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2013FEBRUARY

EngineBuilderMag.com

>Cranks & Rods >Dirt Late Models >Pistons & Rings

Just becausethey’re old doesn’tmean they have to

be retired

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2 February 2013 | EngineBuilder

ENGINE BUILDER founded Oct. 1964Copyright 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. Period-ical 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 servicesrepresentative 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 ENGINEBUILDER, 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 tohis 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 itspublisher. Diligent effort is made to ensure the integrity of every statement. Unsolicited manuscripts must be accompanied by return postage.

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.13 Features ON THE COVER

Restoration MarketJust because they’re old doesn’t mean they have to beretired. The customers for engine restorations may fallsomewhere in between the “keep it running” to the“numbers matchers.” Contributor John Gunnell findsout from the ‘resto’ experts ....................................24

24

Crankshafts & Connecting RodsWhat goes around comes around and Technical Editor LarryCarley reports on ways to be sure the rotating assembly youinstall doesn’t come back. ....................................................18

Dirt Late Model MarketContributors Bill Holder and John Carrollo talk to some of themost successful engine builders in the Dirt Late Model market, who are winning on some of the most popular racetracks in America, about the current conditions of the marketfor these engines and what may be ahead. ........................32

Piston and Ring SelectionIt may be a “Chicken and Egg” question, but which is moreimportant to your engine build, the Piston or the Ring? Technical Editor Larry Carley tries to solve the puzzle ........38

Columns

ERC Update ..................................11By Courtney Carbone, ERC Staff LiaisonRight to Repair legislation gets key victory as bill is passes in Massachusetts

Tales From the WD........................14By Dave Sutton, ContributorBuying Parts In a Storm – Who’s Driving the Boat Anyway?

What’s On The Dyno......................23By Brendan Baker, Senior Executive EditorQMP’s dunebuggy engine build is like the bully who kicks sand in your face

DEPARTMENTSIndustry News......................................................6

Events ..................................................................4

Shop Solutions ....................................................12

2013 Supplier Spotlights ......................................44

Cores/Classifieds/Ad Index ..................................46

Final Wrap............................................................48

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Events

Industry EventsFebruary 22-24Race and Performance ExpoSt. Charles, ILwww.raceperformanceexpo.com or 630-584-6300

March 6-8The Work Truck ShowIndianapolis, INwww.ntea.com/worktruckshow or 800-441-6832

March 14-16Hot Rod and Restoration ShowIndianapolis, INwww.hotrodshow.com or 800-576-8788

March 22-23Mid America Trucking ShowKentucky Fair and Exposition Center, KYwww.truckingshow.com or 502-899-3892

April 14-15SAE 2013 High Efficiency IC Engine SymposiumDetroit, MI www.sae.org or 877-606-7323

April 16-182013 SAE World CongressCobo Center, Detroit, MI www.sae.org or 877-606-7323

May 1-3AAIA Spring Leadership DaysBonita Springs, FLwww.aftermarket.org

May 21-22Global Automotive Aftermarket Symposium (GAAS)Hyatt Regency, Chicago, IL www.globalsymposium.org

July 10-12PAACE Automechanika MexicoMexico City, Mexicowww.paaceautomechanika.com or 678-732-2429

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For more industry events, visit our website at

www.enginebuildermag.com or subscribe to

www.aftermarketnews.com.

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Oliver Racing PartsNames Ondercin As VP of OperationsOliver Racing Parts, a motor-sports and high-performanceconnecting rod manufacturer, hashired veteran manufacturing en-gineer Kenneth Ondercin as vicepresident of operations.

Ondercin will oversee all pro-duction activities for Oliver Rac-ing Parts – from design andengineering to manufacturingand quality assurance. He alsowill be responsible for imple-

menting machinery and equipmentupgrades over the next year to enablethe company to increase productioncapacity and expand its lineup of after-market racing parts.

“Ken has run facilities large andsmall, from machine shops to highlyprecise aerospace operations,” saidJoseph Moch, president and CEO ofOliver Racing Parts. “Having dealtwith all aspects of CNC operations, heis well-suited to oversee our facility

operations and infrastructure improvements.”

Ondercin has 45 years of manufac-turing experience and joins Oliverfrom DE-STA-CO industries, where hewas manufacturing engineering man-ager for their Charlevoix, MI, opera-tion.

From 1999 to 2010, Ondercin waswith Skilled Manufacturing Inc. (SMI)of Traverse City, MI, developingequipment to manufacture aerospaceand automotive components. Heworked with management, qualityand production to achieve AS 9100quality standard, and was in charge ofthe continuous improvement cost re-duction programs for SMI.

Last month, ACAT Global ofCharlevoix, MI, which manufactureslightweight, efficient metallic catalyticconverter substrates, purchased a sig-nificant stake in Oliver Racing Parts,including all of the company’s debt.ACAT is also investing in Oliver’s up-coming machinery and equipment up-grades.

Shell And Pennzoil ExtendAlliance With Penske RacingFor NASCAR, IndyCarPenske Corp. and Shell have con-firmed a multi-year extension of theirongoing alliance in North America. Aspart of the agreement, Shell andPennzoil will continue sponsoringPenske Racing entries in the NASCARSprint Cup Series and the IZOD Indy-Car Series.

Pennzoil will continue to be the“Official Motor Oil” of Penske Racing.Shell and Pennzoil will continue to bethe primary sponsor of the PenskeRacing No. 22 car for 33 races in theNASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Provenrace-winning driver Joey Logano joinsthe team this season racing the distinc-tive Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion begin-ning in 2013.

For the third consecutive season,three-time Indianapolis 500 winnerHelio Castroneves will continue torepresent the Shell and Pennzoil pre-mium brands in 2013. Castroneves willdrive the No. 3 Shell V-Power Pennzoil


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Ultra IndyCar at the Indianapolis 500on May 26 as well as at the inauguralShell and Pennzoil Grand Prix ofHouston series doubleheader, Oct. 5-6.Shell and Pennzoil also will be associ-ate sponsors on all Penske Racing carscompeting throughout the season inthe NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nation-wide Series as well as the IZOD IndyCar Series.

Holley Announces WigginsAs Vice President of SalesHolley has appointed Trevor Wigginsas its vice president of sales. In thisrole, Wiggins will lead the Holley salesteam in supporting customers of Hol-ley Fuel Systems as well as other Hol-ley products and brands includingEarl’s Performance Plumbing, NOSNitrous Oxide Systems, Hooker Head-ers, FlowTech Exhaust and Weiand.

Wiggins brings with him nearlytwo decades of high-level sales experi-ence in the automotive coatings indus-try with DuPont PerformanceCoatings, as well as racing experience

in a wide range of motorsports. “Trevor’s lifetime of racing experi-

ence combined with his proven trackrecord as a sales professional will helptake Holley to the next level. Over thelast few years, we’ve been growingour sales force with an emphasis ontechnical expertise and we’re nowvery excited to have Trevor on boardto lead the charge at the VP level,” saidTom Tomlinson, Holley’s president.

