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>Cranks & Rods
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2013 FEBRUARY
Just because they’re old doesn’t mean they have to be retired
EngineBuilderMag.com
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Contents 02.13
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Features
ON THE COVER
Crankshafts & Connecting Rods
What goes around comes around and Technical Editor Larry Carley reports on ways to be sure the rotating assembly you install doesn’t come back. ....................................................18
Restoration Market
Just because they’re old doesn’t mean they have to be retired. The customers for engine restorations may fall somewhere in between the “keep it running” to the “numbers matchers.” Contributor John Gunnell finds out from the ‘resto’ experts ....................................24
18 Dirt Late Model Market
Contributors Bill Holder and John Carrollo talk to some of the most successful engine builders in the Dirt Late Model market, who are winning on some of the most popular race tracks in America, about the current conditions of the market for these engines and what may be ahead. ........................32
24 Columns
ERC Update ..................................11 By Courtney Carbone, ERC Staff Liaison Right to Repair legislation gets key victory as bill is passes in Massachusetts
Tales From the WD........................14
32
By Dave Sutton, Contributor Buying Parts In a Storm – Who’s Driving the Boat Anyway?
What’s On The Dyno......................23
Piston and Ring Selection It may be a “Chicken and Egg” question, but which is more important to your engine build, the Piston or the Ring? Technical Editor Larry Carley tries to solve the puzzle ........38
38 COVER DESIGN BY NICHOLE ANDERSON
By Brendan Baker, Senior Executive Editor QMP’s dunebuggy engine build is like the bully who kicks sand in your face
DEPARTMENTS Industry News......................................................6 Events ..................................................................4 Shop Solutions ....................................................12 2013 Supplier Spotlights ......................................44 Cores/Classifieds/Ad Index ..................................46 Final Wrap............................................................48 ENGINE BUILDER founded Oct. 1964 Copyright 2013 Babcox Media Inc.
ENGINE BUILDER (ISSN 1535-041X) (February 2013, Volume 49, Number 2): Published monthly by Babcox Media Inc., 3550 Embassy Parkway, Akron, OH 44333 U.S.A. Phone (330) 670-1234, FAX (330) 670-0874. Periodical postage paid at Akron, OH 44333 and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to ENGINE BUILDER, 3550 Embassy Parkway, Akron, OH 44333. A limited number of complimentary subscriptions are available to individuals who meet the qualification requirements. Call (330) 670-1234, Ext. 275, to speak to a subscription services representative or FAX us at (330) 670-5335. Paid Subscriptions are available for non-qualified subscribers at the following rates: U.S.: $69 for one year. Canada: $89 for one year. Canadian rates include GST. Ohio residents add current county sales tax. Other foreign rates/via air mail: $129 for one year. Payable in advance in U.S. funds. Mail payment to ENGINE BUILDER, P.O. Box 75692, Cleveland, OH 44101-4755. VISA, MasterCard or American Express accepted. Publisher reserves the right to reject any subscription that does not conform to his standards or buying power coverage. Advertising which is below standard is refused. Opinions in signed articles and advertisements are not necessarily those of this magazine or its publisher. Diligent effort is made to ensure the integrity of every statement. Unsolicited manuscripts must be accompanied by return postage.
2 February 2013 | EngineBuilder
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Events
Industry Events February 22-24 Race and Performance Expo St. Charles, IL www.raceperformanceexpo.com or 630-584-6300
March 6-8 The Work Truck Show Indianapolis, IN www.ntea.com/worktruckshow or 800-441-6832
March 14-16 Hot Rod and Restoration Show Indianapolis, IN www.hotrodshow.com or 800-576-8788
March 22-23 Mid America Trucking Show Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center, KY www.truckingshow.com or 502-899-3892
April 14-15 SAE 2013 High Efficiency IC Engine Symposium Detroit, MI www.sae.org or 877-606-7323
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April 16-18 2013 SAE World Congress Cobo Center, Detroit, MI www.sae.org or 877-606-7323
May 1-3 AAIA Spring Leadership Days Bonita Springs, FL www.aftermarket.org
May 21-22 Global Automotive Aftermarket Symposium (GAAS) Hyatt Regency, Chicago, IL www.globalsymposium.org
July 10-12 PAACE Automechanika Mexico Mexico City, Mexico www.paaceautomechanika.com or 678-732-2429
For more industry events, visit our website at
www.enginebuildermag.com or subscribe to
www.aftermarketnews.com.
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Industry News
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Oliver Racing Parts Names Ondercin As VP of Operations
Oliver Racing Parts, a motorsports and high-performance connecting rod manufacturer, has hired veteran manufacturing engineer Kenneth Ondercin as vice president of operations. Ondercin will oversee all production activities for Oliver Racing Parts – from design and engineering to manufacturing and quality assurance. He also will be responsible for implementing machinery and equipment upgrades over the next year to enable the company to increase production capacity and expand its lineup of aftermarket racing parts. “Ken has run facilities large and small, from machine shops to highly precise aerospace operations,” said Joseph Moch, president and CEO of Oliver Racing Parts. “Having dealt with all aspects of CNC operations, he is well-suited to oversee our facility
operations and infrastructure improvements.” Ondercin has 45 years of manufacturing experience and joins Oliver from DE-STA-CO industries, where he was manufacturing engineering manager for their Charlevoix, MI, operation. From 1999 to 2010, Ondercin was with Skilled Manufacturing Inc. (SMI) of Traverse City, MI, developing equipment to manufacture aerospace and automotive components. He worked with management, quality and production to achieve AS 9100 quality standard, and was in charge of the continuous improvement cost reduction programs for SMI. Last month, ACAT Global of Charlevoix, MI, which manufactures lightweight, efficient metallic catalytic converter substrates, purchased a significant stake in Oliver Racing Parts, including all of the company’s debt. ACAT is also investing in Oliver’s upcoming machinery and equipment upgrades.
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Shell And Pennzoil Extend Alliance With Penske Racing For NASCAR, IndyCar Penske Corp. and Shell have confirmed a multi-year extension of their ongoing alliance in North America. As part of the agreement, Shell and Pennzoil will continue sponsoring Penske Racing entries in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the IZOD IndyCar Series. Pennzoil will continue to be the “Official Motor Oil” of Penske Racing. Shell and Pennzoil will continue to be the primary sponsor of the Penske Racing No. 22 car for 33 races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Proven race-winning driver Joey Logano joins the team this season racing the distinctive Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion beginning in 2013. For the third consecutive season, three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves will continue to represent the Shell and Pennzoil premium brands in 2013. Castroneves will drive the No. 3 Shell V-Power Pennzoil
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Industry News
Ultra IndyCar at the Indianapolis 500 on May 26 as well as at the inaugural Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston series doubleheader, Oct. 5-6. Shell and Pennzoil also will be associate sponsors on all Penske Racing cars competing throughout the season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series as well as the IZOD IndyCar Series.
Holley Announces Wiggins As Vice President of Sales Holley has appointed Trevor Wiggins as its vice president of sales. In this role, Wiggins will lead the Holley sales team in supporting customers of Holley Fuel Systems as well as other Holley products and brands including Earl’s Performance Plumbing, NOS Nitrous Oxide Systems, Hooker Headers, FlowTech Exhaust and Weiand. Wiggins brings with him nearly two decades of high-level sales experience in the automotive coatings industry with DuPont Performance Coatings, as well as racing experience
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in a wide range of motorsports. “Trevor’s lifetime of racing experience combined with his proven track record as a sales professional will help take Holley to the next level. Over the last few years, we’ve been growing our sales force with an emphasis on technical expertise and we’re now very excited to have Trevor on board to lead the charge at the VP level,” said Tom Tomlinson, Holley’s president. Prior to joining Holley, he was a national accounts manager for key automotive aftermarket accounts including warehouse distributors and retailers as well as OEM customers across 92 locations worldwide. A lifelong racer, Wiggins has spent time in shifter carts, Formula Ford, Formula Mazda and Toyota Atlantic, as well as in NTPA truck and tractor pulling. He is currently an NHRA Super Comp drag racing competitor and Bonneville Salt Flats racer. Recent achievements include a runner-up finish at the prestigious Gator Nationals and salt flat runs in a 1932 Ford C-Gas
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Roadster, owned by George Poteet. “I am truly excited to mix my passion with my professional career,” explains Wiggins. “I have used Holley products all my life and have the utmost confidence in them. It’s easy to sell and support something you believe in. I look forward to working with all of Holley’s customers to develop mutually satisfying business programs.”
Trick Flow to Build Big Block Ford for ’13 SuperSeries Top Class Champion Trick Flow Specialties recently announced it will be building the engine for the Maddox Race Cars dragster that will be awarded to the 2013 IHRA Summit Racing SuperSeries Top Class Champion. Trick Flow designed and assembled the 565 cubic inch big block Chevrolet engine that was part of the prize package awarded to Tim Butler, the 2012 Summit Racing SuperSeries Top Class Champion. Outfitted with Trick Flow
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THIS ISSUE:
PG 12 >> Shop Solutions
PowerPort 360 cylinder heads modified by two-time NHRA Pro Stock champion Jason Line, the big block Chevy made 1,103 peak horsepower and 770 lbs.-ft. of peak torque on Trick Flow’s SuperFlow dyno. For 2013, Trick Flow will be going Blue Oval with a big block Ford. Based on a Ford Racing 460 siamesed-bore iron block, the engine will feature a pair of Trick Flow’s PowerPort A460 360 cylinder heads. Other manufacturers featured in the engine build include Scat, Crower, Howards Cams, ARP and MAHLE Clevite. While the configuration of the engine has not been finalized, all of the parts used in the build will be off-the-shelf and readily available from suppliers like Summit Racing Equipment. “We’re proud and excited to build another engine for the Summit Racing SuperSeries Top Class Champion prize package,” said Mike Downs, Trick Flow General Manager. “It’s an opportunity to showcase our cylinder heads and other products to IHRA sportsman racers, plus let people see how easy it is to build big power with offthe-shelf parts. In fact, our goal with this Ford big block is to surpass the horsepower we made with the Chevy – and by a substantial margin, too!” The engine will be awarded to the 2013 Summit Racing SuperSeries Top Class champion at IHRA’s Summit Racing Equipment World Finals, October 11-12 at Memphis International Raceway. The company also recently announced that it has been named the official cylinder head company of the Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park, starting with the 2013 racing season. Trick Flow will display its products at many of the track's major events. The company will also return as the sponsor of Fright Night at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park's Halloween Classic in October.
