Our choice of rods are the 6 inch SCAT COMPETITION SERIES rods
with ARP-8740 cap screws.
The Scat Pro-Comp extreme duty I-beam rods should not be mistaken for ProComp rods. These rods are made exclusively by Scat, and have nothing to do with the ProComp company. The critical sizing and installation of the ARP cap screws is performed on a Sunnen machine in the USA by Scat Industries. These rods are excellent for those wanting the extra security offered by a rod with 7/16 ARP cap screws.
Take notice of the design of these rods. They are far superior to conventional style I-beam rods. We are now using this rod in all of our Stage 4 and up SBC engines. We also use this rod in our big block 540/555 engines, making approx. 700+hp
If you do a search on the Scat Pro-Comp rods, you will find a vast amount of info on many car forums. All of the info is 100% positive. These rods are run in engines that not only produce high horsepower levels, but also run at continuous RPM. Notice the general appearance in the pictures. These rods do look impressive. The style is reminiscent of a steel billet rod.
The fact that these rods are incredibly strong and well made, coupled with the fact they are light weight and offer better clearance than any H-Beam rod on the market, made it an easy decision to use them in all of our high horsepower street/strip engines.
The Scat rods do have genuine ARP 8740 Series 12 point cap screws. These rods offer excellent block clearance in the lower end of the cylinders. Full base cams will require a considerable amount of clearancing. We strongly recommend using a reduce base cam with this assembly. Be sure to do a roll over test after installing each rod.
We now offer a special line of Comp cams for hyd. roller setups for street rod use. They all have a reduced base circle, (1.050). These cams require much less clearancing as compared to a full base cam. These cams do not cost any more than the large base circle cams, and do not require a special distributor gear. All of our sbc engines now use these cams. We have six to choose from, with numerous dyno reports. These cams are outstanding in performance compared to any of the other brands/profiles we have used in the past. We certainly like the idea of not having to grind into the rod body and bolt.
The Scat rods do have genuine ARP 8740 Series 12 point cap screws. These rods offer excellent block clearance in the lower end of the cylinders.
To give you an idea of just how much faith we have in the Scat Pro-Competition rods, we use them in our SBC 421/427 engines. The 427 engine has a deeper stroke crank, heavier pistons, and these engines make up to 625 hp and turn up to 6800 rpm. We've had zero failures on over 1500 of these engines built. Considering they do this well in the 427, they would most likely never fail in a 406 engine under any conditions. For those running high HP applications, we do recommend upgrading to the ARP2000 rod bolts. (See below)
We have noticed some sellers using generic rods and crankshafts in their rotating assemblies. These non-branded (no-name) rods and cranks are often poor quality in many ways. You will notice many sellers fail to mention the actual brand of these products. Upon further investigation, you will find such parts not to be a branded name product. They may label these parts with a name, but one that is totally unrecognizable in the industry. Our experience in years past with such rods and cranks has been disappointing, to say the least. Failures of such critical parts in your engine may result in catastrophic damage. Machine shops are sometimes able to correct some of the problems with these low quality rods and cranks, but at great expense to the customer. As for the questionable alloy these items may be produced from and the potentially incorrect heat treating methods used, little can be done to verify this and nothing can be done to correct it. As you may have noticed, this is why we specify the name brand and series of every part used in our assemblies.
Many of the inferior "no-name" rods on the market will also have "no-name" rod bolts in them. We have seen these bolts before, and they are very low quality. They don't have ARP's rolled thread design, and they don't torque down with the same characteristics as a genuine ARP bolt. It's not just a matter of having a different brand bolt in the rods; these bolts are low quality in many ways. They have been known to fail in engines to a much greater degree than a high quality rod bolt, and this failure usually causes catastrophic damage in the engine. Beware of rods that don't mention the rod bolt brand. As far as we're concerned, ARP bolts are the only brand we would ever use or accept in a set of rods.
Genuine ARP 8740 cap screws.
The Scat rods do have genuine ARP 8740 Series 12 point cap screws. Some cams may require slight clearancing of the rods. Be sure to do a roll over test after installing each rod.