Prior to joining Holley, he was a na-tional accounts manager for key auto-motive aftermarket accounts includingwarehouse distributors and retailers aswell as OEM customers across 92 loca-tions worldwide.

A lifelong racer, Wiggins has spenttime in shifter carts, Formula Ford,Formula Mazda and Toyota Atlantic,as well as in NTPA truck and tractorpulling. He is currently an NHRASuper Comp drag racing competitorand Bonneville Salt Flats racer. Recentachievements include a runner-up fin-ish at the prestigious Gator Nationalsand salt flat runs in a 1932 Ford C-Gas

Roadster, owned by George Poteet.“I am truly excited to mix my pas-

sion with my professional career,” ex-plains Wiggins. “I have used Holleyproducts all my life and have the ut-most confidence in them. It’s easy tosell and support something you be-lieve in. I look forward to workingwith all of Holley’s customers to de-velop mutually satisfying businessprograms.”

Trick Flow to Build Big BlockFord for ’13 SuperSeries Top Class ChampionTrick Flow Specialties recently an-nounced it will be building the enginefor the Maddox Race Cars dragsterthat will be awarded to the 2013 IHRASummit Racing SuperSeries Top ClassChampion.

Trick Flow designed and assembledthe 565 cubic inch big block Chevroletengine that was part of the prize pack-age awarded to Tim Butler, the 2012Summit Racing SuperSeries Top ClassChampion. Outfitted with Trick Flow


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PowerPort 360 cylinder heads modi-fied by two-time NHRA Pro Stockchampion Jason Line, the big blockChevy made 1,103 peak horsepowerand 770 lbs.-ft. of peak torque on TrickFlow’s SuperFlow dyno.

For 2013, Trick Flow will be goingBlue Oval with a big block Ford. Basedon a Ford Racing 460 siamesed-boreiron block, the engine will feature apair of Trick Flow’s PowerPort A460360 cylinder heads. Other manufactur-ers featured in the engine build in-clude Scat, Crower, Howards Cams,ARP and MAHLE Clevite. While theconfiguration of the engine has notbeen finalized, all of the parts used inthe build will be off-the-shelf and read-ily available from suppliers like Sum-mit Racing Equipment.

“We’re proud and excited to buildanother engine for the Summit RacingSuperSeries Top Class Champion prizepackage,” said Mike Downs, TrickFlow General Manager. “It’s an oppor-tunity to showcase our cylinder headsand other products to IHRA sports-man racers, plus let people see howeasy it is to build big power with off-the-shelf parts. In fact, our goal withthis Ford big block is to surpass thehorsepower we made with the Chevy– and by a substantial margin, too!”

The engine will be awarded to the2013 Summit Racing SuperSeries TopClass champion at IHRA’s SummitRacing Equipment World Finals, Octo-ber 11-12 at Memphis InternationalRaceway.

The company also recently an-nounced that it has been named the of-ficial cylinder head company of theSummit Racing Equipment Motor-sports Park, starting with the 2013 rac-ing season. Trick Flow will display itsproducts at many of the track's majorevents. The company will also returnas the sponsor of Fright Night at Sum-mit Racing Equipment MotorsportsPark's Halloween Classic in October.

DEI to Sponsor 2013 HotRodders of Tomorrow Engine ChallengeDesign Engineering (DEI) has becomethe latest sponsor of the Hot Roddersof Tomorrow Engine Challenge, a pro-gram designed to encourage highschool teens to take an interest in theperformance aftermarket by providinga series of competitions that exhibit

their skill at breaking down and re-assembling a small block Chevy ac-cording to event rules.

The Hot Rodders of Tomorrow En-gine Challenge, created in 2008, wasthe brainchild of Jim Bingham, ownerof Winner’s Circle Speed and CustomInc. The engine challenge was devel-oped initially as a special event forWinner’s Circle’s Race and Perform-ance Expo. With only five teams com-peting in the inaugural year but withadded encouragement from Vic Edel-brock, Winner’s Circle has grown theevent to become a nationwide com-petition that today encompasses over600 students, seven events includingthe national championship, and 150

sponsors.With financial support from DEI

and other performance manufacturers,educational institutions, SEMA, PWA,AERA and more, over $6,000,000 hasbeen raised for student scholarshipsfrom OTC, SAMS, and UNOH. Everystudent that places first through fifthin the nationals will win college schol-arship funds. First place team mem-bers win $10,000 each, second placeteam members win $9,000 each, thirdplace win $8,000 each, fourth placewins $7,000 each and fifth place wins$6,000 each to be used to pursue a ca-reer in the automotive aftermarket.

Rodney Bingham, Hot Rodders ofTomorrow director, says, “We appreci-

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Industry NewsTHIS ISSUE: PG 12 >> Shop Solutions PG 14 >> WD Tales PG 18 >> Cranks & Rods




ate DEI’s commitment to this event.Our youth have incredible talent andrepresent the future of the perform-ance aftermarket. It has been very re-warding cultivating the growth ofthis engine challenge and seeing thededication of the teams year afteryear. We are encouraged by the levelof support from manufacturers likeDEI who sincerely want to encour-age youth to consider the perform-ance aftermarket as a career.”

The first Hot Rodders of Tomor-row Engine Challenge event beginsFebruary 22nd at the Race and Per-formance Expo in Pheasant Run Re-sort in St. Charles, IL, and culminatesat the Performance Racing Industry(PRI) show in Indianapolis in De-cember. The display of the top teamscompeting at the annual SEMA showis a highlight for spectators and de-termines the teams that will competeat the Nationals event at PRI.

For a full schedule events or tosign up a high school team to com-pete, go to hotroddersoftomorrow.com.

NPW Showcases Both ItsRoots And Its Wings At TheFourth Annual FAST ExpoFrom a sumptuous black tie affair to aclassic and colorful car show, NationalPerformance Warehouse’s (NPW)fourth annual FAST Expo held inJanuary had it all. Held at theBroward County Convention Centerin Ft. Lauderdale, FL, the NPW FastExpo brought together vendors, retail-ers, technicians and automotive enthu-siasts, all of whom came out to see thelatest products and innovations fromaftermarket vendors, as well as a com-prehensive collection of new and his-torical customized vehicles.

The event kicked off Jan. 25, at theTower Club in Ft. Lauderdale, whereNPW hosted a black tie dinner for its“Million Dollar” vendors. Among theesteemed guests were VIPs from Au-tometer, Centric, Dorman Products,Edelbrock, Federal-Mogul, Holley,MSD Ignition, NGK Spark Plugs, Stan-dard Motor Products, as well as After-market Auto Parts Alliance and The

AAM Group. The NPW family ofcompanies is a member of The AAMGroup as well as a Bumper to Bumpershareholder of The Alliance.

In recent months, NPW has ac-quired three new businesses, includingKarbelt in Canada, Motor Warehousein Sacramento, CA, and CMA Ware-house in Vernon, CA. The companyalso announced that it is in negotia-tions for three new acquisitions in 2013.

