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Tackling High Performance Work

By Dave Emanuel

Obviously, there are many questions to be answered before a shop enters or expands its activities into the high performance arena. There are moderately successful performance-oriented machine shops scattered from one end of the nation to the other. There are also a significantly smaller number of VERY successful shops.

Typically, the difference between the former and latter is notoriety; owners of the most successful shops have done something to distinguish themselves from the rest of the pack. In some instances, it's building engines for at least one racer who consistently winds up first at the finish line; for others, it's attention in national magazines and reputation built over the years.

Specialization is also an important factor in many shops' formula for success. Race engines of any particular type have become so highly developed that it's virtually impossible to build a competitive engine unless you have the opportunity to do research and development. It may be possible to "buy" some R&D by inspecting a competitive engine built by another company, but this is a stop-gap band-aid at best.

Engine technology is continually evolving, so constant dyno sessions are a necessity if a company is to be able to build competitive engines for many types of racing. Given the equipment and personnel commitment required to successfully engage in high performance work, it may seem as though it creates more problems than profits. And it can.

Bill Hancock of Arrow Racing Engines, Rochester Hills, MI, has worked "both sides of the street." He has a background in production engine rebuilding, but since 1979, his company has been involved almost exclusively in race engine building and research and development. Hancock notes that there are many opportunities for traditional shops to expand into high performance work, but he says you have to be cautious.

"You have to be careful and selective about the type of work you take in," said Hancock. "My advice is to stay away from anything that makes more than one horsepower per cubic inch, at least until you get some experience under your belt. It isn't necessarily that a traditional shop can't do the work, but there are a number of considerations that you may not be aware of.

"As an example, suppose a customer comes in with a crankshaft balanced and the connecting rods rebuilt. If it's a production engine and you screw up the crank or rods, you can go to any number of places and get a replacement for a few hundred dollars. The customer may be inconvenienced for a day or two, or he may not even be aware that there was a problem.

"But when a racer comes in with a billet crank and a set of Carillo rods, you're looking at a considerably higher replacement cost. And that's the least of it. The real problem is that at most times of the year, there's an 8-10 week lead time to get replacements. If he's a professional racer, you're dealing with his livelihood; if you damage his parts, you've put him out of business for two months. No matter how you handle the situation, he's not going to be happy."

Another consideration is the difference between tolerances in production and race-oriented components. Hancock notes, "True race heads don't lend themselves to production tolerances and methods. You can do a valve job and lose 20 hp - even though the valve job is technically perfect - just because seat machining reduced air flow.

"You can't argue about it either because the differences will show up on the flow bench and on the dyno. Decking a set of heads can also cause similar problems. You have to be familiar with the specific head casting you're working with and you also have to be aware of racing class requirements. Things are less critical if you're working with a bracket racer or a Hobby Stock type oval track racer, but you still have to know the territory. If you do, there's plenty of opportunity for profitable business."

Mike Osucha of Mike Osucha Racing Engines, Charlotte, NC, has found some of those opportunities. Osucha states, "We do some race work, but our specialty is custom high performance LT1 and LT4 engines for late model Camaros, Firebirds, Corvettes and Impalas. Most of the engines that we build are installed in street-driven cars that are rarely taken to the drag strip, so we have pretty much relied on dyno results to tell all of the story.

"When you get over 500 horsepower from a true late model street engine, people pay attention. Fortunately, a number of our engine projects have been covered in national magazines, and that has really helped our business."

Osucha, who is a licensed aircraft mechanic and a precision machinist, notes that most high performance customers spend a lot of time talking about horsepower, but they also have strong concerns about reliability. His advice is to be honest and up front with customers.

"A lot of high performance engine buyers couldn't change spark plugs if their life depended on it," said Osucha. "But they've read enough and listened enough to speak intelligently about specifications and components. If you want this person's business, you have to be up-front and honest.

"We've had a number of customers who had work done by other shops and the engine just didn't last because they had used inferior components. But they charged the customer for the good stuff, thinking he'd never know the difference. That's a good way to earn the type of reputation that will put you out of business. I've found that it's best to discuss specifications and components with the customer and be realistic with power estimates."