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their skill at breaking down and reassembling a small block Chevy according to event rules. The Hot Rodders of Tomorrow Engine Challenge, created in 2008, was the brainchild of Jim Bingham, owner of Winner’s Circle Speed and Custom Inc. The engine challenge was developed initially as a special event for Winner’s Circle’s Race and Performance Expo. With only five teams competing in the inaugural year but with added encouragement from Vic Edelbrock, Winner’s Circle has grown the event to become a nationwide competition that today encompasses over 600 students, seven events including the national championship, and 150
Industry News
sponsors. With financial support from DEI and other performance manufacturers, educational institutions, SEMA, PWA, AERA and more, over $6,000,000 has been raised for student scholarships from OTC, SAMS, and UNOH. Every student that places first through fifth in the nationals will win college scholarship funds. First place team members win $10,000 each, second place team members win $9,000 each, third place win $8,000 each, fourth place wins $7,000 each and fifth place wins $6,000 each to be used to pursue a career in the automotive aftermarket. Rodney Bingham, Hot Rodders of Tomorrow director, says, “We appreci-
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DEI to Sponsor 2013 Hot Rodders of Tomorrow Engine Challenge Design Engineering (DEI) has become the latest sponsor of the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow Engine Challenge, a program designed to encourage high school teens to take an interest in the performance aftermarket by providing a series of competitions that exhibit Circle 9 for more information EngineBuilderMag.com 9
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Industry News
ate DEI’s commitment to this event. Our youth have incredible talent and represent the future of the performance aftermarket. It has been very rewarding cultivating the growth of this engine challenge and seeing the dedication of the teams year after year. We are encouraged by the level of support from manufacturers like DEI who sincerely want to encourage youth to consider the performance aftermarket as a career.” The first Hot Rodders of Tomorrow Engine Challenge event begins February 22nd at the Race and Performance Expo in Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles, IL, and culminates at the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) show in Indianapolis in December. The display of the top teams competing at the annual SEMA show is a highlight for spectators and determines the teams that will compete at the Nationals event at PRI. For a full schedule events or to sign up a high school team to compete, go to hotroddersoftomorrow.com.
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NPW Showcases Both Its Roots And Its Wings At The Fourth Annual FAST Expo From a sumptuous black tie affair to a classic and colorful car show, National Performance Warehouse’s (NPW) fourth annual FAST Expo held in January had it all. Held at the Broward County Convention Center in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, the NPW Fast Expo brought together vendors, retailers, technicians and automotive enthusiasts, all of whom came out to see the latest products and innovations from aftermarket vendors, as well as a comprehensive collection of new and historical customized vehicles. The event kicked off Jan. 25, at the Tower Club in Ft. Lauderdale, where NPW hosted a black tie dinner for its “Million Dollar” vendors. Among the esteemed guests were VIPs from Autometer, Centric, Dorman Products, Edelbrock, Federal-Mogul, Holley, MSD Ignition, NGK Spark Plugs, Standard Motor Products, as well as Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance and The
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AAM Group. The NPW family of companies is a member of The AAM Group as well as a Bumper to Bumper shareholder of The Alliance. In recent months, NPW has acquired three new businesses, including Karbelt in Canada, Motor Warehouse in Sacramento, CA, and CMA Warehouse in Vernon, CA. The company also announced that it is in negotiations for three new acquisitions in 2013. Roughly 3,000 visitors attended the FAST Expo and Car Show, which took place on Sunday, Jan. 27 at the Broward County Convention Center. Attendees were treated to a visit from the Miami Heat cheerleaders, the opportunity to try out a race simulator at the Mobil1 booth, as well as try their luck at winning several hundred door prizes, including flatscreen TVs, promotional items from expo vendors and even the chance at a Caribbean cruise. A golf outing at the exclusive Emeral Hill Country Club in Hollywood, FL, also was held during the weekend of activities. ■
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COLUMNIST Courtney Carbone Courtney.carbone@aftermarket.org
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ERC Update
Right To Repair Victory
Right To Repair Passed in Mass.; Fed Passage Encouraged by Industry
ast August, Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick signed legislation “protecting motor vehicle owners and small businesses in repairing motor vehicles.” This state legislation (H 4362) is also known as the Massachusetts Right to Repair act. The action by the governor came after the bill was overwhelmingly passed by the state legislature (House 153-0 and by unanimous vote in the Senate) on July 31, the last day and in the last minutes of their session, prior to adjournment for 2012. Passage came after car companies, new car dealers and the Massachusetts Right to Repair Coalition reached a last-minute agreement that addressed issues of concern for the new car dealers and provided additional time for vehicle manufacturers to comply with certain provisions of the bill. However, the bill as drafted will provide significant benefits to the independent aftermarket and to car owners, not just in Massachusetts, but nationwide. Under H 4362, car companies will be required to make available to the independent vehicle repair industry on “fair and reasonable terms,” the same tools, software and repair information that they make available to their franchised dealers. The bill establishes criteria for determining “fair and reasonable terms” that are similar to those utilized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for judging the availability of emissions-related service information and tools from the manufacturers. Probably the most critical provisions to the long-term competitiveness of the aftermarket will be implemented in model year 2018 (which translates into 2017) and will require vehicle manufacturers to establish websites or “clouds” that will contain the same information and software that dealers
have access to as part of their proprietary tools. In addition, the new law mandates that car companies provide access to the vehicles’ diagnostic computers using a standardized vehicle interface that meets either the Society for Automotive Engineers (SAE) J 2534 or International Standards Organization (ISO) 22900 standards. Under this new mandate, technicians will have access to all of the software and tools at their fingertips, no matter which vehicle enters that shop. Since, under the new law, subscriptions to the cloud will need to be available on a daily, monthly and yearly basis, shops will be able to decide how much access makes sense based on their customers. A shop that specializes in Asian vehicles might obtain a yearly subscription to Honda’s and Toyota’s cloud, while a shop that only sees a BMW once a month might obtain a daily subscription. The new law also requires car companies to make diagnostic repair information available to aftermarket scan tool companies and to third party service information providers, as long as the company has appropriate licensing, contractual or confidentiality agreements. It is hoped that these companies will continue to be cost-effective sources of information and tools for the industry. Of course, strong enforcement provisions will be a key to the success of this statute. Under the newly passed law, a failure to comply by a vehicle manufacturer will be deemed to be an “unfair method of competition and an unfair or deceptive act or practices in the conduct of trade and commerce” and subject to legal action under the Commonwealth’s strong consumer protection statute, 93A. A car owner or shop will first be required to file a complaint with the manufacturer which
will initiate a 30-day clock whereby the manufacturer will have the opportunity to comply with the law. Should the manufacturer fail to comply, then the shop or car owners will be able to file a 93A legal action in Massachusetts superior court which could result in the manufacturer being subject to treble damages. So what happens now? The Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA) and the Coalition for Automotive Repair Equality (CARE) have vowed to continue this battle until there is a national requirement for car companies to share information and tools, whether it is a state by state or federal effort. In fact, as part of our compromise with the car companies, the manufacturers have agreed to sit down with us to see if a national agreement can be developed that will ensure affordable access for independent repair facilities. Notwithstanding the need for strong enforcement in a national agreement, it is also hoped that the talks will yield an effective process for resolving issues such that they do not reach the need for enforcement. The car companies also have committed to work with us regarding the development of long term solutions to address issues related to aftermarket access to information coming off of telematic systems and to strengthen training resources available for technicians employed in aftermarket shops. While passage of Right to Repair in Massachusetts is clearly a major victory for our industry, it is only the beginning of the story. ■ Courtney Carbone is Staff Liaison for ERC. For questions about membership, contact her at 301-654-6664 or courtney.carbone@aftermarket.org. For more information on the Engine Rebuilders Council or to join, visit them at enginerebuilder.org. EngineBuilderMag.com 11
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5 Tips for a Manual Milling Machine A manual milling machine is typically at the heart of every machine shop. In the following, Jim Kovach gives some useful tips on how to get the most from your mill.–Ed 1. Always use a high-quality machinist’s square on the mill. You will be surprised how close you can get. I checked my combination square against a master square comparator and found it to be within .002˝ of square at 10 inches off the surface plate. 2. Cut the long shanks off your drill chucks. The R-8 collet is only one inch long inside. How much shank do you need up there? Consider all the time you spend cranking the knee up and down to get the chuck in and out of that long shank. Buy two drill chucks with different diameter shanks on them. This allows you to save time on tool changes when you have the same shank diameter as your cutting tools (end mills/drills). 3. Don’t put an end mill in a quick change drill chuck. This is tempting at times, but is a pure rookie move. If the end mill chatters for a nano second, the chuck loosens and all hell breaks loose! 4. Remove the drawbar every so often, clean it and put a drop of oil or light assembly lube on the threads. You should be able to spin this with your fingers. If it doesn’t spin freely, get a new one – the threads are probably deformed. 5. Use the spindle motor to rapidly traverse the collet out after you break it loose with a wrench. Hold only the drawbar lightly with your fingers and catch the collet as it falls. Better yet, invest in a power drawbar. Once you have tried a power drawbar, you will wonder how you managed without it. No more smashed fingers or wrenches rattling over your head. Jim Kovach Kovach & Assoc. Performance Engine Building Parma, OH
12 February 2013 | EngineBuilder
Drilling Bolt Holes When drilling a hole into a blind or other hole where depth is critical, use a piece of tape on your drill bit as a gauge. Or use enough tape so that it will act as a stop. Paul Wampler Engine & Performance Warehouse Denver, CO
Making a Solid Lifter Ever get caught without a solid lifter to check static valve-to-piston clearance on a Chevy hydraulic cam? I have. I don’t know what happens to all my used Chevy solid lifters. Too much house cleaning? Many may already know this, but here is the tip: Take a new stock Chevy hydraulic lifter (or even a gently used one). Remove the clip (but don’t lose it.) Remove the cap, valve and spring. Invert the valve so the bottom is up and replace the in lifter body. Then set the cap back on. The clip fits perfectly. Now you have a solid lifter to check your VTP. Jim Feurer Animal Jim Racing Lacon, IL
Separating ‘Stuck Together’ Pails Most shops have ice cream pails or five-gallon plastic or steel pails for storing stuff or catching drips, etc. The problem is that whenever you need one, at least five are stuck together so tight that you have to ruin one just to
get one loose to use. Here’s the trick: Take an air blow gun and shoot a blast of air between the seam of one pail top and the side of the other pail. They will pop apart just great and you will not damage either one. Works every time! Rene' Grode Valley Auto Parts, Inc. Black Creek, WI
Be Sure To ‘Color Code’ Remote Oil Filter Lines I recently had one of my customers change a transmission in a 10.00 second index bracket drag car. It is a small block V8 Vega with large Stahl headers. The car is equipped with a remote oil filter and has two steel braided lines, one line each for “In” and “Out.” I had the lines and the housings marked in multiple places so as not to get the lines reversed. The mechanic who helped my customer change his transmission is one of the best mechanics and also one of the best drivers on the East Coast. Somehow they got the lines reversed. They fired the car and drove it to the lanes. During the burnout and then the run, they noticed zero oil pressure. The car had an abundance of oil pressure its entire life. The mechanic called me via his cell phone and asked “what happens if the oil lines are reversed?” I told him it could be disastrous. We pulled the engine apart at the owner’s request and were lucky it had minimal damage (thanks synthetic racing oil!). The oil filters are not designed to work backward. There is much less surface area on the inside than on the outside. It’s kind of like trying to pour transmission fluid in a funnel starting at the small end! To correct the problem this time I used a red and yellow paint pen and marked the fittings, housings and lines accordingly. Red to red, yellow to yellow, etc. I also took red and yellow electrical tape and wrapped the braided steel lines accordingly. Then I put a color-coded tie wrap around the tape just in case it wanted to fall off.