Roughly 3,000 visitors attended theFAST Expo and Car Show, which tookplace on Sunday, Jan. 27 at theBroward County Convention Center.Attendees were treated to a visit fromthe Miami Heat cheerleaders, the op-portunity to try out a race simulator atthe Mobil1 booth, as well as try theirluck at winning several hundred doorprizes, including flatscreen TVs, pro-motional items from expo vendors andeven the chance at a Caribbean cruise.A golf outing at the exclusive EmeralHill Country Club in Hollywood, FL,also was held during the weekend ofactivities. ■


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Last August, Massachusetts gover-nor Deval Patrick signed legisla-tion “protecting motor vehicle

owners and small businesses in repair-ing motor vehicles.” This state legisla-tion (H 4362) is also known as theMassachusetts Right to Repair act. Theaction by the governor came after thebill was overwhelmingly passed by thestate legislature (House 153-0 and byunanimous vote in the Senate) on July31, the last day and in the last minutesof their session, prior to adjournmentfor 2012.

Passage came after car companies,new car dealers and the MassachusettsRight to Repair Coalition reached alast-minute agreement that addressedissues of concern for the new car deal-ers and provided additional time forvehicle manufacturers to comply withcertain provisions of the bill. However,the bill as drafted will provide signifi-cant benefits to the independent after-market and to car owners, not just inMassachusetts, but nationwide.

Under H 4362, car companies willbe required to make available to the in-dependent vehicle repair industry on“fair and reasonable terms,” the sametools, software and repair informationthat they make available to their fran-chised dealers. The bill establishes cri-teria for determining “fair andreasonable terms” that are similar tothose utilized by the U.S. Environmen-tal Protection Agency (EPA) for judg-ing the availability of emissions-relatedservice information and tools from themanufacturers.

Probably the most critical provi-sions to the long-term competitivenessof the aftermarket will be implementedin model year 2018 (which translatesinto 2017) and will require vehiclemanufacturers to establish websites or“clouds” that will contain the same in-formation and software that dealers

have access to as part of their propri-etary tools. In addition, the new lawmandates that car companies provideaccess to the vehicles’ diagnostic com-puters using a standardized vehicle in-terface that meets either the Society forAutomotive Engineers (SAE) J 2534 orInternational Standards Organization(ISO) 22900 standards.

Under this new mandate, techni-cians will have access to all of the soft-ware and tools at their fingertips, nomatter which vehicle enters that shop.Since, under the new law, subscriptionsto the cloud will need to be availableon a daily, monthly and yearly basis,shops will be able to decide how muchaccess makes sense based on their cus-tomers. A shop that specializes inAsian vehicles might obtain a yearlysubscription to Honda’s and Toyota’scloud, while a shop that only sees aBMW once a month might obtain adaily subscription.

The new law also requires car com-panies to make diagnostic repair infor-mation available to aftermarket scantool companies and to third party serv-ice information providers, as long asthe company has appropriate licensing,contractual or confidentiality agree-ments. It is hoped that these companieswill continue to be cost-effectivesources of information and tools for theindustry.

Of course, strong enforcement pro-visions will be a key to the success ofthis statute. Under the newly passedlaw, a failure to comply by a vehiclemanufacturer will be deemed to be an“unfair method of competition and anunfair or deceptive act or practices inthe conduct of trade and commerce”and subject to legal action under theCommonwealth’s strong consumerprotection statute, 93A. A car owner orshop will first be required to file a com-plaint with the manufacturer which

will initiate a 30-day clock whereby themanufacturer will have the opportu-nity to comply with the law. Should themanufacturer fail to comply, then theshop or car owners will be able to file a93A legal action in Massachusetts su-perior court which could result in themanufacturer being subject to treble damages.

So what happens now? The Auto-motive Aftermarket Industry Associa-tion (AAIA) and the Coalition forAutomotive Repair Equality (CARE)have vowed to continue this battleuntil there is a national requirement forcar companies to share informationand tools, whether it is a state by stateor federal effort. In fact, as part of ourcompromise with the car companies,the manufacturers have agreed to sitdown with us to see if a national agree-ment can be developed that will ensureaffordable access for independent re-pair facilities. Notwithstanding theneed for strong enforcement in a na-tional agreement, it is also hoped thatthe talks will yield an effective processfor resolving issues such that they donot reach the need for enforcement.The car companies also have commit-ted to work with us regarding the de-velopment of long term solutions toaddress issues related to aftermarketaccess to information coming off oftelematic systems and to strengthentraining resources available for techni-cians employed in aftermarket shops.

While passage of Right to Repair inMassachusetts is clearly a major victory for our industry, it is only thebeginning of the story. ■

Courtney Carbone is Staff Liaison for ERC.For questions about membership, contacther at 301-654-6664 or [email protected]. For more informa-tion on the Engine Rebuilders Council or tojoin, visit them at enginerebuilder.org.


ERC

Up

date

Right To Repair Victory

Right To Repair Passed in Mass.; Fed Passage Encouraged by Industry

COLUMNIST Courtney [email protected]

11 ERC Update 2/20/13 3:35 PM Page 11

5 Tips for a Manual Milling MachineA manual milling machine is typically atthe heart of every machine shop. In the fol-lowing, Jim Kovach gives some useful tipson how to get the most from your mill.–Ed

1. Always use a high-quality ma-chinist’s square on the mill. You willbe surprised how close you can get. Ichecked my combination squareagainst a master square comparatorand found it to be within .002˝ ofsquare at 10 inches off the surfaceplate.

2. Cut the long shanks off your drillchucks. The R-8 collet is only one inchlong inside. How much shank do youneed up there? Consider all the timeyou spend cranking the knee up anddown to get the chuck in and out ofthat long shank. Buy two drill chuckswith different diameter shanks onthem. This allows you to save time ontool changes when you have the sameshank diameter as your cutting tools(end mills/drills).

3. Don’t put an end mill in a quickchange drill chuck. This is tempting attimes, but is a pure rookie move. Ifthe end mill chatters for a nano sec-ond, the chuck loosens and all hellbreaks loose!

4. Remove the drawbar every sooften, clean it and put a drop of oil orlight assembly lube on the threads.You should be able to spin this withyour fingers. If it doesn’t spin freely,get a new one – the threads are proba-bly deformed.

5. Use the spindle motor to rapidlytraverse the collet out after you breakit loose with a wrench. Hold only thedrawbar lightly with your fingers andcatch the collet as it falls. Better yet, in-vest in a power drawbar. Once youhave tried a power drawbar, you willwonder how you managed without it.No more smashed fingers or wrenchesrattling over your head.

Jim KovachKovach & Assoc.Performance Engine BuildingParma, OH

Drilling Bolt HolesWhen drilling a hole into a blind orother hole where depth is critical, use apiece of tape on your drill bit as agauge. Or use enough tape so that itwill act as a stop.

Paul WamplerEngine & Performance WarehouseDenver, CO

Making a Solid LifterEver get caught without a solid lifter tocheck static valve-to-piston clearanceon a Chevy hydraulic cam? I have. Idon’t know what happens to all myused Chevy solid lifters. Too muchhouse cleaning?