We have noticed some engine builders using low cost generic rods and crankshafts in their engines. These non-branded, (no-name) products are often poor quality in many ways. You will notice many of the low end engine builders fail to mention the actual brand of the rods or cranks used in their engines. Upon further investigation you will find such parts not to be a branded name product. They may label these parts with a name, but one that is totally unrecognizable in the industry. Our experience in years past with such rods and cranks has been disappointing to say the least. Besides the obvious issues such as incorrect sizing and machining that is difficult to correct, the questionable alloy these items may be produced from and the potentially incorrect heat treating methods used, could prove to be disastrous. Little can be done to verify this and nothing can be done to correct it. Failures of such critical parts will usually result in catastrophic damage to the engine. As you may have noticed, this is why we specify the brand name and series of every part used in our engines.
Many of the inferior "no-name" rods on the market will also have "no-name" rod bolts in them. We have seen these bolts before, and they are very low quality. They don't have ARP's rolled thread design, and they don't torque down with the same characteristics as a genuine ARP bolt. It's not just a matter of having a different brand bolt in the rods; these bolts are low quality in many ways. They have been known to fail in engines to a much greater degree than a high quality rod bolt, and this failure usually causes catastrophic damage in the engine. Beware of rods that don't mention the rod bolt brand. As far as we're concerned, ARP bolts are the only brand we would ever use or accept in a set of rods.
Before the engine is assembled, we strongly suggest checking the rods on a Sunnen machine for sizing on both ends. We recommend this with any rod regardless of cost or brand. It is not uncommon to find some of the rods requiring a slight bump through the hone for perfection in sizing and roundness. We also offer this kit with a proofed set of rods. This is an excellent choice for those wanting to build the engine on their own.
MAHLE FILE FIT RINGS INCLUDED.
KING MAIN AND ROD BEARINGS INCLUDED.
Pro-Sport harmonic SFI damper, 6.61 diameter, included.
The SFI Pro-Sport damper Offers an extreme level of safety against breakage, and is very resistant against slippage of the elastomer damping material. SFI dampers are not only made from a better grade of steel, they are also constructed differently and have a much better appearance. They usually last much longer than a non-SFI damper. Many drag strips require this on engines producing high horse power levels. The SFI certification is laser etched into the side. Damper failure rates are much higher on engines using a non-sfi damper coupled with hp ratings exceeding 450 and turn 5600 rpm or higher.
We have noticed others using a low grade knockoff brand damper/balancer, and we have encountered them in the past. They are substandard in appearance, and are often out of spec. The timing marks were also poorly marked on some of the balancers we have come across. You don't want a balancer coming off or one that is improperly weighted. Another problem with low grade dampers is the elastomer bonding can lose its adherence to the inner and outer structure. This problem is referred to as a slipped damper. We have only encountered this once in 10 years with the Pro-Race brand dampers.
We know of several competitors including these balancers with rotating assemblies. The Pro-Sport SFI is far superior to most any we have ever seen. They were once known as a knockoff product, and have become one the best values on the market, without comprising quality whatsoever.
HEAVY DUTY FLEXPLATE INCLUDED.
HEAVY DUTY FLEXPLATE. This flexplate will resist cracking. One good telltale in identifying a low quality flexplate is the lack of welding on each side where the plate mates to the ring gear. They usually have a pale grey color to them, as they are not coated, and will rust quickly. Ours are welded on both sides, and are much thicker than an OE plate, and are either zinc dichromate or black powder coated. We would never use the thinner OE style plate on an assembly like this.
We do offer this assembly with a manual flywheel. See our other listings. In most cases we do have both sizes, 153 and 168 tooth, available.
WARNING: The crank has a dowel pin installed in it. You must align the flexplate or flywheel to the dowel pin. The assembly was balanced with this pin installed.
Our CWT 5500 Balancer.
We do our own balancing with our new state of the art CWT 5500 Series balancers. The CWT 5500 is the ultimate for precision balancing. We now have three of these in our machine shop. We consider this machine to be highly advanced compared to the Hines balancer we once used. We balance every rotating assembly we sell within 2 grams or less at no extra charge. A balance sheet is included with your assembly.
Three CWT balance machines under one roof is a rare sight.
Our crew wrapping up for the day. Pardon the mess.
Our thoughts on what the competition has to offer.
