Shop Solutions: April 2008
Charging For Expert Advice Bench racers wasting your time? Our shop labor rate is $80 per hour. I sell my advice for 1/2 price! When a guy wants me to engineer a motor by selecting parts combinations and machining specs to achieve a specific level of performance, I charge him for my time. I explain
Crankshaft Selection Dictated by Design
We like to think that inside a modern engine, for all the violent explosions and metal-straining power, a whole world of harmony can be found. Parts work together to produce the most power possible, races are won and trophies are captured. Of course, this “cooperation” is a little deceptive. While there are dozens of parts
351W Crate Engines Available
Working in conjunction with Hi-Tech Engine Components, Year One Inc., a supplier of muscle car restoration products, has developed a new 400 horsepower 351W crate engine for Ford applications. These engines feature new high-performance aluminum heads with 2.02 and 1.60 stainless steel valves, dual plane aluminum intake manifolds and new high-quality, dual bolt pattern harmonic
Old Iron: Tuning A Carbureted Engine
Even if you build the perfect engine all your hard work means very little if the customer is not satisfied with how their engine performs. So like it or not, you will have to become involved in engine tuning or at the least provide your customer with tuning guidelines if you want to have a
2007 MAHLE Engine Builder Showdown to Air Twice in December
Ann Arbor, MI, – Horsepower TV, a leading automotive television series, is devoting a full 30-minute episode on the 2007 MAHLE Engine Builder Showdown. Horsepower TV airs on Spike TV, a leading cable television network popular with automotive and sporting enthusiasts. The Showdown, which was held at the NASCAR® Technical Institute in Mooresville, NC, resulted
Bringing A GenIII LS1 Stroker Back to Life
Performance engine builing is as old as the first Model T rebuild, but thanks to today’s new engine platforms and a plethora of aftermarket equipment, many engine builders can be intimidated by the scope of the possibilities. But, as we highlight in this article, there are basic engine practices and philosophies that work whether it
Push Rods & Lifters
The pushrods and lifters work with the camshaft and rocker arms to open the engine’s valves. This basic setup has changed little since the earliest days of pushrod engines. The only major change in these components has been roller lifters replacing flat bottom lifters on late model engines. Even so, there’s still a market for
Stroker Engine Kits
For more than 50 years the old saying “There’s no substitute for cubic inches” has been the credo of nearly every racer and hot rodder. Whoever created this unwritten universal law could never have imagined to what extremes today’s speed enthusiasts would take it. Now, unless you have a 420cid-plus small-block or a 550cid-plus big-block
Balancing Equipment: Weighing the Options
Engine balancing is an important part of the process of building a performance engine today. In order to achieve the maximum performance and long component life, all rotating and reciprocal parts of an engine must be precision balanced. To properly balance an engine requires specialized equipment to measure the amount of unbalance and to locate
Coretalk
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) did not vote late last year on a proposal that would have extended emissions warranties to 15 years/150,000 miles on defective emissions-related components. The determination came during a CARB hearing on changes to the Emissions Warranty Information Reporting (EWIR) requirement that would have required car companies that experience more
Understanding High Performance Valvetrain Technology
Parts are getting lighter, stronger and capable of producing more horsepower than ever before. One of the driving forces behind these advances has been the proliferation of aftermarket cylinder heads that require unique valvetrain components. In addition, new computer-aided design, modeling and manufacturing techniques are making it easier and faster for valvetrain component suppliers to
Engine Sealing: High Performance Head Gaskets
One thing no engine builder wants to worry about is a head gasket failure, whether it is a NASCAR cup engine, a Pro Stock drag racing engine, a dirt track engine, a hot street engine or even a stock engine. Stock head gaskets hold up well enough under normal loads. But as compression ratios and
High Performance Rocker Arms, Valve Springs, Retainers and Locks
On a small block Chevy, altering the rocker arm geometry without changing the rocker arm lift ratio can add 15 to 20 horsepower at the rear wheels. The stock lift ratio for a small block (SB) Chevy V8 rocker arm is 1.5:1, and for a big block (BB) Chevy V8, the ratio is 1.7:1. Bolt-on
How To Eat an Elephant
Over the past 13 years, readers of this magazine have come to expect creativity, innovation and a healthy “gee whiz” factor from the annual Machine Shop of the Year Award winners. From technical expertise to absolute professionalism, the winners of this prestigious award have been great representatives of this industry. New last year at MMM&P
Pistons and Pins: What’s New
Asking piston manufacturers “what’s new” reveals a number of trends that are reshaping the piston business today. One is that there’s no longer a time lag of three or four years for aftermarket piston suppliers to tool up for the latest piston applications. Production engine remanufacturers (PERs) and custom engine rebuilders (CERs) are asking for
Balancing Equipment: a weighty matter
Everybody knows what balance is, right? You maintain your own balance by centering your body mass over your feet. If you lean too far forward or backward, or too far to the left or right, you’ll lose your balance and fall unless you grab hold of something or reposition your feet. Moving your center of
Performance Cam Revolution – Valvetrain Advances Give More Power to the People
When selecting a performance camshaft, everything in the engine must be considered because change one thing and something else is affected. One cam supplier said that advances seem to happen daily, so it is important to stay abreast of the latest trends. The basic function of the camshaft is to open and close the valves
Fast Lane: Old-Time Engines Can Bring In Very Modern Profits
Perhaps one of the most often overlooked markets for many shops is the collector car and restoration market, and within this I would also include antique trucks of all sizes, antique tractors and farm machinery and antique construction equipment and machinery. We discussed a few of these markets, such as muscle cars and antique tractor
Which Cranksfaft Meets Your Racing Needs Best?
There are a lot of racing crankshafts in the automotive aftermarket today. You’ll find a wide variety of styles, strokes, weights and price ranges from which you can choose. The question you need to be asking is which crank is “right” for the engine you’re building? The answer to that question depends on several things
Coretalk: Pentagon 9/11 Survivor To Keynote PERA Convention
After American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon, very close to his second floor office, LTC Birdwell was thrown to the ground and engulfed in flames. Of the burns that consumed 60 percent of his body, nearly half were third-degree burns. With more than 30 operations and months of multiple skin grafts and burn