Our Molnar Rods Review
In the course of daily business we often hear discussions about other high performance and racing parts that are good choices to team up with CP Bullet Series Pistons to build a strong and powerful rotating assembly. One of the newer brand names in the performance parts aftermarket is Molnar Technologies. Molnar specializes in connecting rods and crankshafts for high performance and racing engines. This led us to decide to perform a Molnar rods review.
While the brand name may be new, the man behind the company has a long and distinguished history in this market segment. Tom Molnar, owner of Molnar Technologies has over 30 years experience in the high performance parts industry, and has dealt mainly with connecting rods and crankshafts. Tom was with Oliver Rods for over 20 years and after leaving there he started K1 Technologies where he brought high quality cranks and rods to the market at affordable prices. The K1 Technologies business was purchased by Wiseco and is currently an active part of the Wiseco Pistons rotating assembly product line.
Enter, Molnar Technologies. After leaving Wiseco it was not long before the itch to get back into the performance parts battles led to the forming of a new business which we now know as Molnar Technologies. Tom is using his extensive knowledge about connecting rods and crankshafts to bring superior quality, accurately machined performance parts to the public at reasonable prices. One of the best features found in Molnar products, that are not always found in the "other guys" parts, is the attention to detail and consistent, accurate, close tolerance machine work.
One of the downfalls of some of the other crankshaft and connecting rod products in the performance parts aftermarket has been that the manufacturers tolerance for critical dimensions such as the main and rod journals, housing bores, pin bores etc. have been "looser" than what most quality engine builders will accept. This has led to many a brand new crank or rod having to be resized before the customers products would be deemed acceptable for use in an engine build up by their local machinist. Thankfully, this is an area that Molar tackled head on. His products are held to some of the tightest machining tolerances in this field.
Molnar Connecting Rods Review Just how good are they?
Alright, now that you have some background we will jump right into our review of Molnar Connecting Rods. 4340 steel billets form the basis from which all Molnar rods are built. Currently, all of the rods being produced are of the popular H beam style and they include precision machined bronze bushings for use with floating piston pins.
One extremely nice feature is the inclusion of premium quality ARP2000 cap screws as standard. This means that not only are the rods equipped with far stronger hardware but the cap screws do not have to be replaced at each engine build like 8740 material bolts must be. Appearance wise, these rods are pure hot rod art. It is really a shame to hide them inside an engine block. The rods are heat treated to provide improved strength and shot peened to improve strength, reliability and to extend fatigue life.
While performing research for this review I looked at 3 different con rod sets which included a set for a Honda B18A engine, a set of turbo rods for the LS Chevy series engines and a set of Gen 1 Chrysler 392 Hemi rods. Each of these rod sets was pulled from a dealers shelf stock.
The rods come packaged in solid cardboard package and included along with the rods are installation instructions and Extreme Pressure Lube #3 lubricant. One thing of note is that torque figures for the hardware are not included, as for performance applications the far more accurate method of bolt stretch is what is recommended by Molnar. The instructions give the recommended bolt stretch dimensions and it is HIGHLY recommended to use these when assembling your engine. The old torque method just has far too many variables which can lead to hardware loosening, often with catastrophic results.
All Molnar rods are finished in the United States at the Molnar Technologies shop in Michigan. Critical rod dimensions are are held to very precise tolerances of +/- .0001 of an inch, which is the tightest tolerance you will find in the performance and racing aftermarket.
Checking the big end bore, wrist pin bushing, and widths of each end of each of the rods verified the very precise machining tolerances that are designated for all Molnar rods. The fit between the rod and rod cap is excellent and the finish hone work on the big end and the bronze bushings is likewise excellent. With the 3 different sets we inspected, we found that the weight variation between the lightest and heaviest rod in any set never varied more than 1.5 grams and part of that could have been due to the electronic scales we used.
Molnar Technologies Rod Review Summary
Very nice rods at a price that is extremely reasonable for such a premium product, especially when you consider the inclusion of the expensive ARP2000 hardware. In talking with several dealers and engine shops, the Molnar rods and cranks have already established a dedicated and loyal following. They are in use in everything from normally aspirated 4 cylinder sport compacts to dual turbo charged LS1 drag race cars and a bit of everything in between.
So after our Molnar rods review we give Molnar connecting rods a rating of A+ and would not hesitate to recommend them. The next step up in rods from these would be the Carrillo line at a much higher price point and there are very few applications that the average performance enthusiast may encounter that the Molnar rods can not handle.
You can check out the Molnar Rods at one of their official distributors such as Campbell Enterprises, MolnarRods or Bartons. To view the complete list of authorized distributors and the manufacturers website check out www.molnartechnologies.com