High Performance Piston Options
Ask the kid on the street what performance is and he’ll raise the hood of his Honda. Ask the Funny Car drag racer about performance and he’ll take you to the starting line to breathe the nitromethane. Ask the mother on vacation and she’ll tell you about driving to California from Indiana pulling a car
What’s Wrong With Our Industry
What’s wrong with the engine building industry today? It’s a simple question that has no simple answer. Like many other – if not every – industry facing difficult times, the factors impacting this market are varied, complex and frustratingly hard to pin down. Are the woes of the industry the fault of customers or suppliers?
Rebuilding The Ford 2.0L
The old 1.9L was modified and upgraded in the process of making it into the 2.0L. The new engine was bored and stroked, it had siamesed cylinders that made the block stronger and quieter, the crank had four more counterweights that made it run smoother, and it had domed pistons for more compression. The
Rebuilding the Ford 5
Doug Anderson is president of Grooms Engines, Parts, Machining, Inc., located in Nashville, TN. He has authored numerous technical articles on engine rebuilding for Engine Builder magazine for more than 15 years. Anderson has also made many technical presentations on engine building at AERA and PERA conventions and seminars. The 330/5.4L Ford engine was introduced
Incoming AERA Chairman Mike Schaefer, Southern Illinois Crankshaft
Ask Mike Schaefer, incoming chairman of the Engine Rebuilders Association (AERA) what the association means to him and he’ll have an immediate and impactful answer: "Without AERA, we wouldn’t have survived." When he opened the doors to Southern Illinois Crankshaft, Red Bud, IL, in November of 1985, and bought his first crank grinder, the salesman
Dodge City’s Finest; Harry’s Machine Works
No history of the American West would be complete without extensive recollections of Dodge City, KS. Formed as a convenient railroad stop to serve the new Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad, Dodge City offered something for everyone. That is, if your tastes ran to buffalo hunting, gambling or gunfighting. In its early days, Dodge
The Smooth Science of Cylinder Honing
The basics of honing cylinder blocks hasn’t changed much in recent years, but what has changed are the type of abrasives being used by many engine builders. Silicon carbide and aluminum oxide honing stones of various grits have long been used in power honing machines and portable hones to finish cylinder bores. These types
The Properties Of Cast Iron
The reality is that much of what you understand and have been taught about welding cast iron may be incorrect. Cast iron is not used because it’s cheap, but because it has very good properties and works extremely well as the metal of choice for many engine blocks and cylinder heads. Cast iron has gotten
Rebuilding the Ford 4.6L SOHC Engine
The 4.6L was lower, shorter and lighter than the 302, but the base engine made more power than the 302, got better fuel economy and passed all the emission tests without a thermactor pump. Ford called it its “modular” engine because it was part of a whole new family of engines that were intended to
Dirt Track Dollars In the Shop and On the Track With Malcuit Racing Engines
It’s sometimes said that racers have motor oil or high octane racing fuel in their blood. Fearless drivers are accused of having ice-water running through their veins. For Strasburg, OH’s Brad Malcuit, the most likely ingredient pumping through his bloodstream is dirt, a fact he’ll happily attribute to family heritage. Malcuit is owner of Malcuit’s
Engine Crack Detection Technology
It doesn’t matter if you’re rebuilding a high mileage engine and reusing salvaged components or using brand new parts right out of the box – any highly stressed component or casting that has to withstand high loads, temperatures and/or pressures should always be inspected to make sure it is free from cracks or other defects
Rebuilding The Ford 3.8L Engine
They needed an economy engine that would fit in their new cars, and they needed it fast. They had a couple of old inline sixes and a small German V6, but none of them were designed for fuel economy or the coming emissions standards, and the 250 cid engine was so tall that it wouldn’t
Vincent Mancini Sees the Future of PERA ; Right Here, Right Now
You might think that a popular rock band would have nothing to contribute to an engine remanufacturer. You might think the best way to make a profit is to slash expenses by all means necessary. Or, you might think things would be better if your customer would just see your side of the story for
Coretalk: September 2001
Ford Plans to Revamp Parts Distribution Network Ford Motor Co. is working to restructure and expand its United States parts distribution network to deliver service and repair parts to its dealers faster and more efficiently. Over the next three years, Ford plans to increase the number of parts distribution centers from 10 to 21, creating
Ford 4.0L V6 Engine
The original 2.6L engine was replaced by the 2.8L, which was upgraded to the 2.9L and then finally bored and stroked to make it into the 4.0L that was used in the Rangers, Aerostars and Explorers starting in 1990. It was replaced by a SOHC engine from this same family at the end of model
Automotive Rebuilder Interview with Brad Hartmann, Hartmann Bros., Inc.
Brad Hartmann is president of Hartmann Bros. Inc., a heavy duty rebuilding operation located in Abilene, TX. He is the incoming chairman of AERA’s Vanguard committee, the group providing leadership opportunities to AERA members under the age of 40. Hartmann, 31, has been with the company since high school in the 1980s, beginning full-time employment
Torque-to-Angle/Yield Threaded Fasteners
All the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have fastener labs with lots of sophisticated equipment and well-educated people working on fastening issues. They even have their own professional association – The Bolting Technology Council – which holds meetings and seminars about fasteners. I’m not a fastener engineer, and I’m not going to make you into one.
Threaded Fasteners Torque-to-Yield and Torque-to-Angle
All the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have fastener labs with lots of sophisticated equipment and well-educated people working on fastening issues. They even have their own professional association – The Bolting Technology Council – which holds meetings and seminars about fasteners. I’m not a fastener engineer, and I’m not going to make you into one.
Rebuilding the GM / Chevy 2.2L Engine
Unfortunately, this four cylinder, pushrod motor didn’t have nearly enough horsepower, so Buick, Oldsmobile and Pontiac all opted for the 1.8L SOHC Opel engine from Brazil for most of their “J” cars, and Chevy promptly made its new engine into a 2.0L/121 cid that delivered more power in 1983. The 2.0L was upgraded in 1987
Rebuilding the New Chevy 262
This enabled GM to shorten the development process dramatically because it was able to adapt a proven design. But it also allowed it to share a lot of the existing tooling from the V8 production lines so the engines could be on the road sooner. The original 200 V6 that came out in 1978 was