Coretalk: Consolidated Mfg. Cuts Staff, Shifts Focus Away From Remanufacturing
During a plantwide meeting in late February, company officials told 100 workers their jobs were eliminated. The company retained 20 employees for 30 to 60 days to handle the transition, said Greg Gordon, company president. Consolidated will retain 18 employees. The company, founded in 1940 and one of the nation’s first Ford Motor Co. engine
Performance Notes, How To Compete With The Crate Motor Business
If you are a regular reader of the performance automotive consumer magazines you may have spotted a trend – many of the feature cars and tech articles are focused on crate motors. To an engine builder specializing in custom high performance engines, and for engine builders looking to get into the performance arena, this could
Coretalk: Dallas To Host PERA Spring Technical Meeting March 30-April 1 2006
The meeting, a combination of technical sessions and facility tours, will begin with a cash reception in the hotel’s lobby bar on Thursday, March 30. The technical program is slated to begin on Friday, March 31st, following breakfast hosted by PERA. Ray Fink, PERA’s new president and president of AER Manufacturing Inc., in Carrollton, TX,
Fast Lane, Is Diversification Your Key To Performance Profits?
In past “Fast Lane” columns I have talked about how important it is for a shop to start slowly when entering the high performance and motorsports field. Starting slowly would mean starting with just one type of engine, or racing “class” or organization, so that you can become very good at what you do. To
Ward’s Auto World Names 12th Annual ‘Top 10 Best Engines’
Ward’s Auto World Names Twelfth Annual ‘Top 10 Best Engines’ The winners of “Ward’s 10 Best Engines” awards for 2006 demonstrate U.S. auto consumers still can have it all: many of the winning engines highlight sophisticated new technology that generates exhilarating performance – but also improves fuel economy. The 2006 list marks the 12th year
Coretalk: Tony Stewart Motorsports To Headline SME Show
Stewart’s personal race team, which is a passion for the versatile NASCAR, IndyCar and USAC champion, will be featured on the show floor on January 24-25 at the Performance Theater. “The competition level is so tight right now – any extra bit of speed or performance you can squeeze out of your car can be
Marine Engines: Setting a Course for Profits
There are hundreds of thousands of motorboats cruising the waterways and coasts of America. It’s easy to think the market for rebuilding engines for all those crafts might be a niche ripe for the picking. Some rebuilders estimate the size of the marine engine market to be fairly small, perhaps less than 130,000 engines per
Tech Notes
Engine Builders: The AERA Technical Committee offers the following information on an exhaust noise for 2002-2004 GM 4.2L engines. This noise may be coming from under the vehicle or from the engine compartment. The cause of this noise may be from one or two known sources. The first location that may be causing this type
Restoration – Yesterday’s Treasures, Tomorrow’s Trophies
There have been tremendous and significant changes in vehicle design since the first gasoline-powered vehicle hit the streets of America back in the early 1890s. Such advancements as fuel injection, radial tires, variable valve train technology, roller cams and front-wheel drive, among many others, have made cars easier to maintain, safer to drive and more
Shop Line
I’ve had complaints of a strange rattling noise on some 4.0L Rover engines, any ideas? The AERA Technical Committee offers the following information regarding rocker arm noise on 1997-2001 4.0L Rover engines. Customer complaints of a rattling/tapping noise from the engine have been found to originate from the rocker shaft area. The noise may result
Common Technologies, Uncommon Fuels, New Challenges
There is a “shade tree law” from the 1970s that states that computing capacity doubles every few years. In fact, computing capacity for the size of the computer or device has outstripped that by several orders of magnitude in the last five years. As evidence of that, we now see cell phones that were only
Coretalk: Recon Automotive Founder Armand J. Mancini Dies
He leaves behind his wife of 42 years, Carole, and three sons and a daughter – Armand, Vincent, Daniel and Carrie Mancini Young. He is also survived by three brothers, a sister and six grandchildren. Mancini was an icon of the automotive remanufacturing industry, having founded Recon in 1973 and building it into one of
Coretalk: Female Engine Builders, Hear Them Roar
Clevite Engine Parts has sponsored the Clevite Engine Builder Challenge Series since 1990 and has hosted the event at industry trade shows, conferences, race tracks and open house events for customers – but this was the first build to feature women only. Sandi Holder, of Holder Automotive Machine, and Becky Tardif, of Accurate Cylinderhead Service,
Coretalk: NAPA Awards Crank Biz To Hi-Tech’s New Venture
The Hi-Tech Blueprint series crankshaft is restored to the original factory blueprint specifications. Blueprint Series crankshafts are delivered directly to NAPA stores in the U.S. on an overnight basis, including a program for Alaska and Hawaii. The company offers application coverage for more than 1,000 part numbers for auto, truck and marine. “NAPA chose this
Gen III GM Small Block Engine, LS1 Motor for Cars, Trucks
The first generation small block was revised to create the second generation LT1/LT4 that was used for some applications from ’92 to ’97, but the results didn’t satisfy the people at GM Powertrain, so they started all over in ’91 and designed a brand new small block. It’s officially called the “Gen III” motor, but
The Mid-range Diesel Engine Market
The diesel engine market is a very complex one, but it can be broken down into three basic categories: light-, medium- and heavy-duty. These categories could then be broken down further into on-highway, off-highway and agricultural. In 2004 roughly 1.5 million new diesel engines were produced in North America, a whopping 79.6 percent of which
Gessford Machine, 2004 Machine Shop of the Year
If you asked a roomful of people to make a list of the 20 most exciting cities in the world, you would probably find New York, London, Paris, Rome and Beijing on every list. While the exact order and final tally of cities might vary, it’s unlikely that Hastings, NE, would even be mentioned. But
Making Horsepower and Horse Sense From Your Dyno
A dyno can give an engine builder an enormous wealth of information and even separate the truth from lies. It’s one thing for a builder to have an idea of what the engine he or she is building is capable of and quite another to know exactly what’s been created. That’s because a dyno, more
Coretalk: GM, DaimlerChrysler Join Forces To Produce Hybrid Automobile Engines By ’07
Although financial terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed, the collaboration is likely to involve an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars between the automakers. The first of the vehicles is to debut in 2007 – when Toyota has said it hopes its hybrid model sales will total several hundred thousand worldwide. GM, which has
Washington Way: Battle Over Heavy Duty OBD Repair Info Continues
In early 2003, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) decided to extend to heavy-duty vehicles the on-board-diagnostics information access rules then applicable only to automobiles and light duty vehicles. These access rules specify the information which the vehicle manufacturers have to make accessible from within the OBD system on their vehicles and from outside the