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My point is that even great mechanics make mistakes as illustrated here. I like to eliminate all potential problems if possible. I am sure this has happened to some of you before. Hopefully this tip helps! It may even be effective for color-blind people because they can still see yellow! Jeff "Beezer" Beseth Beezer Built, Inc. Newtown Square, PA
Yet Another Way To Remove Pilot Bearings And Bushings Editor’s Note: Previously in this space, we have run Shop Solutions on several variations for removing pilot bushings from toilet paper to Play-Doh, and here is yet another twist on this topic that continues to live on from Rick Lake at Lake’s Machine Shop. While most of these are comical in nature, they really do work! To remove a pilot bearing or bushing from the end of a crankshaft, just pack Play-Doh in the hole. Then use a wooden dowel to force it out. There is no mess to clean up, an advantage over using grease to do the job. ■ Rick Lake Lake's Machine Shop Needmore, PA
Shop Solutions – The Power of Knowledge Engine Builder and Engine Pro present Shop Solutions in each issue of Engine Builder Magazine and at enginebuildermag.com. The feature is intended to provide machine shop owners and engine technicians the opportunity to share their knowledge to benefit the entire industry and their own shops. Those who submit Shop Solutions that are published are awarded a prepaid $100 Visa gift card.
Engine Pro is a nationwide network of distributors that warehouse a full line of internal engine components for domestic and import passenger car, light truck, heavy duty, industrial, marine, agricultural and performance applications. They also produce engine parts under the Engine Pro name that offer premium features at an affordable price.
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Tales From The WD
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Buying Parts In A Storm
Who’s driving the boat anyway?
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usiness signs are still unclear the kit, to accommodate the need as we daily set forth on an un- for these oversize O.D. bearings. It certain journey. Business can is agreed and acknowledged that be complex. And if you are the boss, the bearings must be special oryour world becomes even more dered and a projected date is estabcomplex. We are each responsible lished that they will arrive and ship for what we do or don’t do and we to the machine shop. can only really control ourselves Then, the warehouse distributor and our own actions. You know contacts the machine shop with a things are out of hand when you or confirmation and a delivery date. an employee has to ask, “Who is This is a Thursday or Friday and driving the boat?” they move on to the next phone call I was recently reminded of an ex- and sales. change with a customer that shows The following week, as everyhow complicated we can make simthing is in progress and the parts ple sales, for ourselves, and others. are “in the mail,” the dissatisfaction It starts with a consumer who has a is announced. The question being, severely damaged block and a set of “Why weren’t the (special order) wiped out bearings and crankshaft. bearings shipped directly to me This talented machinist and shop (the machine shop)?” Apparently owner is pressured by his good custhis could have saved a day in the tomer to fix the main delivery of the saddles and rebuild the engine. Originally, Small winds can quickly become giant squalls, and in today’s busitime was not a factor, ness climate, you must be the but soon it will be. captain of your ship and voice And what should your expectations to the crew. have been a fairly smooth sail, soon starts to hit some foul weather. With the align-bore machining completed, the block looks good. But it needs oversized O.D. main bearings. One manufacturer’s catalog shows a set of main bearings that will fit and accommodate a .010˝ undersize crankshaft. However, this creates a new problem as the crankshaft is hurt and can’t make .010”. At this point an exchange crank “kit” is ordered and it all starts to unravel. A request is made to change the contents of
14 February 2013 | EngineBuilder
CONTRIBUTOR Dave Sutton dsutton@enginebuildermag.com
products and allowed a certain amount of assembly and checking of the parts and the work. So, who gets the call and the complaint? Yours truly, of course. I must admit, I didn’t have a clue why this was so important. My first mistake. After all, it was too late to change things. As far as I could tell, coming in on this very late in the cruise, everyone had done their part to facilitate a special request. I could not answer the question. And, I could not, at that moment, reach the person who had taken the original order. And again, I could do nothing about it at this stage of the game. Something was said that sounded like a good excuse right from the dissatisfied machinist, who possibly wanted to check the bearings against the crank. It sounded
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good to me, but now this was a problem. The book was very clear as to the specifications of the bearings, so why the need to check? I just wanted to sail on, but this was not good enough, and now everything I said was wrong. I was accused of poor service, saying things I should not have, and on and on. Yikes! All hands on deck. Well, like so many other tales of the high seas, this one did not end here. It seems the exchange crankshaft had not been ground at the time the order was placed. Over the weekend it was ground, but, for whatever reason, the mains did not make the projected .010˝ undersize. Bearings were already on their way to the grinder, but this was not going to work. The crank shop steps up at this time and faxes in another bearing order, specifying bearings that are correct for the O.D. and the new I.D. Additionally, they asked for them to be next day aired to the machine shop, at their expense. Sounds like terrific service to me. Hooray crew.
16 February 2013 | EngineBuilder
Wrong! The bearing manufacturer does not make them in this size, assumes an error and proceeds to ship out a set of the exact same sizes, oversize O.D. and .010˝ I.D., to the engine builder. Ka-boom! It really hits the prop. Yours truly gets another call. I am also reminded that I never addressed the original question of why they were not shipped direct to the shop the first time. (I am hoping my hair grows back soon.) Eventually a new crank core is found, ground to the correct specifications and delivered to the shop. The motor is completed, delivered and all is well. Oh, and in case you too are asking that question, it had nothing to do with checking the bearings. As an economy, quantities of bearings are ordered regularly and shipped into the crank shop. The oversized O.D. set was just included in that order as a way to save money, by not creating an additional freight
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charge to anyone. Pretty simple. After all, this is a large company that sells crank “kits,” not individual parts. The lesson, Gilligan? Whenever you stray from the norm or pressure someone else, expect the unforeseen circumstances that might occur. Pressuring others, because of promises you have made without consulting them first, will only create problems that can snowball down the road leaving you and the others accountable for the outcome. If you have a certain need or are setting an expectation, voice your orders to the crew loud and clear, and at the beginning of the trip. In today’s business climate, at today’s profit margins, too many of these mishaps could spell disaster for not only your trip, but also business for someone else. Small winds can soon become a giant squall. And if you’re not a prudent captain, you may find yourself sailing into a storm. ■
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Custom Crankshafts and Custom cranks and rods, versus off the shelf. Which should you choose?
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s an engine builder, you get to decide what parts go into the engines you build. If you’re rebuilding a stock engine to stock specifications, you’re probably going to use a reconditioned stock crankshaft and connecting rods to keep costs down. There’s no reason to upgrade these parts because they should be adequate for the loads they are designed to handle. But if you’re building a performance engine that’s going to develop significantly more power than stock (say 150 to 200 hp or more), you’ll have to upgrade to a stronger forged steel crank and rods. Push a stock crank and rods too far and eventually something will fail. Aftermarket suppliers have a wide variety of forged cranks and performance rods to fit almost anything that is commonly built today. Everybody has cranks and rods in various strokes and lengths that will fit most SB/BB Chevy, Ford and Chrysler engines, plus many Oldsmobile, Pontiac and vintage Ford engines, and even a lot of sport compact engines (Honda, Mitsubishi and others). But what do you do if nobody has an off-the-shelf crank or set of rods that will work in an engine a customer wants you to build or rebuild? Your only option may be to have the parts custom made. Billet cranks have been around a long time and are used in everything from Top Fuel dragsters and NASCAR to diesel-powered sled pullers. Billet cranks are CNC machined from a solid bar of steel such as EN30, 4330M or other high-grade alloy. Unlike a forged crank that has to be heated, stamped and twisted into shape in a high-pres18 February 2013 | EngineBuilder
sure forging press, a custom CNC billet crank is machined at room temperature to final dimensions in a CNC machine. There’s no squeezing, bending or twisting of the metal involved, just a LOT of milling and machining to sculpt the bar stock into a finished crankshaft.
How Billet Cranks Differ From Forged Cranks The main advantage of creating a crankshaft by CNC machining a solid bar of steel is that it doesn’t disturb or distort the grain structure of the metal. It cuts across the grain structure. By comparison, a forging really moves the metal around quite a bit. Forcing hot metal to flow into the cavities of a forging press under great pressure compresses and deforms the grain structure of the steel. The compressive forces experienced by the metal during the forging process increase strength compared to a casting. But it also creates and concentrates internal stresses in areas that undergo the most deformation, which is typically the critical overlap areas between the main and rod journals. These residual stresses have to be relieved by a subsequent heat treatment process to relax the metal so the stresses can dissipate. Those who make custom CNC billet cranks say billet cranks are the best money can buy. They are expensive, costing anywhere from 3 to 20 times as much as an off-the-shelf cast or forged crank. They cost so much for a couple of reasons. One is that a custom billet crank requires engineering development time if you want something that hasn’t been done before or requires modifying an existing design. Chang-
ing the stroke may not seem like a big deal on a crank that’s already been developed and programmed, but changing the stroke changes the size and positioning of the counterweights and the location of the oil holes which requires redoing the CNC programming. Even if a billet crank you want has already been developed and programmed, CNC machining a solid bar of steel into a finished crank still takes a LOT of milling and cutting – and a lot of handling. One crank supplier we interviewed who makes CNC billet cranks said a typical high-end racing crank may be in and out of their CNC machine 18 to 20 times during the manufacturing process so various measurements, checks and machining processes can be verified and completed. All that handling adds time and cost. The crank supplier also has to earn a return on his investment in his CNC machine and all of the fancy tooling it takes to machine a crankshaft. Highend CNC machines can easily cost upwards of $100,000 to $200,000 or more, and the tooling is expensive to replace when it wears out or breaks. It also takes a highly skilled operator to program, operate and babysit the equipment. Of course, forgings are not cheap either when you factor in the cost of the forging dies. But the same set of dies can be used to whack out thousands of rough forgings, lowering the overall cost of each part – especially if it is made offshore using cheap labor. It also takes much less machining to finish a rough forging than to CNC a complete crank out of bar stock. So that’s why a CNC crank for a SB Chevy
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Connecting Rods TECHNICAL EDITOR Larry Carley lcarley@babcox.com
might set you back $2,800 or more versus $600 to $800 for an entry-level forged crank.