Many may already know this, buthere is the tip: Take a new stockChevy hydraulic lifter (or even a gen-tly used one). Remove the clip (butdon’t lose it.) Remove the cap, valveand spring. Invert the valve so the bot-tom is up and replace the in lifter body.Then set the cap back on. The clip fitsperfectly. Now you have a solid lifterto check your VTP.

Jim FeurerAnimal Jim RacingLacon, IL

Separating ‘Stuck Together’ PailsMost shops have ice cream pails orfive-gallon plastic or steel pails forstoring stuff or catching drips, etc. Theproblem is that whenever you needone, at least five are stuck together sotight 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 betweenthe seam of one pail top and the sideof the other pail. They will pop apartjust great and you will not damage either one. Works every time!

Rene' GrodeValley Auto Parts, Inc.Black Creek, WI

Be Sure To ‘Color Code’ Remote Oil Filter LinesI recently had one of my customerschange a transmission in a 10.00 sec-ond index bracket drag car. It is asmall block V8 Vega with large Stahlheaders. The car is equipped with aremote oil filter and has two steelbraided lines, one line each for “In”and “Out.” I had the lines and thehousings marked in multiple places soas not to get the lines reversed.

The mechanic who helped my cus-tomer change his transmission is one ofthe best mechanics and also one of thebest drivers on the East Coast. Some-how they got the lines reversed. Theyfired the car and drove it to the lanes.During the burnout and then the run,they noticed zero oil pressure. The carhad an abundance of oil pressure itsentire life. The mechanic called me viahis cell phone and asked “what hap-pens if the oil lines are reversed?” Itold him it could be disastrous. Wepulled the engine apart at the owner’srequest and were lucky it had minimaldamage (thanks synthetic racing oil!).

The oil filters are not designed towork backward. There is much lesssurface area on the inside than on theoutside. It’s kind of like trying to pourtransmission fluid in a funnel startingat the small end! To correct the prob-lem this time I used a red and yellowpaint pen and marked the fittings,housings and lines accordingly. Red tored, yellow to yellow, etc. I also tookred and yellow electrical tape andwrapped the braided steel lines ac-cordingly. Then I put a color-coded tiewrap around the tape just in case itwanted to fall off.


12-13 Shop Solutions 2/20/13 3:36 PM Page 12


Shop Solutions –The Power ofKnowledge

Engine Builder and Engine Pro present

Shop Solutions in each issue of EngineBuilder Magazine and at enginebuilder-mag.com.

The feature is intended to provide

machine shop owners and engine tech-

nicians 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

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internal engine components for

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My point is that even great mechanics make mistakes as illus-trated here. I like to eliminate all potential problems if possible. I amsure 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 seeyellow!

Jeff "Beezer" BesethBeezer Built, Inc.Newtown Square, PA

Yet Another Way To Remove Pilot Bearings And BushingsEditor’s Note: Previously in this space, we have run Shop Solutions on several varia-tions 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 MachineShop. 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, justpack Play-Doh in the hole. Then use a wooden dowel to force it out. There isno mess to clean up, an advantage over using grease to do the job. ■

Rick LakeLake's Machine ShopNeedmore, PA

12-13 Shop Solutions 2/20/13 3:36 PM Page 13

Business signs are still unclearas we daily set forth on an un-certain journey. Business can

be complex. And if you are the boss,your world becomes even morecomplex. We are each responsiblefor what we do or don’t do and wecan only really control ourselvesand our own actions. You knowthings are out of hand when you oran employee has to ask, “Who isdriving the boat?”

I was recently reminded of an ex-change with a customer that showshow complicated we can make sim-ple sales, for ourselves, and others.It starts with a consumer who has aseverely damaged block and a set ofwiped out bearings and crankshaft.

This talented machinist and shopowner is pressured by his good cus-tomer to fix the mainsaddles and rebuildthe engine. Originally,time was not a factor,but soon it will be.

And what shouldhave been a fairlysmooth sail, soonstarts to hit some foul weather.

With the align-bore machiningcompleted, the block looks good.But it needs oversized O.D. mainbearings. One manufacturer’s cat-alog shows a set of main bearingsthat will fit and accommodate a.010˝ undersize crankshaft. How-ever, this creates a new problem asthe crankshaft is hurt and can’tmake .010”.

At this point an exchangecrank “kit” is ordered and it allstarts to unravel. A request ismade to change the contents of

the kit, to accommodate the needfor these oversize O.D. bearings. Itis agreed and acknowledged thatthe bearings must be special or-dered and a projected date is estab-lished that they will arrive and shipto the machine shop.

Then, the warehouse distributorcontacts the machine shop with aconfirmation and a delivery date.This is a Thursday or Friday andthey move on to the next phone calland sales.

The following week, as every-thing is in progress and the partsare “in the mail,” the dissatisfactionis announced. The question being,“Why weren’t the (special order)bearings shipped directly to me(the machine shop)?” Apparentlythis could have saved a day in the

delivery of the

products and allowed a certainamount of assembly and checkingof the parts and the work. So, whogets the call and the complaint?Yours truly, of course.

I must admit, I didn’t have a cluewhy this was so important. My firstmistake. After all, it was too late tochange things. As far as I could tell,coming in on this very late in thecruise, everyone had done their partto facilitate a special request. I couldnot answer the question. And, Icould not, at that moment, reach theperson who had taken the originalorder. And again, I could do nothingabout it at this stage of the game.

Something was said thatsounded like a good excuse rightfrom the dissatisfied machinist, whopossibly wanted to check the bear-ings against the crank. It sounded


Buying Parts In A Storm

CONTRIBUTOR Dave [email protected]

Who’s driving the boat anyway?

Tale

s Fr

om T

he W

D

Small winds can quickly becomegiant squalls, and in today’s busi-ness climate, you must be thecaptain of your ship and voiceyour expectations to the crew.

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good to me, but now this was a prob-lem. The book was very clear as to thespecifications of the bearings, so whythe need to check? I just wanted tosail on, but this was not good enough,and now everything I said waswrong. I was accused of poor service,saying things I should not have, andon and on. Yikes! All hands on deck.

Well, like so many other tales ofthe high seas, this one did not endhere. It seems the exchange crank-shaft had not been ground at the timethe order was placed. Over the week-end it was ground, but, for whateverreason, the mains did not make theprojected .010˝ undersize. Bearingswere already on their way to thegrinder, but this was not going towork. The crank shop steps up at thistime and faxes in another bearingorder, specifying bearings that arecorrect for the O.D. and the new I.D.Additionally, they asked for them tobe next day aired to the machineshop, at their expense. Sounds liketerrific service to me. Hooray crew.

Wrong! The bearing manufacturerdoes not make them in this size, as-sumes an error and proceeds to shipout a set of the exact same sizes, over-size O.D. and .010˝ I.D., to the enginebuilder.

Ka-boom! It really hits the prop.Yours truly gets another call. I am alsoreminded that I never addressed theoriginal question of why they werenot shipped direct to the shop the firsttime. (I am hoping my hair growsback soon.)

