[scottj]

The biggest problem with Eagle rods or any of the Chinese pieces is not the machining. Like Ed stated, in the case of Eagle, the finish machining is done in the U.S although a rather poor job of it at that. The biggest problem with the Chinese pieces is the so-called 4340 material. What has become common knowledge in the circle track community is that Chinese 4340 steel is not the same as US 4340 steel. Look at any advertisement for budget rods that is aimed at the circle track community, if they use US steel they say so. When the circle track guys wet mag at the end of the season, if they ran Eagles they are virtually guaranteed to find one or more rods with cracks around the big end. A set of premium US rods rarely develops cracks even after many seasons in high HP applications.
Since street/performance applications vary so much from one application to the next, you don’t get an accurate assessment of rods limitations. I think you could accurately say, that since street/performance applications rarely reveal the limitations of the Chinese pieces, using them is a relatively safe gamble or no gamble for most, statistically speaking. Up the demands to that of circle track and the differences become quite dramatic.
Scott