In October 1964, Babcox Publications printed and mailed Volume 1, Issue 1 of Automotive Rebuilder, starting a 50-year history of serving the automotive parts rebuilding industry. No one can say the trip has been easy. We’ve had a lot of history, some of which has been up and down. We’re moving a lot faster today than when we first started, and we’ve left some long trails in this industry. Last month, we reminisced on 50 years of the automotive aftermarket industry. Read the whole article here.
High-frequency fatigue, also known as harmonics, are a ubiquitous challenge in racing engines and can potentially wreak havoc on the valvetrain if left unchecked. Well-designed valve springs play a pivotal role in managing this, ensuring essential stability, and minimizing wear on valvetrain components.
If you want to properly control the movement of your engine’s intake and exhaust valves, you’re going to need valve springs. Precise control over valve timing and lift is essential for optimizing engine compression and overall performance, and in high-performance engines, valves open and close at very fast speeds. For that reason, valve springs also play a significant role in maintaining stability within the valvetrain. They counteract the forces generated by the camshaft, pushrods and rocker arms, ensuring the valves follow the camshaft’s profile accurately.
For racing, a common trend to eliminate the problems associated with hydraulic lifters are the use of limited or short-travel hydraulic lifters. A reduction in plunger travel, which is usually about half that of a traditional full-travel lifter, reduces the amount of oil required to fill the lifter, which in turn reduces the compression of aerated oil.
Determining the correct pushrod length is often regarded as one of the most intricate aspects of the selection process due to the variability in valvetrain geometry and design.
Not only are customers asking for higher quality, they’re also becoming accustomed to having to wait a little while longer to get it. And, on the aluminum rocker side of things, the trend for customers has been a desire for lighter rocker designs.
If you go back to the 1900s to 1940s, the common place to start WAS the camshaft lobe. Engineers and engine designers drew one circle for the base circle, one for the nose, and then connected the two with arcs in-between. Eventually that was improved by shifting their focus to the lifter or tappet rise from the base circle.
Understanding what’s going on in a combustion chamber and how to read what the engine is telling you through the spark plug is of utmost importance. If you can master that, you’ll keep your engine happy.
Engine shop tips and tricks.
PPLUS Global Logistics, a freight management provider, recently released a guide outlining the proper steps for crating a performance engine for shipping. Obviously, given the expense and potential for damage to these high-value engines, shipping them requires careful attention to detail to ensure their safe transportation. Related Articles – Shop Solutions August 2023 – The
Engine shop tips and tricks.