Eventually a new crank core isfound, ground to the correct specifica-tions and delivered to the shop. Themotor is completed, delivered and allis well.

Oh, and in case you too are askingthat question, it had nothing to dowith checking the bearings.

As an economy, quantities of bear-ings are ordered regularly andshipped into the crank shop. Theoversized O.D. set was just includedin that order as a way to save money,by not creating an additional freight

charge to anyone. Pretty simple. Afterall, this is a large company that sellscrank “kits,” not individual parts.

The lesson, Gilligan? Wheneveryou stray from the norm or pressuresomeone else, expect the unforeseencircumstances that might occur. Pres-suring others, because of promisesyou have made without consultingthem first, will only create problemsthat can snowball down the roadleaving you and the others account-able for the outcome.

If you have a certain need or aresetting an expectation, voice your orders to the crew loud and clear,and at the beginning of the trip. Intoday’s business climate, at today’sprofit margins, too many of thesemishaps could spell disaster for notonly your trip, but also business forsomeone else.

Small winds can soon become agiant squall. And if you’re not a pru-dent captain, you may find yourselfsailing into a storm. ■


WD Tales


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As an engine builder, you getto decide what parts go intothe engines you build. If

you’re rebuilding a stock engine tostock specifications, you’re probablygoing to use a reconditioned stockcrankshaft and connecting rods tokeep costs down. There’s no reasonto upgrade these parts because theyshould be adequate for the loadsthey are designed to handle.

But if you’re building a perform-ance engine that’s going to developsignificantly more power than stock(say 150 to 200 hp or more), you’llhave to upgrade to a stronger forgedsteel crank and rods. Push a stockcrank and rods too far and eventu-ally something will fail.

Aftermarket suppliers have a widevariety of forged cranks and perform-ance rods to fit almost anything that iscommonly built today. Everybody hascranks and rods in various strokes andlengths that will fit most SB/BB Chevy,Ford and Chrysler engines, plus manyOldsmobile, Pontiac and vintage Fordengines, and even a lot of sport com-pact engines (Honda, Mitsubishi andothers). But what do you do if nobodyhas an off-the-shelf crank or set of rodsthat will work in an engine a customerwants you to build or rebuild? Youronly option may be to have the partscustom made.

Billet cranks have been around along time and are used in everythingfrom Top Fuel dragsters and NASCARto diesel-powered sled pullers. Billetcranks are CNC machined from a solidbar of steel such as EN30, 4330M orother high-grade alloy. Unlike a forgedcrank that has to be heated, stampedand twisted into shape in a high-pres-

sure forging press, a custom CNC billetcrank is machined at room tempera-ture to final dimensions in a CNC ma-chine. There’s no squeezing, bendingor twisting of the metal involved, just aLOT of milling and machining tosculpt the bar stock into a finishedcrankshaft.

How Billet Cranks DifferFrom Forged CranksThe main advantage of creating acrankshaft by CNC machining a solidbar of steel is that it doesn’t disturb ordistort the grain structure of the metal.It cuts across the grain structure. Bycomparison, a forging really moves themetal around quite a bit. Forcing hotmetal to flow into the cavities of a forg-ing press under great pressure com-presses and deforms the grainstructure of the steel. The compressiveforces experienced by the metal duringthe forging process increase strengthcompared to a casting. But it also cre-ates and concentrates internal stressesin areas that undergo the most defor-mation, which is typically the criticaloverlap areas between the main androd journals. These residual stresseshave to be relieved by a subsequentheat treatment process to relax themetal so the stresses can dissipate.

Those who make custom CNC billetcranks say billet cranks are the bestmoney can buy. They are expensive,costing anywhere from 3 to 20 times asmuch as an off-the-shelf cast or forgedcrank. They cost so much for a coupleof reasons. One is that a custom billetcrank requires engineering develop-ment time if you want something thathasn’t been done before or requiresmodifying an existing design. Chang-

ing the stroke may not seem like a bigdeal on a crank that’s already been de-veloped and programmed, but chang-ing the stroke changes the size andpositioning of the counterweights andthe location of the oil holes which re-quires redoing the CNC programming.

Even if a billet crank you want hasalready been developed and pro-grammed, CNC machining a solid barof steel into a finished crank still takes aLOT of milling and cutting – and a lotof handling. One crank supplier we in-terviewed who makes CNC billetcranks said a typical high-end racingcrank may be in and out of their CNCmachine 18 to 20 times during themanufacturing process so variousmeasurements, checks and machiningprocesses can be verified and com-pleted. All that handling adds time andcost.

The crank supplier also has to earna return on his investment in his CNCmachine and all of the fancy tooling ittakes to machine a crankshaft. High-end CNC machines can easily cost up-wards of $100,000 to $200,000 or more,and the tooling is expensive to replacewhen it wears out or breaks. It alsotakes a highly skilled operator to pro-gram, operate and babysit the equip-ment.

Of course, forgings are not cheap either when you factor in the cost ofthe forging dies. But the same set ofdies can be used to whack out thou-sands of rough forgings, lowering theoverall cost of each part – especially ifit is made offshore using cheap labor. Italso takes much less machining to fin-ish a rough forging than to CNC acomplete crank out of bar stock. Sothat’s why a CNC crank for a SB Chevy


Custom Crankshafts and Custom cranks and rods, versus off the shelf. Which should you choose?

Feat

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18-22 Cranks&Rods 2/20/13 3:38 PM Page 18

might set you back $2,800 or more ver-sus $600 to $800 for an entry-levelforged crank.

Custom Billet CrankshaftsWhat’s actually involved in getting acustom billet crankshaft made? It startswith a phone call to the crankshaft sup-plier. The first thing they’ll want toknow is what type of engine the crankis going into, how that engine will be

used and how much power it willmake. Are you doing an antiquerestoration project with relatively lowpower output and light use, or are youbuilding a blown nitro burning all outracing engine? A crank that has to han-dle 3,000 to 5,000-plus horsepower willobviously have different dimensionaland metallurgical requirements than acrank that may only have more moder-ate loads.

The crank supplier will need all ofthe physical dimensions such as borespacing, stroke length, rod and mainjournal diameters and widths, rodlength, snout and end configuration,etc. They will also need an estimatedbobweight for the rods, pistons andrings so the counterweights can besized and positioned accordingly forproper engine balance with minimummass. Do you want the counterweights


Feature

Connecting RodsTECHNICAL EDITOR Larry [email protected]



profiled or knife-edged to reduce windage? Do you wantextra polishing on the journals or a special finish on thecrankshaft? Do you want the rod throws rifle drilled to re-duce weight? How do you want the oil holes drilled andconfigured? Where do you want the keyway positioned onthe nose of the crank? Once all of these details have beenironed out and written down on a work order form, the sup-plier can begin the production process that will bring yourcustom CNC billet crank to completion.

The time it takes to make a custom billet crank can varyquite a bit depending on what you want. The more develop-ment work the crank requires, the more time it adds to themanufacturing process. According to several crank supplierswe spoke with, typical lead times, start to finish, range from8 weeks up to 12 weeks. The busier the supplier is, thelonger it will take to get your crank. One supplier said theymay have anywhere from 200 to 500 cranks in process intheir shop, depending on the time of year.