Osucha also pointed out the need for qualified shop personnel, a sentiment echoed by Garry Grimes of Grimes Automotive Machine, Alpharetta, GA. Grimes has been machining and building race engines for more than 25 years and he states, "With high performance work, you're usually working in specialized areas and customers frequently know as much about specific tolerances and materials as the person doing the work. So you have to be precise.

"If you're machining parts for a high performance customer, you can bet he's going to check everything you do. Even if you do a complete engine and deliver it ready to race, somewhere along the line someone else is going to take it apart and check it. If you've done inferior work, word will get around quickly.

"Even when you do everything right, you're going to get complaints, that's part of it. But high performance work has been very profitable for us and it's helped increase our standard machining and rebuilding business too. However, if you don't really have an interest in high performance engines, and are going into it just to increase business, I think you're wasting your time. You've got to be involved to be successful."

Assuming that horsepower in large amounts does have some allure, the best place to begin in high performance work is at the top - with cylinder heads. For openers, it offers a better parts/labor ratio. Every dollar spent on head work generates about two dollars in parts sales. On the other hand, with block work, the ratio is about one-to-one.

Another advantage is that you can teach head repair work in a minimal amount of time - usually six weeks or less. It's pretty repetitive work so a person can get up to speed pretty quickly and stay there. On the other hand, blocks constitute a completely different type of challenge.

When a race engine comes in for a rebuild, it should be disassembled by a person who is naturally inclined to study the incoming parts to determine what caused the wear-out or failure. That person must also be capable of operating a variety of different machines. With cylinder head work, you primarily need someone who can operate valve and seat cutting equipment, some type of surfacer, cylinder head pressure testing system, etc.

If you're planning to buy valve and seat grinding machinery, take a long, hard look at the new generation of valve/guide/seat equipment that uses seat cutters rather than stones. The cutters machine three valve seat angles in a single pass. Both the angles and widths are predetermined by the cutter shape, so repeatability is virtually 100%.

That's important because in addition to completing the valve job more quickly, and with greater accuracy, holding a constant seat depth keeps combustion chamber volume from varying excessively. These cutters can be up to three times faster than conventional methods in applications using oversized valves. But you'll still need some conventional seat grinding equipment for freshening up mildly worn seats if nothing else.

The consensus among many high performance engine builders is that anyone venturing into high performance machine work should begin with cylinder heads. The equipment needed costs a lot less than block machining equipment, and it will probably be used in 60-70% of the business you do. As volume grows, the need for a valve/guide/seat machine will become more critical; most shops use their valve/guide/seat machines for a wide variety of operations including valve seats, guides, screw-in studs, oversized spring seats, valve guide OD machining, heli-coiling, milling pedestals down, and even some bowl work.

Other cylinder head-oriented equipment that should be on hand are a surfacer (belt sanders are inappropriate because they don't offer consistent stock removal and can destroy carefully machined deck angles) and a burette so you can check combustion chamber volume

The typical high performance customer (as opposed to racer) wants a three-angle valve job, premium quality valve guides, the spring seats and valve guides cut for dual valve springs and special seals, port matching, some bowl work and the chambers cc'd. That's the type of work a shop that's new to high performance work should be set up to do.

Another prerequisite is a good cleaning system. Before you can machine a head or block, it has to be free of all the dirt and grease it has accumulated in its previous life. If environmental considerations make installation of a system prohibitively expensive, make arrangements with another shop to do your cleaning.

If you're ready to jump into high performance block machine work, the first prerequisite is a quick and accurate boring and honing system. That means a first class boring bar and a semi-automatic honing machine as a minimum. Even if you have the skill to hone a block satisfactorily with a hand held drill, you won't have the time.

To ensure optimum cylinder wall finish, it's usually necessary to hone .004ý to .005ý after boring. That honing is ALWAYS done with torque plates attached. As Grimes puts it, "Tooling for your machines is everything. If you've got equipment and no tooling, you've got a yo-yo without a string and with honing, the torque plate is your tooling.