Many short block kits we see on the market are not using the most suitable parts. We hope you can value the fact that we have put together an above average short block kit. The failure rate with the parts we use is near non-existent. It was through trial and error in years past that taught us where to draw the line with low cost parts. We are out-priced by many others selling short block kits that include parts with high failure rates. Many of these parts also pose a great problem due to the fact they require additional machining and can end up costing you a great deal more money and time. If you're going to have a machine shop build your engine, we strongly advise you get an opinion from them on the parts you're going to be bringing to them. Rest assured they will find no problem with the quality of our parts. We have also seen sellers offering parts that are not compatible with what most people are building. We have seen several sellers offering no-name brand rods with an assembly. These type of rods also have no-name bolts in them. It is our strong advice to avoid this grade of rods. The low grade dampers and flexplates are also another problem. Another area of concern would be balancing. Not sure how much attention these sellers are giving in this area. We spend up to two hours balancing an assembly, and using the very best up to date balancing equipment on the market. If the assembly is not balanced properly, it will hammer the bearings out of the engine, not to mention there is nothing worse than an engine that lacks a smooth feel and sound when under load.
We offer this assembly with selected upgrades. Listed below are some of the most requested ones. Many not only improve performance, but further enhance the reliability and longevity of your engine, along with resale value.
Note: The upgrade prices below are subject to change. Refer to the actual upgrade listing for the exact price of these upgrades. The changes are usually very small if any.
SFI Certified Flexplate: This is a very low cost upgrade and may be required when racing your car at certain tracks. The flexplate that comes with this assembly is a heavy duty plate, but the SFI certified plate is one step up in quality and safety. This SFI plate is made in North America. We noticed these have much less run-out and warpage than we see with many other plates on the market. Plates with too much run-out and warpage can cause a host of problems for your transmission and starter, and affect balancing. The low cost to upgrade to this is well worth it in our opinion.
Cost of this upgrade is $19.95 We have this upgrade featured in our other listings. You can see this and other upgrade options in our ebay store under the "UPGRADES" category, or simply do a search with the key word, "Upgrade" in the search bar when shopping in our ebay store. Before you finalize your purchase of this assembly you may add any of these upgrades to your shopping cart.
SFI Rated Billet Steel flywheel upgrade/option for manual transmission. Upgrade to a SFI billet steel flywheel 168-tooth or 153-tooth for manual transmissions. We highly recommend the SFI billet steel flywheel for those running hard. These are fully cnc'd and far superior in many ways compared to the regular cast iron flywheel.
Cost for the SFI billet flywheel option can vary depending on availability. We carry two lines of the SFI plates, PRW and Ram. The Ram plates are a much higher grade product. We have this upgrade/option featured in our other listings. There will be a Chevy 153 tooth and a Chevy 168 tooth size available. Be sure you know the size you need. You can see this and other upgrade options in our ebay store under the "UPGRADES" category, or simply do a search with the key word, "Upgrade" in the search bar when shopping in our ebay store. Before you finalize your purchase of this assembly you may add any of these upgrades to your shopping cart.
Crank polishing: Extends bearing life, reduces oil temp, frees up a slight amount of average horsepower. This is a very low cost upgrade, and in the world of mass production, most cranks do not come with a true polished finish. This is why most machine shops have a machine to do this. The difference is dramatic between a crank right out of the box and one that we have polished. Bearing companies claim that cranks that have better finishes on the journals will survive the break-in better, and have much longer bearing life. We do a two-step process and bring the RA numbers down in the single digit range. We have the most advanced crank polishing machine on the market.
Cost for the crank polishing upgrade is $38.50 We have this upgrade featured in our other listings. You can see this and other upgrade options in our ebay store under the "UPGRADES" category, or simply do a search with the key word, "Upgrade" in the search bar when shopping in our ebay store. Before you finalize your purchase of this assembly you may add any of these upgrades to your shopping cart.
Rod to cam clearance and sizing: We know exactly where and how much to cut the rods on our vertical milling machine for correct cam clearance, and sizing the big end and wrist pin bushing on the Sunnen machine saves a trip to the machine shop. All rods, regardless of brand, should be checked for sizing on a Sunnen machine, and corrected if needed. You will seldom see a complete set of rods that have perfect sizing on both ends right out of the box.
Cost of this rod to cam clearancing and sizing upgrade is $79.50 We have this upgrade featured in our other listings. You can see this and other upgrade options in our ebay store under the "UPGRADES" category, or simply do a search with the key word, "Upgrade" in the search bar when shopping in our ebay store. Before you finalize your purchase of this assembly you may add any of these upgrades to your shopping cart.