Finishing StepsOne of the final steps in the manufacturing process withboth CNC and forged cranks is usually nitriding, whichadds a hard surface layer to the crank to improve journallife and fatigue resistance. The trick is to get a layer that isdeep enough to provide the desired benefits without beingtoo thick and making the crank too brittle. One suppliersaid they aim for a relatively thin layer that peaks at about.003˝ in depth and tapers off from there as you go deeperinto the metal. Nitriding diffuses atoms of nitrogen into the

surface of the steel to harden it. Various areas of the crankmay be masked off (such as the radius areas of the jour-nals) because excessive hardness here increases the risk ofcracking.

Cracks often begin in highly stressed areas like the jour-nal fillets, near oil holes, or near the snout where there arehigh loads from the drive belts (especially a blower belt).Most performance cranks are machined with a larger radiusin the journal fillets (which may require using chamferedrod and main bearings). Cranks with oversized snouts arealso available for blower applications or other applicationsthat place unusually heavy belt loads on the crank.

Shot peening the surface of the crank also helps improvestrength and reliability by increasing surface hardness andeliminating stress risers that might form cracks. Cryogenictreatment (freezing to 300 degrees below zero in liquid nitro-gen) is also said to relieve residual stress and improve dura-bility.

Polishing the journals to make them as smooth as possi-ble is pretty much standard, but polishing the entire surfaceof the crankshaft to create a smooth chrome-like finish canalso reduce surface stresses as well as windage and oil shed-ding. Some crank suppliers who offer a special finish ontheir cranks claim it results in a 1 to 4 percent gain in usablehorsepower at the flywheel.

Stroker CranksStroker cranks are extremely popular these days as a way toadd displacement, torque and power, but there are some


Feature



tradeoffs. So before you go nuts with stroking an enginewith either a forged or CNC crank, consider the following.Stroker cranks are good for low-end torque and off-the-linethrottle response, but are not as good for high rpm power.Also, the longer the stroke, the more counterweight isneeded to offset the greater motion of the pistons and rods.This, in turn, may require using expensive heavy metal tobalance the crank. With some long stroke cranks, it may notbe possible to achieve internal balance by adding metal tothe counterweights. The engine may also have to be exter-nally balanced.

With internally balanced engines, the counterweightsthemselves handle the job of offsetting the recipro-cating mass of the pistons and rods. In externallybalanced engines, additional counterweights onthe flywheel and/or harmonic damper help thecrank maintain balance. Some engines (like ChevyLS) use a combination of internal and external balancing to control vibrations.

Connecting RodsThe rods you choose obviously have to be matched to thecrank and the stroke of the engine you are building as wellas the engine’s power output and application. Stock rodsare usually adequate for stock engines, but the powermetal 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 highrpm when it is being pulled apart at TDC on the exhauststroke, rather than from compression loads during thepower stroke. Consequently, you have to use stronger rodsin high-rpm engines.

You also want rods that are as light as possible in highrevving engines to reduce reciprocating weight (which alsomeans the counterweights on the crank can be smaller andlighter). The same goes for lighter pistons. On the other


FeatureTHIS ISSUE: PG 23 >> On the Dyno PG 24 >> Restoration PG 32 >> Dirt Late Models

This photo shows a billet crankshaftbeing manufactured by Bryant Racing. A custom billet crank canbe made in about 8 weeks.




Feature

hand, if you are building a low-rpmhigh-torque motor, reciprocatingweight is less critical.

The type of rod (I-beam or H-beam)is less important than the ratedstrength of the rod. H-beam rods aretypically recommended for higher-revving higher-output engines, butthere are many excellent I-beam rodsthat will work just as well in many ofthe same applications.

As with billet crankshafts, rods canbe CNC machined from billetsteel or forgings to achieve al-most any desired dimension orresult. Computer programs thatpredict the stresses on the rod aretypically used to develop newrod designs that maximizestrength while minimizing weight.This allows manufacturers to offer awider variety of custom rods in termsof length and design. Such rods canusually be made-to-order fairly quickly(a week or two lead time), which iswhy some rod suppliers say that mostof the rods they are selling today are

custom order rather than off-the-shelfproducts.

Rod length is another factor that hasto be considered. Given the height di-mensions of the block and how muchstroke is in the crank, you have somewiggle room to play around with rodlength. Stroker cranks require shorterrods to maintain the same deck height

of the piston at TDC, but you can maxi-mize rod length if you use pistons thathave a higher wrist pin location. Whydo this? A longer rod allows the pistonto dwell longer at TDC before it startsback down on the power stroke. Thisallows pressure to build longer in thecombustion chamber, producing abroader, flatter torque curve than thesame engine with shorter rods. Forsome applications, this is a desirablecharacteristic 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-centerdivided by the stroke of the crank-shaft) of 1.5 to 2.1. Most performanceengine builders say a rod ratio in 1.57to 1.67 range works best as higher ra-tios can make the torque curve peaktoo sharply. Lower rod ratios are typi-cally found in lower rpm high torquemotors, such as a stroked 383 Chevysmall block.

Wrist pin offset is also important.On many rods, the location of the wristpin is slightly offset to reduce the stresson the piston pin and small end of therod when the piston reaches TDC andchanges direction. An offset pin loca-tion reduces the rocking motion of thepiston as it passes TDC to reduce pis-ton slap and noise.

Some racers are running rods thathave no wrist pin bushing, so if you areordering a set of custom rods youmight want to look at this possibility.Eliminating the bushing leaves moremetal for a thicker and stronger smallend of the rod, but it also requires ahard wear-resistant coating on the pinso it will work with the piston. ■


An aluminum rod from an enginethat blew up – the rod survived butthe piston did not.


Brad Lagman and his crew atChatsworth, CA-based QMPRacing Engines (qmpracing.com)

get to build engines for some prettycool toys all day long, but this one maybe one of the more unique builds theyhave ever done. The engine will bedropped in a buggy that runs on sandand kicks giant roostertails of the stufffor miles throughout the dunes up anddown the West Coast. Lagman saysthe engine produced some pretty stouthorsepower numbers in the end.

The engine features a 427 Dart aluminum block, AFR 227 cylinderheads, Jesel belt drive, Ross pistons,Oliver steel rods and Total Seal APrings. It also features an 8-71 blowerwith 8-lbs. of boost, a FAST fuel injec-tion system and a custom NOS sys-tem. The valvetrain includes Crowershaft rockers with .937 roller lifters,COMP Cams 50 mm roller cam andManton pushrods. “We bored thecam tunnel, CNC bored, decked andlifter-trued the block. Then we hot-honed it with our Gehring diamondhone. It made 847 hp on pump gas at7,900 rpm and 620 ft-lbs. of torque at6,600 rpm,” said Lagman. ■


QMP RacingEngine’sBuggy BuildKicks SomeSerious Sand

presented by:

WHAT’S ON THE

DYNO?


