Publisher, Engine Builder Magazine
Booth Visits Remind Us Why We

There’s something to be said for stability and as we come to the last issue of 2011, I’d like to thank all of our long-time readers and advertisers for their continued support of Engine Builder magazine. Since we can’t physically come to each of your shops to do it, I’m instead sending out a virtual

Jasper, Sunnen Give Away Street Performance Engine For Charity

Sunnen Products and Jasper Engines and Transmissions have teamed up to produce a high performance engine that features a full complement of aftermarket parts. According to Ron Williams, SMTSE, Southeastern Regional Mgr. for Sunnen, the proceeds from the raffle all go to charity. One hundred percent of the money raised from the Rev It Up

Marine Engine Market: Tugboats to Tankers

According to the American Waterways Operators (AWO) association, there are about 4,000 tug boats in operation nationally on inland and coastal waterways. Thanks to increased environmental awareness, many of those tugs are working harder than ever. Likewise, the engine rebuilders servicing this market segment are working hard as well. According to Mike Haight of Ironman

When You

Unfortunately, a lot of engine rebuilders and remanufacturers seem to question the value of membership as well, and they’re needlessly working too hard. Businesses are usually encouraged by profitability experts to band together with similar companies in their industry. Not to set prices or steal employees, mind you, but to share experiences, trade war stories

2011 Machine Shop Market Profile – Part 2

To us, diversity means a shop’s ability to do an increasing amount of various types of engine builds and engine machine work in a variety of engine markets. CERs today are more and more capable of doing everything from a single cylinder gas or diesel slugger to a 16-cylinder marine, industrial or off-road engine to

2011 Machine Shop Market Profile – Part 1

For what seems like an eternity, it has almost become commonplace to wait for the eye roll, the shake of the head and the hangdog expression before hearing the familiar refrain, “Oh, man, let me tell you…” In the engine building business, of course, the standard response industry-wide has, for many years, been simple:?Lousy. Numbers

Ford 4.6L SOHC Labor Cost Study

Ford has built the 4.6L motors in both the Romeo Engine Plant, located in Romeo, MI, and at the Windsor Engine Plant and the Essex Engine Plant, both located in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The 4.6L has been offered in 2-valve SOHC, 3-valve SOHC and 4-valve DOHC versions. The engines were also offered with both aluminum

Advances in Engine Component Surface Finishes

For their part, parts suppliers are often sympathetic to the concerns of engine builders. Alan Davis from Eagle Specialty explains: “There have been a lot of ‘snake oils’ and ‘voodoo’ in the past. Any results you can’t quantify by obvious results on the dyno or by other tests are risky at best.” Anyone who has

Balancing And The Bottom Line

Balancing, once considered to be important in this industry only to performance engine builders, has lately become a sought-after service in some segments you may never have considered. Yet good-old-fashioned engine balancing remains an important profit center in many machine shop operations. If the engine components (pistons, rods and crankshaft) aren’t in balance you’ll experience

Sportsman Drag Racing Engine Rules

Dragracing – lining up next to the other guy and seeing who’s got the beststuff – remains an incredibly popular sport, for both spectators andparticipants. Although multi-lap circle track and road racingcompetition may have received the lion’s share of media attention overthe past several years, mashing the throttle and driving to the finishline is good

Cultivating Diesel Success Using Unconventional Approaches

While most of Osborne’s customers never even come through the Liverpool, NY shop’s door, their continued patronage has pushed Syracuse Crank to record sales figures over the past few years, he says. “We were at 31 percent growth last year over the year before, and the year before last we were 26 percent higher.  Our

Lingenfelter Performance Engineering

Nathan Sheets, marketing manager for Lingenfelter Performance Engineering, explains that the company today offers engine building, engine and chassis tuning components and installation for vehicle owners; component product development; services to manufacturers, aftermarket and original equipment suppliers; prototype and preparation of product development vehicles; late product life-cycle performance improvements; durability testing; and show and media