We do the rod to cam clearancing on a vertical milling machine as pictured below as part of this upgrade. By doing this procedure on a milling machine the rods are cut precisely at the correct angle to clear the cam. This also keeps the amount removed identical on each rod. It would be very difficult to do this by hand on a grinder as is commonly done. After we clearance the rods on the milling machine we go over them on a wire brush machine to clean up the edges, and remove any stress risers. This is a very critical procedure. Those who lack the experience and choose to do this on their own risk destroying the rod and or the bolt, or at least removing too much material and weakening the rod and or bolt.
Race balancing: This is for those who want the engine to operate virtually vibration free at high rpm. Extends engine life and frees up a few more horse power. This is a somewhat labor intensive procedure and is not required, but the feel of an absolutely vibration free engine at high rpm is desirable by many. The standard balance job that is included with this assembly at no extra charge is certainly sufficient. With a race balance job, all pistons and rods are match weighed to within 2/10's of a gram or less, and the final balance is brought down to around 1 gram plus or minus. An ultra smooth engine at high rpm has a noticeable feel and sound to it. If you do not opt for this upgrade, the assembly will still be fully balanced. We spend a good hour and a half doing the regular balance work, and it will certainly meet your needs.
Cost of this race balancing upgrade is $125.00 We have this upgrade featured in our other listings. You can see this and other upgrade options in our ebay store under the "UPGRADES" category, or simply do a search with the key word, "Upgrade" in the search bar when shopping in our ebay store. Before you finalize your purchase of this assembly you may add any of these upgrades to your shopping cart.
ARP-2000 rod bolts: This is one upgrade that we find to be very valuable. The rod bolts are most likely to fail under hard use, moreso than the rod itself. When a rod bolt fails during high RPM, total engine destruction is usually the result. The ARP-2000 rod bolts are a very good upgrade, in our opinion. We actually have few, if any, problems with the regular ARP-8740 bolts, but those who run hard always upgrade to the ARP-2000 rod bolts. The ARP-2000 rod bolts also torque at a higher number, and this increased clamping force is also a factor in keeping the big end of the rod stable and true to size. The ARP-2000 bolts are installed in the rods and this upgrade is only available with the Competition rod upgrade.
Cost of this ARP 2000 rod bolt upgrade is $89.50 We have this upgrade featured in our other listings. You can see this and other upgrade options in our ebay store under the "UPGRADES" category, or simply do a search with the key word, "Upgrade" in the search bar when shopping in our ebay store. Before you finalize your purchase of this assembly you may add any of these upgrades to your shopping cart.
Scat 4340 Forged Crank: The forged Scat crank has a rating of 800+ HP. This is the ultimate upgrade for those wanting to run hard. Nos, blowers, turbos, are not an issue with this crank. Even without such power adders, this Crank offers great protection under the most severe conditions. This upgrade also comes with the HP high Performance King bearings. Should you decide to run power adders in the future, this would be essential. The fatigue life of the 4340 crank over the cast nodular is also greatly extended. We do offer this upgrade as part of many of our assemblies in some of our other listings. They have the key words, "fully forged," in the title.
Cost of this forged crank upgrade is $535.00 We have this upgrade featured in our other listings. You can see this and other upgrade options in our ebay store under the "UPGRADES" category, or simply do a search with the key word, "Upgrade" in the search bar when shopping in our ebay store. Before you finalize your purchase of this assembly you may add any of these upgrades to your shopping cart.
Block prep package: This upgrade includes notching the block on our Centroid cnc machine to allow additional clearance for the crank if necessary. We also de-burr the block, hone the lifter bores to spec, chamfer the top of the cylinders, and lifter bores, and install the special Dart cam bearings and freeze plugs. The block is then thoroughly cleaned in our block washing machine. We find this upgrade essential for those lacking the proper equipment or knowledge to perform this correctly.
Cost of this block prep package is $225.00 We have this upgrade featured in our other listings. You can see this and other upgrade options in our ebay store under the "UPGRADES" category, or simply do a search with the key word, "Upgrade" in the search bar when shopping in our ebay store. Before you finalize your purchase of this short block kit, you may add any of these upgrades to your shopping cart.
SBC Short Block Kit Assembly upgrade: This upgrade includes everything in the Block Prep Package plus assembling the short block kit. If you choose this upgrade, DO NOT also include the block prep package in your cart.