23 What's On The Dyno 2/20/13 3:40 PM Page 23

You might joke that the restora-tion engine marketplace is a“dependable” business niche.

Trying to get a handle on its size,shape and character depends on withwhom you talk and what they con-sider a vintage car to be. A number ofcompanies rebuild engines for vintagecars while others rebuild vintage carengines. There is a definite differencebetween rebuilding a modern enginethat’s going into a vintage car, and re-building a vintage engine that’s 40-100years old.

Some rebuilders focus on musclecar motors and others only do horse-less carriage engines. A few rebuildhundreds of older engines per year,while others do a half dozen. There arespecialists like Jeep supplier Omix-ADA (www.omix-ada.com) that dealwith one type of engine, and otherslike Fred Seydel of Fred’s Engine Serv-ice in Chester County, PA, who said,“My advantage is I’ve seen the insidesof hundreds of different engines fromStutz to Nash to Whippet motors.”

There are companies that only sup-ply parts for vintage engines, compa-nies that only rebuild vintage enginesand companies that do both. Somefirms in this niche have facilities thatspan several thousand square feet,while semi-retired Mr. Seydel, whodoes national advertising, works in agarage behind his house. Most re-builders seem to be in the 50- to 85-year-old bracket, which is pretty muchtrue of their customers, too. A lot ofshops that work strictly on vintage en-gines have been around a long time.Harken Machine Shop of Watertown,SD, dates to 1906; Harts Machine inCecil, OH, started in 1926.

After talking to dozens of busi-nesses that do this type of work, one isleft with the overall impression thatthe niche isn’t big, but that it is good.The small firms that have experiencein this area are, for the most part, ei-ther thriving on the “old car” work orusing it to fill in for other jobs thathave gone away. At the same time, thebig parts suppliers and shops aregrowing because the overall market isgrowing, and also because some ofthem are supplying the small shops.

Getting A Handle On Market SizePromar Precision Engines (www.pro-marengine.com), of Paterson, NJ, is a bigcompany that some years back detected a nationwide resurgence ofclassic car restorations. Promar was already serving customers worldwide

with a complete line of rebuilt and re-manufactured engines, cylinder heads,crankshafts, engine restoration serv-ices and components. So, the companydecided to create a specialized busi-ness to rebuild older engines deliveredto its New Jersey location. Promar sentrepresentatives to classic car shows,provided car show trophies andplaced ads in collector magazines topromote this program.

“We still rebuild vintage engines,”says company CEO and presidentMark Fellanto. “We probably rebuildthree to four classic car engines perweek on average and sometimes more;they represent about 10 percent of ourbusiness.” Fellanto was one of rela-tively few people interviewed for thisarticle willing to put numbers on theclassic engine business, but almost allof them –


Restoration EngineMarket UpdateThe resto market can be a good source ofextra business or a solid specialization option

Feat

ure

CONTRIBUTING EDITORJohn [email protected]

Bob Rovegno of Packard Industries/Rebuilder’s Choiceposes with a 1957 Chrysler 300 C Letter car that has a restored engine.

24-31 Restoration 2/20/13 3:42 PM Page 24

whether huge like Promar or a tinysole proprietorship – saw the restora-tion niche as a segment that’s gener-ated additional business during thecurrent economic downturn.

Rich Falluca’s Skokie, IL, companyis called Antique Engine Building(www.antiqueenginerebuilding.com) andhas been rebuilding Model A Fordengines for 35 years. He says that formost of that time he did about 100engines a year, but lately the averagenumber he’s rebuilding is hoveringaround 140.

“Even in this down economy, theModel A business is holding up verywell,” says Falluca. “And it only seemsto be growing.” Falluca’s offeringsstart with a Model A short block modi-fied for insert bearings for $2,075, andrange up to a long-block Touring en-gine with a 5.5:1 compression head for$4,295. Falluca sells parts to customersall over the world, but says the marketfor rebuilt engines is mainly in the US,ranging from California to the EastCoast. “Our website tells people howto crate parts to save on domestic ship-ping,” Falluca points out.

Jim Ketchum and Steve Markleywork for Egge Macine Co.(www.egge.com), which started in 1915and moved to Los Angeles in 1923.Years ago, Egge rebuilt old enginesand sold parts for them, but now it istotally a parts supplier. “Each day wequote out about 50 rebuild kits andmost of them get billed,” they said.“Annual kit sales are in the thousandsand many go to restoration shops. Weship some direct to machine shops thatdo engines for restorers, and some –but not as much as years ago – go directly to consumers.”

According to Jim and Steve, Eggedeals in engine parts for 1900 to 1980vehicles and sells a lot of Hemi andflathead Ford V8 parts. Egge manufac-tures valves and pistons for vintageengines and the other parts it sells arenew old stock items. Most Egge prod-ucts are for American cars, though thecompany has made some parts forMercedes-Benz and Rolls-Royce carsand vintage motorcycles. They said thevintage niche is “growing, but nottremendously,” and notedthat they tend to add a fewparts for newer collector carsas they go along.”

Bob Rovegno of RebuildersChoice/Packard Industries, anotherbig player in the field, says, “The an-tique engine market is still small froman engine rebuilding industry point ofview, but it’s a niche that is thriving asthe collector car market grows. Agrowing market is a great opportunityfor shops to add additional income asparts once considered obsolete arenow available.” Rovegno didn’t revealthe annual number of vintage enginerebuilds, but did say that 70 percent ofRebuilders Choice sales involve engineparts for 1920s-1970s cars.

The Shape Of The MarketWegner Motorsports (wegnerautomotive2.com) is a nationally-knownsource for engines, components, ma-chine work and dyno tuning. CarlWegner says his 7,500 sq.ft., facility lo-cated on a farm in Markesan, WI, has30 employees and builds around 500engines per year. After years of spe-cializing in NASCAR engines, in 2011Wegner decided to expand into themuscle car niche. Wegner sells three tofive engine kits per week that amountto $1,200,000-$1,500,000 in annualsales. Most of Wegner’s kits are forGM LS series powerplants. Many ofthese engines wind up in Resto-Mods – vintage muscle cars that arerestored with modern drivetrains.Wegner sells to shops, distributorsand hobbyists and says that the mar-ket is starting to grow again.

Ken Ligenfelter is a serious car

collector himself and his LigenfelterEngineering (www.lingenfelter.com)works on about 25 traditional small-and big-block engines annually. Hesays that some customers send theirengine to him and others ship thecomplete car. At approximately twoengines per month, this is about 5 per-cent of the company’s overall businessand, according to Ligenfelter, coverstraditional small block, traditional bigblock and LT5 (original Corvette ZR1)engines. “We have customers from allover the world who select LingenfelterPerformance Engineering for their en-gine work,” says Ligenfelter. “Oursales numbers are holding pretty sta-tus quo, neither up nor down, and ourtraditional small-block and big-blockengine work is holding stable.”

Ligenfelter says that his customersare “primarily involved” in the hot rodand restoration segments and only avery small percentage are racers. Asmany car enthusiasts know, when itcomes to vintage engines, rodders andrestorers have a lot in common.

