Commentary Archives - Page 7 of 21 - Engine Builder Magazine
Birthdays With a Zero Really Are Better

When you’re young, birthdays matter. That first one? Pretty important, especially because they give you a cake that you get to eat all by yourself. After that, the parties are goofy fun, and for a few years in your teens, it’s really good. At 16 you get your license, at 17 you can get into

Top 15 Music in Cars Movie Scenes

This is a list of some of the greatest movie scenes featuring characters singing songs while in/on vehicles. Just try to keep from singing along at your desk.

Engine Building Bloopers

I learned early when doing an engine for a customer, especially a partial job, with the end user finishing construction, the importance of knowing that person’s capabilities – or better put – incapabilities. Over my many years I have witnessed some amazing engine bloopers.

When You Can’t Buy It, Building It Expands Your Shop Capabilities.

We all get crazy ideas from time to time. Sometimes we see something and that sparks an idea. Other times we’ll have a need and, “necessity being the mother of invention,” we come up with an idea of how to build that special part or tool that would fix the problem. The majority of the

S & S Brings Know-How and Nostalgia to V-Twin Engines

As a maker of high-performance motorcycle engines, S&S can be linked to the industrial history of Wisconsin. However, the S&S story actually starts in Blue Island, IL, right after World War II. That’s when George J. Smith returned to his home in Blue Island and began tinkering with the engine on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Smith

Change Your Social Status

If you haven’t noticed one of our newer article series in the past 18 months called Engine of the Week, first off, where have you been living? Kidding, of course, but in all seriousness, Engine of the Week has been a popular article series for us where we tell a little bit of YOUR story

If You’re Not Measuring, You’re Guessing

Today’s tolerances are much closer than they have ever been and that is why exact measurement is necessary. Way back when, we mostly had to deal with three decimal places. Today we’re going out to four decimal places. Why? What has changed?

The Face Behind the Voice on the Phone

Whether it’s over the phone or over the front counter, customers – many of whom are women – are often intimidated by what they don’t know when it comes to their cars.

Heads or Tails

If you’re feeling a bit confused right now, not sure which way is up and worried that you may be losing your grip on reality. If you’ve found this column after reading Engine Builder’s High Performance Buyers Guide and things just look, well, strange – try this: turn the magazine over.    Now, does that

What Goes Around Comes Around

While researching the article on the efforts the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may or may not be making to put you out of business (page 44) I took a walk down memory lane.

Driven to Succeed

Optimize Personal Performance To Maximize Professional Profits I was looking back over the past 10 years since my first article appeared in the May 2008 Engine Builder issue and noticed a trend. Much of what I write about has to do with performance. Not speed or high performance, but something that might resemble personal performance. While

Heads or Tails

If you’re feeling a bit confused right now, not sure which way is up and worried that you may be losing your grip on reality. If you’ve found this column after reading Engine Builder’s High Performance Buyers Guide and things just look, well, strange – try this: turn the magazine over.    Now, does that