2008 Editions Archives - Page 3 of 6 - Engine Builder Magazine
The Inside Angle on Valve Seats: What you need to know to go with the flow

No one knows airflow better than the legendary Joe Mondello, who rose to fame back in the 1960s for his race-winning cylinder head work. “Back in those days, we didn’t have flow benches to test our work. Our test bench was the drag strip. If a modification worked and made the car run faster, that’s

Still The Same Old Grind?

The market for crankshaft grinding has changed a great deal in recent years. With many passenger car and light truck engines now lasting upward of 200,000 miles, there’s much less demand for grinding crankshafts than there used to be. By the time the engine needs major work, the vehicle has often depreciated to the point

Carburetor Tuning: A/F Mixture, Air/Fuel Equation

Now that the ignition spark timing advance curves are optimized for the blend of reformulated and/or oxygenated gasoline your customers are using we will now show you how we use tools such as a 5-gas exhaust analyzer and wideband Lambda air/fuel (A/F) meter to tune the mixture. The Air/Fuel Mixture A lean fuel mixture can

Get Ready For The Perfect Storm

Prior to $5 per gallon gas many of us wouldn’t have given the sport compact market a second thought. After 13 years of meteoric growth, the high performance sport compact market stalled, nosed over, and settled into a holding pattern. The Fast & Furious crowd just lost interest. The huge sport compact enthusiast books suffered

2008 Machine Shop Market Profile – Part II

Back in 2001, as you’re likely to remember, Automotive Rebuilder took the radical step of changing our identity to Engine Builder, the magazine you’re reading now. The decision to do so was not made lightly, but was the result of careful realization that we couldn’t be all things to everyone in the entire rebuilding industry.

Balance of Power (and Profit)

One of the keys to a smooth running, long lasting engine is proper balance of the reciprocating and rotating parts. When a crankshaft is out of balance, the uneven distribution of weight can generate centripetal forces that shake the engine with increasing intensity as engine rpm goes up. Centripetal force (which many people mistakenly call

Machine Shop Market Profile – Part 1

When life starts handing out lemons, say the feel-good self-help gurus, the smart money is on the person who not only makes lemonade but figures out a way to sell it for a profit. While the readers of Engine Builder might be hard-pressed to find time to manage a lemonade stand, the analogy still applies:

Ram Tough Rebuild

The B-series Cummins engine may potentially go down in history as the single most important engine development project, strategic market share gain and opportunity for diversification partnerships in Cummins history. The Cummins B-series is a family of four- and six-cylinder inline engines known as the “one-liter per cylinder” in both the popular 3.9L four-cylinder and

Engine Sealing Technology

Since the days of sealing engines with asbestos, cork, rope and paper are, for the most part, ancient history, new-age materials and designs have elevated the critical role gaskets and seals play in the longevity of an engine. Finding the optimum sealing material and design remain a challenge many gasket manufacturers face as engines are

Like Switching From Black and White to Color TV with Microwave Popcorn

I recently turned an age where you no longer want to talk about your age. An age where back pain and creaky bones start to set in, but everyone keeps telling you that you’re not that old. I remember when I was a kid and we got our first microwave and made the switch from

Cutting Tools and Abrasives

One of tricks of the trade of machining engine parts is choosing the right cutting tool or abrasive for that particular job. Different metals have different machinability characteristics. A cutting tool or abrasive that works well on one application may not work so well on another application.   Years ago when most engine parts were