Cleaning Cylinder Heads and Blocks
The cleaning process should remove all of the dirt, grease, oil, rust, scale and carbon deposits that have accumulated over the years. With painted castings, the old paint also has to be stripped away so the surface can be repainted. Even if you’re working with brand new castings, a final cleaning is still necessary after
Engine Builder Shop Solutions: July 2011
Editor’s Note: Over the past few months we have published several views on engine pre-oiling. This month is no exception. Here is an idea on how to save money on a priming tank. Low Cost Priming Tank I prime the oil system in every engine I build. It’s cheap and easy insurance against a dry
Tips for Hotter Street & Strip Performance
Long’s HO Enterprises Performance Auto (www.hoenterprisesclassics.com) in Birnamwood, WI, sells hot rod parts, but his once traditional view on performance is changing as he sees his sons working on late-model imported cars with port fuel injection and “coffee can” exhausts. “Yeah, I think it’s all electronics now, but at least they’re car guys” Long points
Racing Oils
As a motorhead physicist, I get to look at engine lubrication from theviews of both an oil formulator and an engine failure analysis expert.Since I used nitromethane fuels when I raced funny cars, I’ve seen morethan my share of engine failures. I’ve also formulated oils for usewith alcohol and nitro burning engines, but let’s leave
Communication Breakdown: Diagnosing Engine Bearing Failure
Engine builders turn into medical examiners when this happens; getting the story behind the story is what you must do to understand what went wrong and what to do to avoid it in the future. According to engine bearing experts, a failed bearing is not usually the fault of the bearing but rather the fault
Performance Lifters, Pushrods and Valve Springs
Low friction roller lifters replaced flat tappet lifters many years ago in stock production engines, but there are still plenty of hot flat tappet cams bumping the valves open in vintage muscle cars, street rods and race cars. Even NASCAR is still using flat tappet cams to actuate the valves. The advantage of flat tappet
Dura-Bond Promotes Bob McBroom to VP Operations, Engineering
In his new position, McBroom will lead Dura-Bond’s efforts to oversee engineering, production, environmental, new product development, new production processes and maintenance activities. He will lead an experienced team to facilitate future growth of the company. Dura-Bond has seen strong growth in the aftermarket during the last two years. Bob has been with Dura-Bond for
Quarter Mile Foundation To Raffle Mondello ‘Vintage Rat’ Engine for PROJECT 1320
“Mary and I discussed the Project 1320 Raffle Engine and with Joe’s crew at the Mondello Technical Center,” said Hrudka. “Everyone at the Technical Center is fully committed to completing the engine well in advance of the drawing. Mary told me, ‘Joe would want this engine finished. It will be a wonderful tribute and a
Three Reasons to Wear a Coat
What’s not usually as well known is the incredible versatility that coatings have in dealing with a huge range of problems. The number of uses for various coatings in performance applications is mind-boggling and nearly limitless, but in order to keep the possibilities cost effective and manageable it’s useful to think about it in terms
PERA To Host
Dr. Dmitri Kopeliovich, research and development manager for King Engine Bearings will explain the features and benefits of different bearing materials, as well as, the main causes of engine bearing failures. Without the right material and construction, engine bearings are subject to cavitation erosion, fretting and spider webbing, extrusion, migration, cratering and overlay fatigue, all
Oiling Systems For Grassroots Racing
One of the first things to look at when building an engine is the oiling system. Dry sump systems are very scalable and efficient but are not known to be inexpensive by any means. Wet sump systems, on the other hand, offer affordability and can handle some impressive performance applications, but using all stock components
Common Failure Modes
For years, B&G Machine had been a diesel machine shop serving Seattle and the upper Northwest part of the U.S. To address certain market conditions in the mid- to late-’90s, we began building diesel engines. In doing so, we tried to identify the engines that would best serve a captive market – markets that would
Engine Builder Shop Solutions: May 2011
Editor’s Note: In March we printed a Shop Solution titled, “Oil Pump and Engine Priming” supplied by Melling. Here is another opinion suggesting an alternative method of pre-oiling a newly rebuilt engine. Alternative Method to Pre-Oiling Tip I respectfully disagree with the published tip on how to properly prime a new engine’s oiling
PERA Announces
Gary Reed from Lock-N-Stitch kicked off the "What’s New and What It Means to You" series in April with a webinar about casting repairs. Other noted speakers are to include Bill McKnight from MAHLE, Dr. Dmitri Kopeliovich from King Engine Bearings and Mark Ferner from Shell Oil. May 18 Understanding the Design and Function
Oiling System 101
Factory stock engine blocks were designed to be mass-producedeconomically and to operate in a passenger car environment. Originalequipment oiling systems are typically restrictive and feed oil to thetop of the engine first. The common practice has been to use ahigh-volume oil pump to offset these shortcomings and help the mainbearings get more oil to survive.
2011 High Performance Engine Parts & Surface Finish Tech Guide
(Download and view the .pdf here) Sponsored by:
Sprint Car Engines: The Current State-of-the-Art
Sprint Cars are just about the fastest machines in racing, often running two or three seconds faster per lap than late model stock cars. There’s no time to just tool around in this form of racing, no pit stops, and it’s over before you know it. Everything is to the limit with engines pushing between
2011 High Performance Engine Parts & Surface Finish Tech Guide
(Download and view the .pdf here) Sponsored by:
Sometimes You Get The Unexpected
I’m speaking of cam bearings, particularly those in OHV engineapplications. What brought this to my attention was what I would call a“textbook” case of cam bearing oil bleed-out that caused the rodbearings to fail. Don’t follow me? I’m not surprised. I’m certain manyof you may be scratching your heads wondering what I mean by that.
Liberty Engine Parts Hosts AERA Tech & Skills Conference
"We hosted more than 120 customers and 25 vendors, which are both records for these conferences," said Liberty’s Tim Fisher. "Plus, we served 12 dozen fresh donuts and 12 dozen soft Philadelphia pretzels during the day in addition to authentic South Philly Italian food for lunch. So yes, you could say that we believe it