Fred,
Here in the US the price/quality high point you seem to be looking for in a crank would come from either SCAT or Eagle. Both are actually forged in China and there are varying stories on exactly where they are machined. Both say they machine them here in the US and the other guy's stuff is done in China also and, therefore, is of lesser quality. You might consider a cast steel crank and, if cost is a big consideration, a good name cast steel crank would serve you well if you stay in the <=350HP range.
I went with Eagle simply because the SCAT "Tech Support" that I talked to did not know their arse from a hole in the ground. When I told them I wanted a crank that was machined to be used in an internally balanced engine, they told me that there was no such thing and that to provide it would take "magic." That was enough for me to make the decision between the two. With either, have a reputable, trustworthy machine shop check your parts out thoroughly before use. When I bought mine, Eagle was supplying cranks for 28 oz, 50 oz and 0 oz. out of balance with 3.0", 3.25" and 3.4" stoke. I think they all had Chivy size rod journals, which today is not a problem since most everyone has rods with this size big end. With your requirements, I would definitely go with I-beam rods and save on weight. Again with your specs, Eagle and SCAT provide them along with the usual suspects. The fasteners used probably have as much to do with the reliability as anything else at the power/rpm levels you are building for.
Pistons are all over the place. Again, one company bad mouths the other with the same rhetoric. Go with a good name brand forged piston an you'll be OK. I went with Mahle since they are trying to break into the US market and had good quality and very light forged pistons at much better prices than everyone else. They also had a pretty good range of diameters and compression heights. You might even consider hyperutectic (SP?) to save money, but I wanted to build an engine that would be as bullet proof as my budget would allow. But a lot of guys make a lot of horsepower with stock blocks which include these pistons, I-beam rods and cast iron cranks.
To me it is cheaper to spend a little more up front than to go cheap and then have to repair later. If the wrong thing breaks (or something breaks the wrong way), you could easily spend nearly your whole investment again. Just my humble opinion. (If someone tries to sell you CAT parts, I would run like the wind; again IMHO.) One last caveat, I haven't really looked close at internals in the last 6 months or so, so there might be other options that have hit the market that I am unaware of.
Lynn
