3 different 355s, a 302, and a 400 Poncho (had these custom done) and have never had a problem with the Probe pistons. Have heard nothing negative about the 7M ones - and considering I put my personal stamp on them (and helped design them) I'm pretty picky about things like that

Two 351W's, and four 4.6 mod motors. Dont get me wrong, they hold up, but overall they were not a good design

 

[Doward]

I've heard complaints about their 4.6 pistons - granted, I hate the 4.6 anyway, so that was no big deal to me

Check out the design of the 7M pistons. No worries in there

 

[bigboost7m]

I've heard complaints about their 4.6 pistons - granted, I hate the 4.6 anyway, so that was no big deal to me

Check out the design of the 7M pistons. No worries in there

FYI...Next time (if there is a next time) you design a piston, I would like to be a part of it. I've put many long hours at Livernois Motorsports, in regards to piston design. And I know of a company that is more than willing to help out with the manufacturing aspect.

Thanks!!!:icon_razz

 

[Doward]

No problem at all. It was actually more of an accident than anything - I'd dealt with Probe before, shot them a line, sent in a block/head to get mapped out - I planned on buying a set of custom pistons from them anyway.

Just turned out that everyone else wanted some, as well So quite a few people got a spectacular deal on forged pistons, and I believe Probe now builds these off the shelf for us (due to there actually being something of a demand!)