Custom Billet Crankshafts What’s actually involved in getting a custom billet crankshaft made? It starts with a phone call to the crankshaft supplier. The first thing they’ll want to know is what type of engine the crank is going into, how that engine will be
used and how much power it will make. Are you doing an antique restoration project with relatively low power output and light use, or are you building a blown nitro burning all out racing engine? A crank that has to handle 3,000 to 5,000-plus horsepower will obviously have different dimensional and metallurgical requirements than a crank that may only have more moderate loads.
Circle 19 for more information
The crank supplier will need all of the physical dimensions such as bore spacing, stroke length, rod and main journal diameters and widths, rod length, snout and end configuration, etc. They will also need an estimated bobweight for the rods, pistons and rings so the counterweights can be sized and positioned accordingly for proper engine balance with minimum mass. Do you want the counterweights
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Feature profiled or knife-edged to reduce windage? Do you want extra polishing on the journals or a special finish on the crankshaft? Do you want the rod throws rifle drilled to reduce weight? How do you want the oil holes drilled and configured? Where do you want the keyway positioned on the nose of the crank? Once all of these details have been ironed out and written down on a work order form, the supplier can begin the production process that will bring your custom CNC billet crank to completion. The time it takes to make a custom billet crank can vary quite a bit depending on what you want. The more development work the crank requires, the more time it adds to the manufacturing process. According to several crank suppliers we spoke with, typical lead times, start to finish, range from 8 weeks up to 12 weeks. The busier the supplier is, the longer it will take to get your crank. One supplier said they may have anywhere from 200 to 500 cranks in process in their shop, depending on the time of year.
Finishing Steps One of the final steps in the manufacturing process with both CNC and forged cranks is usually nitriding, which adds a hard surface layer to the crank to improve journal life and fatigue resistance. The trick is to get a layer that is deep enough to provide the desired benefits without being too thick and making the crank too brittle. One supplier said they aim for a relatively thin layer that peaks at about .003Ë? in depth and tapers off from there as you go deeper into the metal. Nitriding diffuses atoms of nitrogen into the
20 February 2013 | EngineBuilder
surface of the steel to harden it. Various areas of the crank may be masked off (such as the radius areas of the journals) because excessive hardness here increases the risk of cracking. Cracks often begin in highly stressed areas like the journal fillets, near oil holes, or near the snout where there are high loads from the drive belts (especially a blower belt). Most performance cranks are machined with a larger radius in the journal fillets (which may require using chamfered rod and main bearings). Cranks with oversized snouts are also available for blower applications or other applications that place unusually heavy belt loads on the crank. Shot peening the surface of the crank also helps improve strength and reliability by increasing surface hardness and eliminating stress risers that might form cracks. Cryogenic treatment (freezing to 300 degrees below zero in liquid nitrogen) is also said to relieve residual stress and improve durability. Polishing the journals to make them as smooth as possible is pretty much standard, but polishing the entire surface of the crankshaft to create a smooth chrome-like finish can also reduce surface stresses as well as windage and oil shedding. Some crank suppliers who offer a special finish on their cranks claim it results in a 1 to 4 percent gain in usable horsepower at the flywheel.
Stroker Cranks Stroker cranks are extremely popular these days as a way to add displacement, torque and power, but there are some
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PG 24 >> Restoration
PG 32 >> Dirt Late Models
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tradeoffs. So before you go nuts with stroking an engine with either a forged or CNC crank, consider the following. Stroker cranks are good for low-end torque and off-the-line throttle response, but are not as good for high rpm power. Also, the longer the stroke, the more counterweight is needed to offset the greater motion of the pistons and rods. This, in turn, may require using expensive heavy metal to balance the crank. With some long stroke cranks, it may not be possible to achieve internal balance by adding metal to the counterweights. The engine may also have to be externally balanced. With internally balanced engines, the counterweights themselves handle the job of offsetting the reciprocating mass of the pistons and rods. In externally This photo shows a billet crankshaft balanced engines, additional counterweights on being manufactured by Bryant the flywheel and/or harmonic damper help the Racing. A custom billet crank can crank maintain balance. Some engines (like Chevy be made in about 8 weeks. LS) use a combination of internal and external balancing to control vibrations.
Connecting Rods The rods you choose obviously have to be matched to the crank and the stroke of the engine you are building as well as the engine’s power output and application. Stock rods are usually adequate for stock engines, but the power metal rods in many late-model engines need to be upgraded when serious changes in engine power or rpm are made.
If a rod is going to fail, it will most likely do so at high rpm when it is being pulled apart at TDC on the exhaust stroke, rather than from compression loads during the power stroke. Consequently, you have to use stronger rods in high-rpm engines. You also want rods that are as light as possible in high revving engines to reduce reciprocating weight (which also means the counterweights on the crank can be smaller and lighter). The same goes for lighter pistons. On the other
Circle 21 for more information
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Feature hand, if you are building a low-rpm high-torque motor, reciprocating weight is less critical. The type of rod (I-beam or H-beam) is less important than the rated strength of the rod. H-beam rods are typically recommended for higherrevving higher-output engines, but there are many excellent I-beam rods that will work just as well in many of the same applications. As with billet crankshafts, rods can be CNC machined from billet steel or forgings to achieve alAn aluminum rod from an engine most any desired dimension or that blew up – the rod survived but result. Computer programs that the piston did not. predict the stresses on the rod are typically used to develop new rod designs that maximize custom order rather than off-the-shelf strength while minimizing weight. products. This allows manufacturers to offer a Rod length is another factor that has wider variety of custom rods in terms to be considered. Given the height diof length and design. Such rods can mensions of the block and how much usually be made-to-order fairly quickly stroke is in the crank, you have some (a week or two lead time), which is wiggle room to play around with rod why some rod suppliers say that most length. Stroker cranks require shorter of the rods they are selling today are rods to maintain the same deck height
Circle 22 for more information 22 February 2013 | EngineBuilder
of the piston at TDC, but you can maximize rod length if you use pistons that have a higher wrist pin location. Why do this? A longer rod allows the piston to dwell longer at TDC before it starts back down on the power stroke. This allows pressure to build longer in the combustion chamber, producing a broader, flatter torque curve than the same engine with shorter rods. For some applications, this is a desirable characteristic to build into the engine. For others, it may not matter. Most engines today have a rod ratio (the length of the rod center-to-center divided by the stroke of the crankshaft) of 1.5 to 2.1. Most performance engine builders say a rod ratio in 1.57 to 1.67 range works best as higher ratios can make the torque curve peak too sharply. Lower rod ratios are typically found in lower rpm high torque motors, such as a stroked 383 Chevy small block. Wrist pin offset is also important. On many rods, the location of the wrist pin is slightly offset to reduce the stress on the piston pin and small end of the rod when the piston reaches TDC and changes direction. An offset pin location reduces the rocking motion of the piston as it passes TDC to reduce piston slap and noise. Some racers are running rods that have no wrist pin bushing, so if you are ordering a set of custom rods you might want to look at this possibility. Eliminating the bushing leaves more metal for a thicker and stronger small end of the rod, but it also requires a hard wear-resistant coating on the pin so it will work with the piston. â–
23 What's On The Dyno 2/20/13 3:40 PM Page 23
WHAT’S ON THE DYNO? QMP Racing Engine’s Buggy Build Kicks Some Serious Sand
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rad Lagman and his crew at Chatsworth, CA-based QMP Racing Engines (qmpracing.com) get to build engines for some pretty cool toys all day long, but this one may be one of the more unique builds they have ever done. The engine will be dropped in a buggy that runs on sand and kicks giant roostertails of the stuff for miles throughout the dunes up and down the West Coast. Lagman says the engine produced some pretty stout horsepower numbers in the end. The engine features a 427 Dart aluminum block, AFR 227 cylinder heads, Jesel belt drive, Ross pistons, Oliver steel rods and Total Seal AP rings. It also features an 8-71 blower with 8-lbs. of boost, a FAST fuel injection system and a custom NOS system. The valvetrain includes Crower shaft rockers with .937 roller lifters, COMP Cams 50 mm roller cam and Manton pushrods. “We bored the cam tunnel, CNC bored, decked and lifter-trued the block. Then we hothoned it with our Gehring diamond hone. It made 847 hp on pump gas at 7,900 rpm and 620 ft-lbs. of torque at 6,600 rpm,” said Lagman. ■
presented by:
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CONTRIBUTING EDITOR John Gunnell jgunnell@enginebuildermag.com
Restoration Engine Market Update The resto market can be a good source of extra business or a solid specialization option
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ou might joke that the restoration engine marketplace is a “dependable” business niche. Trying to get a handle on its size, shape and character depends on with whom you talk and what they consider a vintage car to be. A number of companies rebuild engines for vintage cars while others rebuild vintage car engines. There is a definite difference between rebuilding a modern engine that’s going into a vintage car, and rebuilding a vintage engine that’s 40-100 years old. Some rebuilders focus on muscle car motors and others only do horseless carriage engines. A few rebuild hundreds of older engines per year, while others do a half dozen. There are specialists like Jeep supplier OmixADA (www.omix-ada.com) that deal with one type of engine, and others like Fred Seydel of Fred’s Engine Service in Chester County, PA, who said, “My advantage is I’ve seen the insides of hundreds of different engines from Stutz to Nash to Whippet motors.” There are companies that only supply parts for vintage engines, companies that only rebuild vintage engines and companies that do both. Some firms in this niche have facilities that span several thousand square feet, while semi-retired Mr. Seydel, who does national advertising, works in a garage behind his house. Most rebuilders seem to be in the 50- to 85year-old bracket, which is pretty much true of their customers, too. A lot of shops that work strictly on vintage engines have been around a long time. Harken Machine Shop of Watertown, SD, dates to 1906; Harts Machine in Cecil, OH, started in 1926. 24 February 2013 | EngineBuilder
After talking to dozens of businesses that do this type of work, one is left with the overall impression that the niche isn’t big, but that it is good. The small firms that have experience in this area are, for the most part, either thriving on the “old car” work or using it to fill in for other jobs that have gone away. At the same time, the big parts suppliers and shops are growing because the overall market is growing, and also because some of them are supplying the small shops.