Cost of this SBC Short Block Kit Assembly upgrade is $395.00 We have this upgrade featured in our other listings. You can see this and other upgrade options in our ebay store under the "UPGRADES" category, or simply do a search with the key word, "Upgrade" in the search bar when shopping in our ebay store. Before you finalize your purchase of this short block kit, you may add any of these upgrades to your shopping cart.
Preparing the block in our Centroid cnc machine for precise notching, if necessary.
The blocks are washed in a dedicated block cleaning machine.
Pictured above is the final rinsing and drying to remove the cleaning solvents.
The upgrades above are all available in our other listings. Some of these are often requested by those building an engine without a machine shop. We find most of these upgrades very valuable for those wanting to take longevity and durability to the next level. They are all bottom end related, and that's an area worth investing a few more dollars into, in our opinion, especially if you're planning on running long and/or hard. These upgrades are also valuable for your build history on your engine, and would certainly increase the resale value of your engine, should you ever sell it.
A final note.
Our user id is: skipwhite, and our store name is whiteperformance1. You may have noticed other sellers using a similar name offering similar products. These other sellers have capitalized on our name as we see it, and many customers searching for us will inadvertently find them, thinking we are one in the same company. There is only one "Skip White." We are the original premier seller under this name since approximately 2003. We have no other names, nor are we associated with any other company regardless of the similarity in the name or location. Our official company name is Skip White Performance. Please see the article below for a more detailed explanation.
The real story...Skip White Performance vs. White Performance & Machine
I'm sure many of you have noticed there are 2 high performance engine builders in Kingsport, TN with similar names, and this has led to a great amount of confusion.
We are Skip White Performance, NOT White Performance and Machine.
Due to the name similarity many customers looking for us online inadvertently find them, thinking we are the same company. Definitely not...there is no connection between the two companies. We don't have a problem with free enterprise (competition). However, when the competition builds their foundation on such things as a name similarity and their supposedly long history of being in business, then we think it's about time we set the record straight.
We have owned White Performance since 2003, with the exception of the machine shop, which was owned by Fred White at the time. He continued to operate the machine shop and build engines for us while we continued selling online under the user ID of skipwhite and the store name of whiteperformance1.
Due to their limited production capability and many disagreements about the engine building process and workmanship, we opted to open a full scale machine shop of our own a few years later. Fred White began competing against us even though our contract had a non-compete clause in it.
As our business grew, we opened a second, much larger warehouse and machine shop around 2011, located on Brookside Ln. in Kingsport TN. By putting heart and soul in this company, we have become the number one street rod engine builder in the nation.
Fred sold his shop to an investor in 2016 and the new owners continue to reap the benefits from this confusion between the two shops. This investor lacks any knowledge of this industry. They continue to use the White Performance & Machine name. Contrary to what is posted on their website, Fred White is no longer associated with the company in any way. Their main spiel in advertising is, "In business since 1979," when in fact, we purchased the White Performance company in 2003, with the exception of the machine shop.
All in all, we have been in this business 16+ years. Skip White's passion has been owning and building street rods for 47 years on a personal level. The knowledge he has gained over time has allowed him to venture into this business and succeed to a very high level.
The great pretenders continue capitalizing on our success due to the name similarity, but have been degrading our reputation. Recently, we have been getting calls nearly on a daily basis from people that now realize there are two shops in this town with very similar names. They complain of serious problems in getting their engines in a timely manner from them. They think they purchased their engine from us. Due to the confusion, there is an increasing amount of negative talk that is starting to reflect on our reputation within the street rod community, when in fact we have a near perfect reputation in this industry. We have an "A+" rating with the Better Business Bureau and we have maintained the A+ rating for many years.
FAST FORWARD TO 2019...We have become the largest street rod engine builder in the nation. Our engines, rotating assemblies, and cylinder heads are built to very high standards and shipped to our customers in a timely manner. We are a premier seller on with a positive feedback score of well over 206,000 and growing, as compared to our competitor’s score of approximately 24,000.
Our engines are custom-built to our customers' specifications and are shipped in approx. 2-4 weeks, perhaps sooner, depending on the season. Our rotating assemblies usually ship out in about one week or less, and our heads ship in about a week or less.
Now you know the real story, and we hope this helps with the confusion.
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We are not responsible for collateral damage caused by the use of this product.
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