"Cylinder walls will move more than .003ý when the head bolts are tightened and if you don't simulate the bolt loads while you're honing, you can't do a proper job. Remember, cast pistons are very forgiving, but if the customer is going to install forged pistons and keep piston-to-wall clearance relatively tight, chances are the pistons will gall if torque plates aren't used during honing.

"The situation has gotten worse since the late '70s when most of the factories went to thin wall block castings. Cylinder wall movement varies according to engine type, and some blocks are noticeably worse than others. But even the best ones are bad enough that use of torque plates while honing is definitely a necessity."

Of course, it's always advisable to know how thick the walls are before you start machining. Sonic thickness testers aren't cheap - about $2,000 - but they can be worth their weight in gold. Whether you're machining a customer's block, or one that you supplied, a failure due to insufficient cylinder wall thickness is not good for customer relations - regardless of who supplied the block or specified bore diameter.

Another advantage of a sonic checker is that customers may bring their blocks to you for checking and that's a good way to start a relationship that can lead to increased business. Most shops charge $50-$75 to sonic check a V8, so it doesn't take too long for the tester to pay for itself

Another piece of equipment that's standard fare in high performance machine shops is an align hone. Align boring is typically needed only when installing special or replacement main caps, however, align honing is needed on almost every block - even brand new ones. Factory machining is rarely up to high performance requirements.

Connecting rod reconditioning and balancing equipment rounds out the basic requirements for a high performance machine shop. It all adds up to some pretty healthy expense, so it may not be possible or economically feasible to purchase all the necessary equipment at one time.

Another 20-year veteran of the high performance business, Myron Cottrell of Cottrell Racing Engines, Chaska, MN, advises, "Find out what work you can get done by other shops, then concentrate on the equipment you absolutely have to have. You definitely need the equipment, but to me the first priority is a good machinist. Find one and pay him well because by getting the work done right the first time, a good machinist drags in a lot of parts business."

Another important point that a lot of people don't think about is the relationship between a machinist and the person working the counter. A lot of high performance sales are time consuming because sometimes you have to explain to a customer that his needs are beyond what he thinks they are. All the time that a machinist spends talking to customers is time away from being productive.

A certain amount of that goes with the territory, but you can turn out a lot more machine work when the counter person can handle most of the conversation with customers. Just make sure everybody communicates well so signals don't get crossed.

Without question, there is money to be made in high performance machine work, but it's not all sunshine and roses. And the nature of the business has changed in recent years. Traditionally, the overwhelming majority of customers for high performance machine work were owners of domestic V8 engines. The only interest in four and six-cylinder engines was centered on a comparatively small number of road racers and a rare drag racer or street performance enthusiast.

In the mid to late '80s, V6 engines attained increased popularity as the future of production V8 engines became dubious. Many oval track racing series attempted to encourage a switch to V6s and in some divisions, rules made V6s the only game in town.

Growing import performance market opportunities?

By the time the '90s got into full swing, V8s had reasserted their dominance and interest in high performance V6 engines slackened, although V6s are still the engine of choice at a number of racing venues. More recently, demand for high performance six cylinder and four cylinder engine work has increased, fueled by interest in imported vehicles. That interest stems largely from road racing where imported cars have predominated for some time.

Recently, import drag racing has been adding fuel to the fire. At this point, most performance-oriented import owners are geared towards bolt-on equipment - headers, intake and exhaust systems, camshafts and superchargers - but cylinder head modifications are becoming more common. According to Grimes, import owners are starting to dive into their short blocks in increasingly larger numbers.

"What we're starting to see is that the customer with a Nissan, Toyota or Honda is just like the guy with a small block Chevy," explained Grimes. "He wants more horsepower for his street car, so it's faster than his friends' cars and when he decides to have an engine built, he wants it to have good components inside. We haven't seen much drag racing influence yet; at this point, all the street performance action with imports has come from road racing."

Naturally, every machinist has a different opinion about which types and brands of machines are best, and which segment of the market is most lucrative. But one thing they all agree upon is that to be successful with high performance machine work, you have to know the market and you have to do things right the first time.