Getting A Handle On Market Size Promar Precision Engines (www.promarengine.com), of Paterson, NJ, is a big company that some years back detected a nationwide resurgence of classic car restorations. Promar was already serving customers worldwide
with a complete line of rebuilt and remanufactured engines, cylinder heads, crankshafts, engine restoration services and components. So, the company decided to create a specialized business to rebuild older engines delivered to its New Jersey location. Promar sent representatives to classic car shows, provided car show trophies and placed ads in collector magazines to promote this program. “We still rebuild vintage engines,” says company CEO and president Mark Fellanto. “We probably rebuild three to four classic car engines per week on average and sometimes more; they represent about 10 percent of our business.” Fellanto was one of relatively few people interviewed for this article willing to put numbers on the classic engine business, but almost all of them – Bob Rovegno of Packard Industries/Rebuilder’s Choice poses with a 1957 Chrysler 300 C Letter car that has a restored engine.
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Feature whether huge like Promar or a tiny Bob Rovegno of Rebuilders sole proprietorship – saw the restoraChoice/Packard Industries, another tion niche as a segment that’s generbig player in the field, says, “The anated additional business during the tique engine market is still small from current economic downturn. an engine rebuilding industry point of Rich Falluca’s Skokie, IL, company view, but it’s a niche that is thriving as is called Antique Engine Building the collector car market grows. A (www.antiqueenginerebuilding.com) and growing market is a great opportunity has been rebuilding Model A Ford for shops to add additional income as engines for 35 years. He says that for parts once considered obsolete are most of that time he did about 100 now available.” Rovegno didn’t reveal engines a year, but lately the average the annual number of vintage engine number he’s rebuilding is hovering rebuilds, but did say that 70 percent of around 140. Rebuilders Choice sales involve engine “Even in this down economy, the parts for 1920s-1970s cars. Model A business is holding up very well,” says Falluca. “And it only seems The Shape Of The Market Wegner Motorsports (wegnerautomo to be growing.” Falluca’s offerings start with a Model A short block modi- tive2.com) is a nationally-known source for engines, components, mafied for insert bearings for $2,075, and chine work and dyno tuning. Carl range up to a long-block Touring enWegner says his 7,500 sq.ft., facility logine with a 5.5:1 compression head for cated on a farm in Markesan, WI, has $4,295. Falluca sells parts to customers 30 employees and builds around 500 all over the world, but says the market engines per year. After years of spefor rebuilt engines is mainly in the US, cializing in NASCAR engines, in 2011 ranging from California to the East Wegner decided to expand into the Coast. “Our website tells people how to crate parts to save on domestic ship- muscle car niche. Wegner sells three to five engine kits per week that amount ping,” Falluca points out. to $1,200,000-$1,500,000 in annual Jim Ketchum and Steve Markley sales. Most of Wegner’s kits are for work for Egge Macine Co. GM LS series powerplants. Many of (www.egge.com), which started in 1915 these engines wind up in Restoand moved to Los Angeles in 1923. Mods – vintage muscle cars that are Years ago, Egge rebuilt old engines restored with modern drivetrains. and sold parts for them, but now it is Wegner sells to shops, distributors totally a parts supplier. “Each day we and hobbyists and says that the marquote out about 50 rebuild kits and ket is starting to grow again. most of them get billed,” they said. Ken Ligenfelter is a serious car “Annual kit sales are in the thousands and many go to restoration shops. We ship some direct to machine shops that do engines for restorers, and some – but not as much as years ago – go directly to consumers.” According to Jim and Steve, Egge deals in engine parts for 1900 to 1980 vehicles and sells a lot of Hemi and flathead Ford V8 parts. Egge manufactures valves and pistons for vintage engines and the other parts it sells are new old stock items. Most Egge products are for American cars, though the company has made some parts for Mercedes-Benz and Rolls-Royce cars and vintage motorcycles. They said the vintage niche is “growing, but not tremendously,” and noted Rich Falluca’s Antique Engine Building that they tend to add a few company has been rebuilding Model parts for newer collector cars A Ford engines for 35 years and is up as they go along.”
collector himself and his Ligenfelter Engineering (www.lingenfelter.com) works on about 25 traditional smalland big-block engines annually. He says that some customers send their engine to him and others ship the complete car. At approximately two engines per month, this is about 5 percent of the company’s overall business and, according to Ligenfelter, covers traditional small block, traditional big block and LT5 (original Corvette ZR1) engines. “We have customers from all over the world who select Lingenfelter Performance Engineering for their engine work,” says Ligenfelter. “Our sales numbers are holding pretty status quo, neither up nor down, and our traditional small-block and big-block engine work is holding stable.” Ligenfelter says that his customers are “primarily involved” in the hot rod and restoration segments and only a very small percentage are racers. As many car enthusiasts know, when it comes to vintage engines, rodders and restorers have a lot in common. Speedway Motors (speedwaymotors.com) supplies both niches with products ranging from stock rebuild components for flathead Ford V8s to electronic distributors for flathead Fords and Chevy sixes. Company owner “Speedy” Bill Smith is also one of the largest collectors of vintage engines. While these big suppliers shape part of the restoration engine market, the restorer looking for help in rebuild-
to about 140 rebuilds per year.
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ing a Pontiac straight eight or a Buick “nailhead” V8 is probably going to go to a newsstand or surf the Web looking for advertisements from specialty shops that know how to fix old engines and where to find parts for them. Some companies like the aforementioned Egge and Rebuilders Choice can help, but there are also businesses such as Northwestern Auto Supply (www.northwesternautosupply.com) and Terrill Machine Co. (www.terrillmotormachine.com) and others that, over the years, bought up the obsolete remainder parts that no one else wanted and started supplying them to both professional restoration shops and backyard restorers. Another group that shapes the restoration engine market shows up in car collecting publications best known for printing thousands of classified word ads each month and distributing them to well over 325,000 serious old-car hobbyists. In these publications, the engine restoration ads break down into two categories: shops that do babbitting work and shops that rebuild old engines. In a typical issue of one magazine, we found seven ads for babbitting services and 12 from engine rebuilders. The ads often emphasized that the shop had been in business since the early 1900s, or the ‘20s, or the ‘40s or the ‘60s, etc. When we called some of these businesses, we were told that the number
28 February 2013 | EngineBuilder
Cheat and every collector will know it. You may never get a repeat sale, but if you’re lucky and find a big collector, you’ll get many. The vintage engine niche is somewhat like this. As mentioned earlier, Terry Harkin’s machine shop in Watertown, SD, has been around since 1906. He says he “does not do many” complete engine rebuilds a year, but a lot of babbitting. Except for Chevys and a few Hudsons, most jobs are for prewar engines. “This business has gotten bigger over the years,” Harkin explains. “Now, we get them from all over the world and a lot The restoration market is bringfrom the West Coast and ing back some oldies, but with a New York. You work for modern twist like this Flathead. one guy and do a good of such ads apjob and he tells his pearing each friends – I think that’s what happened month has probably doubled during with the business I get from New the current recession. York.” A Mile Wide And Zigmont Bilus of The Babbitt Pot in An Inch Deep Fort Edward, NY, says that he used to People selling collectibles on eBay say have customers sending in lots of beartheir market is “a mile wide and an ings in boxes for him to rebabbitt, but inch deep.” In other words, customers now the big demand is for rebuilding for collectibles are all over the world and that babbitt work is down to 25 and interested in different things. In percent of his business in the past four such a market, you deal mainly with to five years. Bilus is in his 70s and customers who you never meet. You most of his customers are older, semisell them something at the “prevailing retired people. “They make up most of market price.” The condition of what the market,” he notes. “But I also get you sell and honest dealing are critical. 10 percent from younger people who
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are doing well and restore cars as a hobby. Bilus does what he calls, “Pre-teens to 1940s engines.” He stays away from muscle cars because he doesn’t have modern equipment. “I have a valve seat grinder with a stone,” he says. ”I do them one at a time.” Like many antique engine rebuilders, the Babbitt Pot sees work coming in from far away. “Every year, the radius for my work punches out a little further,” Billus points out. “Now, I get people from New England, Jersey, New York, Arkansas and Florida calling and saying ‘I saw your ad’ and they’re shipping them in from all over; well, a Packard engine can cost $500 to ship these days.” When customers ask what it costs, his stock answer is “$1,000-$1,500 per cylinder bore.” To his amazement, the jobs still come in. “I was used to doing a half dozen a
PG 38 >> Pistons & Rings
PG 48 >> Final Wrap
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happy with the level of business at his Berry Machine Co. in Mason City, IA. “We specialize in old stuff and babbitting and we’re busier than buckshot,” he tells us. “We’re doing the engine for a ’24 Cadillac that was in the ‘Driving Miss Daisy’ movie and came in from Warren, MI. We’re also doing the engine for an old pickup from Denton, TX and a V16 for a 1939 Cadillac limo.” Stinehart also says that business seems to be growing each year. “And we don’t do muscle cars,” he stressed. “There’s three other shops in town Most people involved in the vinand we let them mess with tage market remember these that stuff. For us, the imporengines when they were new. tant thing is doing things right because our clients year, now I’m doing 12 to 18 just to want that. We even run the engines in keep busy, since the market for babbitt the shop before they go out.” work is shrinking and fewer people Fred Seydel’s business in Chester are doing what I do with the babbitt County, PA, is called Fred’s Engine work included.” Service. He says he redoes “a dozen It’s hard not to take Dennis Stineengines in a good year” and he only hart’s laugh as a sign that he’s very does complete rebuilds that are actu-
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ally restorations. He paints an engine as soon as the metal is cleaned and says, “to my customers, appearance is 0just as important as the mechanical work.” Seydel feels that engines are too expensive to ship and sticks to jobs in a 500-600 mile range of his shop. “I have quite a following within 50 miles, with a lot of repeats,” he explains. “I get a lot of older, wealthy clients who have more than one car and that means a lot of repeat business.” Like some – but not all – antique engine rebuilders, Seydel finds that his business is “very seasonal with no
winter work.” He says that his advantage is all of the different engines he has worked on over the years. “I was 16 when I started on this stuff and I’m still working on the same stuff I was doing then,” he emphasized. “There’s no book that teaches people what I do and I offer my customers a lot for their money; if they’re local, I even go over to their place to start the engine for the first time, because it’s important to start them right.” Russ Schworer of Paul’s Rod & Bearing (paulsrodsandbearings.com) in Parkville, MO, says he’s making a liv-
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Circle 30 for more information 30 February 2013 | EngineBuilder
ing doing babbitt bearings. “We saw many machine shops go under four or five years ago,” he points out. “Old timers knew how to do it, but babbitt is so specialized that their businesses struggled.” Schworer said it amazed him how previous recessions did not impact his business, “But this one definitely did,” he admits. “A year ago last December things were really slow, but now it’s getting better. I’m not seeing optimism, but the big doom and gloom mentality is gone.” Schworer says that the restoration market has helped. He is doing about 65 percent of his business for antique car engines these days. He’s helped restorers with a 1907 Rolls-Royce engine and one for a Packard, plus lots of Model T and Model A Ford stuff. He has more than 600 vintage rods and pistons in stock. “We have a lot of people who just come by here and clubs like the Antique Truck Historical Society. Our best customers are probably John Deere restorers.” To stay healthy businesswise, Schworer watches his accounts receivables closely and keeps suppliers on a short leash. “The restoration customers have enough money and it seems like the economy isn’t bothering them,” he explains. “And sometimes these cars have sentimental or investment value.” According to Schworer, there’s definitely still a market in babbitt and I have photos of neat old cars we did all over the place.” Unlike some other shops, Paul’s stays busy even in the summer and winter months. “My customers are restoring cars in the winter, so typically wintertime is a pretty good season for us,” he says. After joking that he had a huge shop with 500 employees, Mike from Vintage Engine Machine Works in Coeur d’Alene, ID, says his one-man shop does “total restorations” of just five to six engines per year. “We specialize in fullblown show engines for old cars and old boats,” he says. “We paint the parts before we put them together and our customers want the gaskets to show for the car shows.” VEMW does rebabbitting and rebuilding of mostly American engines. “The economy has been in a steady decline the past few years so I say a lot of prayers and do a lot of hoping that the phone will ring,” Mike notes. “But
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Feature (www.oldcarsweekly.com) what he’s seeing and hearing about engines from his 70,000 readers. He says there are two types of rebuilders, those building modern type hot rods with crate engines, and those who will go to extreme lengths to keep an engine original. Van Bogart feels that This 1936 Pontiac flathead six has been detailed with years ago new engine paint and vintage-looking spark plug wires. auto collectors would in the past year I did a Cadilac V8, a rebuild their own engines, but that Model A Ford four-banger, a 230 Dodge today both backyard restorers and flathead six and a 192 Chevy overhead- restoration shops rely more on profesvalve six. A few years ago, I actually sional rebuilders. had a run on Chevy sixes and I’ve done The hardest part about building a Buick, Packard and Hudson straight vintage engine is that it isn’t a smalleights. I haven’t done many Ford flatblock Chevy,” Van Bogart stated. head V8s lately. What I get in really “Often, if a supplier is out of parts, they varies.” will wait until demand builds before To get an overview of the restoration firing up the machines and making anengine market we asked Angelo Van other batch.” When Angelo had a 1955 Bogart, editor of Old Cars Weekly Cadillac V8 rebuilt, he found it hard to
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locate someone who knew the nuances of his engine during reassembly. “As cool engines like early Olds V8s and nailheads and flatheads become older, the supply of running parts cars decreases,” says Van Bogart. “Old engines like these seem to now be sourced from people’s garages, where they have been stored for many years, or from longparked salvage vehicles, and in both cases, they need to be rebuilt.”
Bottom Line What it all comes down to is that the restoration engine market is like the collector car market itself. This niche is a small part of the engine rebuilding industry, but it’s also keeping the doors of many smaller, veteran machine shops open. In other instances, it’s providing a very good supplement to the regular business that some larger shops enjoy. And it’s important to add that many in this niche feel it is growing, due to classic car auctions being seen on TV and the move to collect more later model cars as they age and become part of history. ■
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Feature
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Q&A With Dirt Late Model
The market may be suffering at the moment but most b
F
act: There are more than 700 dirt tracks in this country and a vast number of them have some type of a Dirt Late Model (DLM) series. Some even have multiple DLM classes. In addition, there are dozens of traveling series headed by the topgun Lucas and World of Outlaw groups. They support a multitude of crown jewel races, such as the World 100, The Dream, the North-South 100, the World Dirt Track Championship, and others that pay $50,000 to $100,000. At Eldora Speedway in 2003, there was even a race that paid a million to win! It is therefore easy to see that dirt late model cars rule the short tracks and have fan support that is unbelievable to comprehend. And with the great motivation to win, a large industry has evolved for engine development and production to support the sport. These totally-aftermarket engines burn gasoline, sport compression ratios in the mid-teens, use large fourbarrel carbs and produce more than 800 hp. We took a look at this market by polling some of the prominent engine builders in the market today. They told us about their engine building philosophies and their concerns about the growing cost of the
32 February 2013 | EngineBuilder
dirt late model sport. Here are their thoughts on a number of different aspects of their business:
We first asked just what size engines dirt late model engine builders were building these days. Cornett Engines, located in Somerset, KY, has been in business since 1948 and was established by “Red” Cornett. It is headed today by his son, Jack, who told us, “I have had the same displacement ranges for 20 years, from 400-440 cid and 800-840 horses. I also have a 50-50 split between Ford and Chevy engines. Malcuit Racing Engines, Strasburg, OH, has an added aspect to their business. Brad Malcuit has previously been a car owner and continues today as an active dirt late model driver. Malcuit cars have won every major dirt late model event since he began business in 1972. Many of the top drivers have used his engines. Brad has also won several ‘Driver of the Year’ awards. Malcuit’s engines are of a lower displacement, some at 388 cid with 442 being the tops. “The smaller engine, though, can still make 800 horsepower,” Malcuit said. Jay Dickens Racing was officially
formed in 1996, but Dickens admits he worked out of his garage for several years prior. His Aberdeen, MS company has always concentrated on the dirt late model engines, but there were a few pavement engines built initially. Success has been substantial with hundreds of wins. Dickens says, “My engines work best in the 420-450 cid range. With engines this big, they can handle the increased horsepower.” Jim Kuntz Racing started in 1963, initially working with drag racing. He opened his Arkadelphia, AR, shop in 1986 and quickly owned seven NHRA national records. He still builds drag motors but, now, DLM engines make up half his business, he says. “It’s sort of like the only thing better than a 380 now is a little bigger. It used to be the 380 cid, but now you can’t sell one. It’s 410 to 450 cubic inch small-block Chevys and Fords.” Baker Engineering has nearly 50 years of racing industry involvement and is a name synonymous with horsepower in the Midwest. They pride themselves on the fact that everything within the facility at BEI is engineering driven. President Jack Jerovsek says, “Our dirt late model engines that we build vary from 350
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THIS ISSUE:
PG 38 >> Pistons & Rings
PG 44 >> Product Spotlights
PG 48 >> Final Wrap
Feature BY CONTRIBUTORS BILL HOLDER AND JOHN CAROLLO
l Engine Builders t believe there’s hope of a turnaround
Photo (CC) by Royal_Broil
to 454 cid. The biggest variable affecting engine displacement is track conditions, specifically the amount of traction on the track.” Draime Enterprises was named after brothers David and John Draime, who grew up around racing. Their father, Russell Draime, began racing in 1952. When David and John were in their teens they began to do work for other racers, which included building engines, race cars, and chassis set-up. By the time they had both finished school, they had a large enough customer base that they were able to work on race cars full-time. In 1973, Draime Enterprises was founded and four years later, they were only building engines. John says their engines range from 380 to 450 cid, “depending on the customer.” The name Roush/Yates needs no introduction to the racing world. What a lot of people don’t know is that they build a large variety of engines in and outside of NASCAR. One such area is DLM and RYR’s Brad Loden says, “Everyone wants the largest thing you can build. We have certain horsepower and torque values we like to meet with the smallest displacement necessary. The larger (440 cid and up) engines do not seem to accelerate as well and can be gear sensitive.”
Circle 53 for more information
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Feature travel, less wear and tear on the car, fewer laps on the engine, etc.” Draime agrees with the others, saying, “A lot of the hobby racers have dropped out. Also many racers have cut back on traveling.” But Loden says, “Top level racers always find a way to race. The local Saturday night racers have been hit the worst by the economy. Most racers just keep freshening old engines instead of buying new. Roush/Yates has noticed these effects and found ways to make our engines last longer, as well as offer used engines and parts to the public.” Cornett says, “Everything is down about 20 percent, which The typical dirt late model engines results in a smaller profit marare under a tremendous amount of gin.” stress that can torture valvetrains. Pistons and valvetrain components
Our second question was about the effects of the economy on engine sales. Malcuit says he is down 10-20%. “The economy is a factor that is causing some older drivers to retire and there aren’t enough younger guys coming along to take their place,” he says. Dickens echoed these thoughts, “The economy has definitely affected us, especially because it has resulted in longer times between engine rebuilds,
which are often times the first to go. is a big part of our business.” Kuntz says, “Our new sales are down. It’s harder to get deposits, and it’s taking longer for racers to pick them up.” Jerovsek explains, “Quite simply, there are just fewer people racing, particularly in the higher level classes like DLM. In addition to lower car counts, we also see teams running fewer races in order to keep costs down – less
Circle 34 for more information 34 February 2013 | EngineBuilder
Next, we asked about the weak links in a typical DLM engine.
Malcuit indicated that there is no main weak point in their DLM engines in particular. “You run into various problems due to material and manufacturing flaws. This sometimes comes in cycles,” he says. “I am still an active driver and will do testing when I am racing, which helps me uncover potential problems.” Kuntz was quick to answer with, “Roller lifters are number one and number two is rod bolt and rocker arms.” Draime says, “Technology has come a long way, and with this comes increased rpms, causing potential valvetrain issues.” Loden points out, “The entire engine takes a beating at high rpm. Did you know that the piston speed in a 4.00˝ stroke dirt engine at 8,800 rpm is more than the piston speed of a NASCAR engine at 10,000 rpm?” Cornett says from his point of view, the pistons and valvetrain are the first to go. “At 9,000 rpm, there is tremendous stress and strain on those parts. Most of the time, it’s more than is needed.” That 9,000 rpm figure was also mentioned by Dickens, “It’s often an issue with us, too,” he says.
We changed gears and asked about NASCAR’s recent move to fuel injec-
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tion and would that be a reasonable move for the DLM engines. The answers were almost a unanimous, “no thank you.” Kuntz said, “You would just have to change the induction side – intake manifolds and so on. In Sportsman, it costs more and makes less power,” he notes. Jerovsek explains, “Switching to EFI would require conversion of the core DLM engine, not a completely new engine. Modifications would be required for things like the intake manifold, sensors, crank trigger and distributor. The obvious benefit would be improved driveability.” Draime echoes others’ comments in that it would cost racers money. “Given the state of the economy, I would suggest that the rules not be changed. Every rule change causes the racer to spend additional money.” Loden offered, “Current engines could be used. To fully take advantage of EFI, we would probably make changes to the intake manifold, camshaft and compression ratio.” Cornett cautions, “It would be more expensive and complicated, and many things could go wrong.” Dickens agrees. “We have such a good handle on the carburetor, why change to something else now?” Malcuit chimes in, saying that some of the technology could be borrowed from NASCAR, “There’s the greater expense for EFI electronics and re-
The biggest variable affecting engine displacement is track conditions, according to experts, specifically the amount of traction on the track.
search and development,” he says. “Quite frankly, fuel injection should not be a part of dirt late model racing in my opinion.”
With their sometimes total involvement in the sport, we asked our experts about their concerns for the future of DLM racing. And their answers were well connected. Draime said, “Not having full fields, our sport needs to have enough cars at events to make the event exciting and competitive. One example is Eldora. Rather than having 200+ cars, the entry list has dropped to around 160 if I’m not mistaken.” Kuntz says, “I’m concerned about a good viable series, good promoters and track prep. I worry about the sheer dollars to do it and the regulations that are involved. However, there will always be people to do it.” Loden says, “The crate engine has taken the place of local Saturday night open engine racing. The top level guys have lost their places to sell season-old equipment,” he explains. “That slows down the cycle of the touring race teams continually buying new engines and passing down their old equipment.” Circle 35 for more information EngineBuilderMag.com 35
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Cornett he’s most worried about the costs as there are no rules in this type of racing. “Everybody wants more horsepower and rpms, which means more money. We need to make the engines cheaper with a fixed displacement, along with reduced compression ratio and rpm limits,” he says. Dickens adds, “These engines are putting a lot of teams out of business. The weekly guys are really getting hurt. One way to help would just allow the big traveling teams to use these unlimited engines with local drivers using a small block engine with 9:1 compression ratio, a 390 cfm carb and a rev limiter.” Malcuit agrees with Dickens saying that an engine such as this with reduced power could make 600 horsepower with much longer engine life. He also adds, “Maybe a crate engine could be another choice for the limited series cars.”
The biggest variable affecting engine displacement is track conditions, according to experts, specifically the amount of traction on the track. (Photo: Malcuit Racing Engine)
to customer feedback,” he says. “Under promise and over deliver. People sell to people. Build the best product, provide the best customers service, and win.” Cornett was quite frank about this subject, “Racers buy what wins. They are watching over drivers and buy based on what they see. They know what the engine is that each driver is using.” Dickens added, “Winning the big races is like money in the bank. I work closely with certain drivers; which also provides exposure.” Malcuit indicated that competing on the track is an excellent marketing tool. “I think I get a lot of respect from the other drivers as they know I am testing my engines from a driver”s point of view.” Dirt Late Model racing engines have their own niche. And it’s one of the biggest in racing. ■
For our last question, we asked about marketing techniques for selling engines. Kuntz says he doesn’t do a lot of advertising. “We go on referrals,” he says. “Dependability and word of mouth will bring customers. If you have the power to run in the top five, they’ll look at you.” Loden offers some effective ideas as well. “Always remain open minded Circle 36 for more information 36 February 2013 | EngineBuilder
There is a wide variety of displacement ranges for the DLM market from 350-454. (Photo: Jay Dickens dirt late model engine)
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Feature
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Matching Pistons And Rings
TECHNICAL EDITOR Larry Carley lcarley@babcox.com
You must be realistic about the application and conditions the piston and rings will be under
W
hether you are rebuilding a more blowby and lost power. high-mileage engine or low-tension 3 mm oil rings are combuilding a fresh engine from monly used on many pistons. Dependscratch, matching the pistons and ing on the design of the ring and the rings to each other and the application materials from which it is made, many is essential for a successful outcome. of these rings exert only around 10 lbs. Rings are a wear component that are of tension against the cylinder wall. usually replaced during a rebuild. The Thinner rings (say 2.8 mm) exert even pistons may be reused if they are not less pressure, maybe as little as 7 lbs. of damaged, cracked or scuffed and the tension. With good bore geometry and ring grooves have minimal wear. But if the proper bore finish, low-tension the cylinders have to be bored to overrings are perfectly capable of maintainsize to remove wear, replacing the ing adequate oil control. But a lot of original pistons with oversize pistons engines that are running these thin, is a must. low-tension oil rings often turn out to Many piston sets today are sold be smokers. with rings. The piston supplier proThe Real Cause Of Ring Sealvides the rings based on the bore size of the engine and the piston set. But, as ing Problems When an engine burns oil, you have to one ring manufacturer cautioned, the blame somebody, right? The natural rings that come with the pistons may tendency is to not always be the “right” blame the ring rings for the application. Some performance pistons Everybody wants thin may be vented vertically or low-tension rings to rehorizontally with gas ports to duce friction. The less outhelp ring sealing at high rpm. ward pressure the rings exert against the cylinder wall, the less friction they create as the pistons move up and down. The reduction in friction does not create more horsepower but it does allow the horsepower that the engine produces to be used more efficiently and to generate more power at the flywheel. Some compression rings today are less than .023˝, which is less than 0.6 mm, or about the thickness of the oil rails on a traditional three-piece oil ring. That’s not very thick, so if the cylinder bores are not almost perfectly round and straight with the proper surface finish, the rings may not seal very well. Lost compression means 38 February 2013 | EngineBuilder
manufacturer. But, in most instances, the real problem is poor bore geometry or bore finish. Bore tolerances are absolutely critical when you’re using low-tension rings. If you’re using the same honing equipment and techniques that you’ve been using for the past 30 years to rebuild Chevy 350s with standard ring packs, you’re likely going to have sealing issues when you use the same equipment and techniques on a late-model engine or a performance engine with thin, low-tension rings. Thin, low-tension rings like a plateau finish with a relatively smooth finish but adequate crosshatch to retain oil for proper ring lubrication. Typical surface finish for a normal plateau finish would be Rpk of 8 to 12 microinches, Rk of 25 to 35 microinches, and Rvk of 40 to 50 microinches. In a performance application, an optimized
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plateau finish should have a Rpk value of less than 12 microinches, Rk of around 20, and Rvk of around 40 microinches. If friction reduction is more important than longevity (say as in ProStock drag racing or NASCAR), an even smoother finish would be desirable with Rpk numbers in the 3 to 5 microinch range, Rk of 12 to 18, and Rvk of 20 to 25 microinches. If you are not familiar with these values, here’s what they mean: Rpk = Peak Height Rvk = Valley Depth Rk = Core Roughness Depth Needless to say, if you are building high-end performance engines and do not already own a surface profilometer, you should invest in one. As for honing, you don’t necessarily have to use expensive diamond stones, but diamonds can provide a more consistent finish when used in equipment that has been designed from the start for diamond honing. Even with the best honing equipment and techniques, you may still end up with a bore distortion problem that affects ring sealing. A seasoned block or one that has been cryogenically treated or vibrated will be more stable and less apt to shift than a new virgin casting. The loading on the head bolts can also cause distortion (which is why you should always use torque plates when honing). Problems with coolant flow inside the engine can also affect bore distortion and ring sealing. Some lightweight blocks can also distort, depending on how the engine is mounted in the vehicle. Bore distortion can vary from almost nothing, up to a couple thousandths of an inch depending on what is causing it! With today’s tight piston-to-wall clearances, even .0005˝ of bore distortion may be too much for some engines.
Stiffer Rings May Help If you want to use the thinner rings (like 1.5 mm top and second compression rings with a 3.0 mm or 2.8 mm oil ring), and you’re not ready to admit that you need (or can afford) new honing equipment, one alternative is to go with a slightly stiffer ring pack. Some ring manufacturers have thin “high tension” rings that apply 14 to 16 lbs. of tension with a 3 mm oil ring. Simply switching from the low-tension to the Circle 40 for more information 40 February 2013 | EngineBuilder
higher tension oil rings can often solve an oil burning problem. Some racers don’t care if an engine smokes a little or not. Burning a little oil is no big deal if the engine is only making short runs down a drag strip or running a limited number of laps on a circle track or road course. Yet for an endurance engine or a street engine, it could prove fatal if the engine consumes all of the oil in the pan and starves to death for lubrication. You also have to ask yourself that if the engine is burning oil, is it also losing a lot of compression due to ring blowby? As we said earlier, lost compression is lost power.
Piston & Ring Sealing For optimum sealing of the top compression ring, a barrel-faced steel ring is usually best, and the flatter the ring grooves in the piston the better. Cylinder pressure twists the ring down on the compression stroke so a barrel face experiences less friction and wear. To aid ring sealing, the piston may have an accumulator groove between the top and second compression ring. Some performance pistons may also be vented vertically or horizontally with gas ports to help ring sealing at high rpm. The extra pressure behind the top ring helps force it outward against the cylinder wall for a tighter seal. In most high-performance engines as well as late-model high-output stock engines, there’s more heat in the combustion chambers. This increases the thermal shock and stress on the top compression rings as well as thermal expansion. Consequently, most performance ring sets as well as a growing number of stock ring sets are using steel top compression rings (though ductile iron plasma moly faced rings are still widely used in Top Fuel drag racing). One major aftermarket supplier told us that they are now using SAE-9254 high-alloy carbon steel top rings in 40 percent of its stock replacement sets. Steel rings allow the radial wall thickness of the rings to be reduced to provide better groove seal, better bore conformability and less ring instability at high rpm. The higher tensile strength of steel compared to ductile iron means less bending and flexing under high loads, which reduces ring
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THIS ISSUE:
PG 44 >> Product Spotlights
PG 46 >> Classifieds/Cores PG 48 >> Final Wrap
and piston groove side wear. rather than cast iron for added durabilThe reason why most rings fail is ity. The face of a napier ring does a sunot because of detonation and breakperior job of scraping oil off of the age (though detonation can certainly cylinder wall when the piston travels damage rings). More often than not, down to help reduce oil consumption. rings fail as a result of abraEverybody wants thin low-tension rings to reduce sion destroying the ring friction. The less outward pressure the rings exert surface. The abrasion against the cylinder wall, the less friction they comes from dirt and debris create as the pistons move up and down. left inside the engine by the rebuilder (the most common cause according to one ring manufacturer), by airborne abrasives and contaminated lubricants (poor air filtration or air leaks into the crankcase) and by poor-quality cylinder finishes. Though the use of steel rings has been expanding, ductile iron moly faced rings are a good option for naturally aspirated traditional street/strip engines like SB/BB Chevys and Fords. Ductile top compression rings can handle loads of up to about two horsepower per cubic inch. Beyond that, you should upgrade to steel rings. The most popular design for the second ring these days is the napier style ring, often made of ductile iron
Pistons & Rings
If a piston is designed for a tapered second ring, it may have a J-groove cut in the lower second ring groove land. The groove creates a little shelf that allows oil to accumulate as it is scraped off the
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Pistons & Rings
cylinder wall. For some applications, though, a napier ring would not be the best choice. For engines that are running nitro or alcohol, or are using a lot of boost pressure, the second ring has to deal with more pressure than in a naturally aspirated gasoline engine. Consequently, there is more blowby to deal with so a ductile iron reverse twist ring or a barrel face top compression ring may be used in the second ring groove to improve sealing.
Matching Pistons And Rings Pistons and rings obviously have to be dimensionally compatible with each other, which is why many piston suppliers include their own ring sets. The rings that are provided should have the proper back spacing and side clearances with respect to the ring grooves. They should also be the right size for the bore diameter. Even so, you don’t have to go with the rings that come with a particular piston set.
If you’ve been having oil control or sealing problems with the rings that come with a particular piston set, ask your piston supplier to provide a higher tension ring set. And if the piston supplier can’t provide the rings you want, shop the various ring suppliers to find a ring set that better seals the engine and meets your customer’s expectations. As one ring manufacturer said, you have to be realistic about the application and what kind of operating conditions the piston and rings will be subjected to. When you’re building an engine for a bracket class, extremely thin low-tension rings may not be the best choice for this kind of racing. On the other hand, if the engine will be used in a heads up class, a thinner ring pack may provide the reduction in friction that can help win a race.
Piston Selection Like rings, pistons must match the application. You must have the correct di-
ameter to fit the bore size of the engine, and the right piston height, compression ratio and wrist pin location so the piston will match the rods and stroke. For circle track racing, rules often dictate what type of pistons you can and can’t use. Rules may prohibit the use of domed pistons or high compression ratios. For drag racing, compression ratios of 14:1 to as much as 16:1 are common today depending on the octane rating of the fuel. With a poweradder such as a turbo, blower or nitrous, you’ll want a stronger piston design with reinforced skirts to prevent the piston from collapsing. Some piston manufacturers use box-style reinforcing ribs to add rigidity. Really high-output drag engines also need stronger thick-wall wrist pins to handle the loads. The wrist pins are often starved for oil, so a hard coating on the pins, such as physical vapor deposition diamond, can help the pins survive. Some racers are even doing away with the wrist pin bushing in the
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Pistons & Rings
small ends of the rods so the rod can be thicker and stronger, or a larger wrist pin can be used. Low-strength cast pistons are fine for everyday drivers but have no place in a high-output or high performance engine. You need stronger hypereutectic or forged pistons. Forgings can withstand the most punishment and help conduct heat away from the combustion chamber. But forgings typically require a little more clearance to compensate for increased thermal expansion. For serious racing, the preferred alloy for forged pistons is usually 2618. This alloy is more malleable than 4032, which allows it to resist detonation better than 4032. It also has a higher coefficient of thermal expansion than 4032, so pistons made of 2618 aluminum require more wall clearance and make more piston noise while a cold engine is warming up. But 2618 lacks the longevity of 4032 so a set of pistons
may last only a single season of racing before they have to be replaced. For a street application or an engine that has to last multiple seasons, forged pistons made of 4032 would be the way to go. Piston weight is also something to be considered. Lighter is usually better when you are building a high revving engine or want quicker throttle response. But you don’t necessarily need lighter if the engine is stroked and cammed to be a low-rpm high torque motor. There’s nothing to be gained with lighter pistons except less stress on the rods and crank. If you do go with lighter pistons, keep in mind that changing the piston weight changes the bob weight of the piston and rod assembly. This means metal has to be removed from the crankshaft counterweights to balance the engine. What about coated pistons? Many pistons today are available with some type of anti-scuff side coating. Coatings protect the piston against a dry
start when the engine is initially fired up, and to provide some additional scuff protection if the engine overheats or starves for oil. Anti-scuff coatings provide an extra measure of protection but, are not absolutely necessary. Anti-scuff coatings are typically quite thin, and can usually be ignored when figuring piston-to-wall installation clearances, unless the piston manufacturer tells you otherwise. Some coatings, though, are thicker to provide a “cushioning effect” that helps reduce piston rock that causes piston noise in a cold engine. These types of coatings may require some extra clearance for assembly. Some pistons also have a hard anodized coating to provide extra wear resistance in the ring grooves. ■
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Circle 133
For a list of piston and ring suppliers, visit our Online Buyers Guide at http://bit.ly/XvnTOT.
Product Spotlights
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Product Spotlights
44-45 Spotlights 2/20/13 3:56 PM Page 44
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Circle 135 Circle 136
Engine Pro High Performance Connecting Rods Engine Pro H-Beam Connecting Rods are forged from 4340 steel and produced on CNC machinery. They are finished in the U.S. to ensure precise big-end and pin-end bore sizes. Rods are magnafluxed, heat treated, stress relieved, shot peened and sonic tested to ensure they provide the strength required for high horsepower applications. Engine Pro connecting rods equipped with standard 8740 bolts are rated for up to 700 horsepower in small blocks, and 850 horsepower in big block applications. Visit, www.goenginepro.com.
Engine Pro Phone: 800-ENGINE-1
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www.goenginepro.com Circle 138 44 February 2013 | EngineBuilder
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Product Spotlights
Circle 140 Circle 141
Circle 142
Ergonomic Blast Cabinets ZERO blast cabinets are now available in an ergonomic body style, which allows the operator to sit while working. The cabinet configuration provides comfortable kneeroom for the operator without interfering with the free flow of media for reclamation and re-use. Standard cabinet features include: large, quick-change window, reverse-pulse cartridge-style dust collector, suction-blast or pressure-blast models. HEPA filtration as an option. Cabinets can work with glass bead, aluminum oxide and other recyclable media. Applications: cleaning, de-burring, peening, and finishing.
Clemco Industries Corp. Circle 143
Phone: 800-788-0599
www.clemcoindustries.com Circle 144
Circle 145 EngineBuilderMag.com 45
Classified/Cores
46-47 Class-Cores 2/20/13 3:57 PM Page 46
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Classified/Cores
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Advertiser Index COMPANY NAME
PAGE #
CIRCLE #
COMPANY NAME
PAGE #
Atech Motorsports
42
42
Hastings Mfg. Co.
39
CIRCLE # 39
Automotive Service Equipment
8
8
Holley Performance Products
36
36
Bill Mitchell Products
30
30
Injector Experts
33
53
Brad Penn Lubricants
4
12
King Electronics
34
34
Clemco Industries
31
31
Liberty Engine Parts
5
5
Cloyes Gear & Products Inc.
6
6
Lubriplate Lubricants Co
20
20
Dakota Parts Warehouse
9
9
Mahle Motorsports
41
41
Darton International
4
4
Melling Engine Parts
29
29
Dipaco Inc.
10
10
Motor State Distributing
3
3
DNJ Engine Components
1
2
Motovicity
7
7
Driven Racing Oil, LLC
40
40
Mr Gasket Performance Group
9
11
Dura-Bond Bearing Co
16
16
NPR of America, Inc.
37
37
Eagle Specialty Products
19
19
Packard Industries
26,27
27 32
Engine Parts Group
13
13
Performance Trends
30
Engine Parts Warehouse
Cover 3
51
PRW Industries
28
28
Engine Performance Warehouse
17
17
Quality Power Products
15
15 52
ESCO Industries
22
22
Rottler Manufacturing
Cover 4
Go Power Dynamometer Systems
23
23
Scat Enterprises
Cover 2
GRP Connecting Rods
21
21
T & D Machine Products
35
EngineBuilderMag.com 47
1 35
48 Doug K. 2/20/13 3:58 PM Page 48
Final Wrap
Credit Where Credit Is Due
What are you really looking for?
I
f you were in Indianapolis for the final IMIS Show last December, you might have been witness to an amazing sight. Seven top engine builders sat side-by-side and gave away their secrets. As part of the Performance Engine Builder of the Year Contest that Engine Builder magazine set into place last year, a number of contest entrants agreed to participate in an informative seminar. The “Race Engine Roundtable: Real World Tips To Reach The Checkered Flag” gave IMIS attendees the chance to ask some experts about the secrets to their success. Participants in the Rountable included 2012 Performance Engine Builder of the Year winner Frank Honsowetz from Ed Pink Racing; Brad Lagman from QMP Racing Engines; David McLain from McLain’s Automotive; “Animal” Jim Feurer from Animal Jim Racing Engines; Matt Dickmeyer from Dickmeyer Automotive; Tony Bischoff from BES Racing Engines; and DeWaine McGunegill from McGunegill Engine. Moderated by Lake Speed from Driven Racing Oil, and sponsored by Driven, Wiseco Pistons and Goodson Tools and Equipment, this seminar was intended to give attendees the chance
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to ask about specific engine combinations, how to build winning engine packages and ways to wring more power out of a powerplant. To be fair, there was some of that – but it was somewhat surprising to me to also hear the questions about how to run a successful business. Guys asked their peers more about how to make their shops perform better than their engines “What works as a marketing tool? How do you find skilled employees and keep them? How do you handle price shoppers? Can you balance the expectations of your customers with the realities of their budgets?” What everyone really wanted to know is, “How do I make my product stand out and how can I ensure my customer recognizes the value in what I build, rather than just the price they have to pay?” Again, to their credit, each of our roundtable participants shared their successes – and even some examples of challenges and pitfalls. The give-andtake was refreshing and I would like to thank all who participated. The 2013 Performance Engine Builder of the Year contest will be announced soon, so watch the pages of Engine Builder for your chance at indus-
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/EDITOR ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/EDITOR Doug Kaufman Doug Kaufman dkaufman@babcox.com dkaufman@babcox.com
try accolades and recognition. Speaking of recognition, additional thanks go out to Chris Nelson and the team at The Engine Factory for the beautiful “Eleanor” engine that graced our January High Performance Buyers Guide cover. This 550 hp 427 Windsor Stroker motor is decked out and, frankly, is a great example of how an innovative approach to business can spawn success. The Engine Factory was formed in 1969 by Bruce Nelson, and this familyrun, Lebanon, NJ-based supplier of Ford engines has found the Internet to be a great way to market their product. But for all the great tools at their disposal now, Nelson says it all comes down to basic principles like hard work, integrity and honesty. “Words loosely held these days, being a family operated company, we take pride in our proven track record. When all the smoke clears our goal is to make a profit but without sacrificing quality or service. In turn we make a better product along with paying our technicians well.” That being said, the value of being recognized for your hard work cannot be overlooked, so thanks, Chris, for making great looking engines that your customers are eager to buy. ■
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