Speedway Motors (speedwaymo-tors.com) supplies both niches withproducts ranging from stock rebuildcomponents for flathead Ford V8s toelectronic distributors for flatheadFords and Chevy sixes. Companyowner “Speedy” Bill Smith is also oneof the largest collectors of vintage en-gines.

While these big suppliers shapepart of the restoration engine market,the restorer looking for help in rebuild-


Feature

Rich Falluca’s Antique Engine Buildingcompany has been rebuilding ModelA Ford engines for 35 years and is upto about 140 rebuilds per year.


26-27 Packard_Layout 1 2/20/13 3:27 PM Page 26


26-27 Packard_Layout 1 2/20/13 3:27 PM Page 27

ing a Pontiac straight eight or aBuick “nailhead” V8 is probablygoing to go to a newsstand or surfthe Web looking for advertisementsfrom specialty shops that know howto fix old engines and where to findparts for them. Some companies likethe aforementioned Egge and Re-builders Choice can help, but thereare also businesses such as North-western Auto Supply (www.north-westernautosupply.com) and TerrillMachine Co. (www.terrillmotorma-chine.com) and others that, over theyears, bought up the obsolete re-mainder parts that no one elsewanted and started supplying themto both professional restorationshops and backyard restorers.

Another group that shapes therestoration engine market shows upin car collecting publications bestknown for printing thousands of clas-sified word ads each month and dis-tributing them to well over 325,000serious old-car hobbyists. In thesepublications, the engine restorationads break down into two categories:shops that do babbitting work andshops that rebuild old engines. In atypical issue of one magazine, wefound seven ads for babbitting servicesand 12 from engine rebuilders. The adsoften emphasized that the shop hadbeen in business since the early 1900s,or the ‘20s, or the ‘40s or the ‘60s, etc.When we called some of these busi-nesses, we were told that the number

of such ads ap-pearing eachmonth has probably doubled duringthe current recession.

A Mile Wide And An Inch DeepPeople selling collectibles on eBay saytheir market is “a mile wide and aninch deep.” In other words, customersfor collectibles are all over the worldand interested in different things. Insuch a market, you deal mainly withcustomers who you never meet. Yousell them something at the “prevailingmarket price.” The condition of whatyou sell and honest dealing are critical.

Cheat and every collector willknow it. You may never get a re-peat sale, but if you’re luckyand find a big collector, you’llget many. The vintage engineniche is somewhat like this.

As mentioned earlier, TerryHarkin’s machine shop in Wa-tertown, SD, has been aroundsince 1906. He says he “does notdo many” complete engine re-builds a year, but a lot of babbit-ting. Except for Chevys and afew Hudsons, most jobs are forprewar engines. “This businesshas gotten bigger over theyears,” Harkin explains. “Now,

we get them from allover the world and a lotfrom the West Coast andNew York. You work forone guy and do a goodjob and he tells his

friends – I think that’s what happenedwith the business I get from NewYork.”

Zigmont Bilus of The Babbitt Pot inFort Edward, NY, says that he used tohave customers sending in lots of bear-ings in boxes for him to rebabbitt, butnow the big demand is for rebuildingand that babbitt work is down to 25percent of his business in the past fourto five years. Bilus is in his 70s andmost of his customers are older, semi-retired people. “They make up most ofthe market,” he notes. “But I also get10 percent from younger people who


Feature


The restoration market is bring-ing back some oldies, but with amodern twist like this Flathead.


are doing well and restorecars as a hobby. Bilus doeswhat he calls, “Pre-teens to1940s engines.” He staysaway from muscle cars be-cause he doesn’t have mod-ern equipment. “I have avalve seat grinder with astone,” he says. ”I do themone at a time.”

Like many antique enginerebuilders, the Babbitt Potsees work coming in from faraway. “Every year, the radiusfor my work punches out alittle further,” Billus pointsout. “Now, I get people fromNew England, Jersey, NewYork, Arkansas and Floridacalling and saying ‘I sawyour ad’ and they’re ship-ping them in from all over; well, aPackard engine can cost $500 to shipthese days.” When customers askwhat it costs, his stock answer is“$1,000-$1,500 per cylinder bore.” Tohis amazement, the jobs still come in.“I was used to doing a half dozen a

year, now I’m doing 12 to 18 just tokeep busy, since the market for babbittwork is shrinking and fewer peopleare doing what I do with the babbittwork included.”

It’s hard not to take Dennis Stine-hart’s laugh as a sign that he’s very

happy with the level of businessat his Berry Machine Co. inMason City, IA. “We specialize inold stuff and babbitting andwe’re busier than buckshot,” hetells us. “We’re doing the enginefor a ’24 Cadillac that was in the‘Driving Miss Daisy’ movie andcame in from Warren, MI. We’realso doing the engine for an oldpickup from Denton, TX and aV16 for a 1939 Cadillac limo.”

Stinehart also says that busi-ness seems to be growing eachyear. “And we don’t do muscle

cars,” he stressed. “There’sthree other shops in townand we let them mess withthat stuff. For us, the impor-tant thing is doing thingsright because our clients

want that. We even run the engines inthe shop before they go out.”

Fred Seydel’s business in ChesterCounty, PA, is called Fred’s EngineService. He says he redoes “a dozenengines in a good year” and he onlydoes complete rebuilds that are actu-


FeatureTHIS ISSUE: PG 32 >> Dirt Late Models PG 38 >> Pistons & Rings PG 48 >> Final Wrap


Most people involved in the vin-tage market remember theseengines when they were new.


ally restorations. He paints an engineas soon as the metal is cleaned andsays, “to my customers, appearance is0just as important as the mechanicalwork.” Seydel feels that engines aretoo expensive to ship and sticks to jobsin a 500-600 mile range of his shop. “Ihave quite a following within 50 miles,with a lot of repeats,” he explains. “Iget a lot of older, wealthy clients whohave more than one car and thatmeans a lot of repeat business.”

Like some – but not all – antiqueengine rebuilders, Seydel finds that hisbusiness is “very seasonal with no

winter work.” He says that his advan-tage is all of the different engines hehas worked on over the years. “I was16 when I started on this stuff and I’mstill working on the same stuff I wasdoing then,” he emphasized. “There’sno book that teaches people what I doand I offer my customers a lot for theirmoney; if they’re local, I even go overto their place to start the engine for thefirst time, because it’s important tostart them right.”

Russ Schworer of Paul’s Rod &Bearing (paulsrodsandbearings.com) inParkville, MO, says he’s making a liv-

ing doing babbitt bearings. “We sawmany machine shops go under four orfive years ago,” he points out. “Oldtimers knew how to do it, but babbitt isso specialized that their businessesstruggled.” Schworer said it amazedhim how previous recessions did notimpact his business, “But this one defi-nitely did,” he admits. “A year ago lastDecember things were really slow, butnow it’s getting better. I’m not seeingoptimism, but the big doom and gloommentality is gone.”

Schworer says that the restorationmarket has helped. He is doing about65 percent of his business for antiquecar engines these days. He’s helped re-storers with a 1907 Rolls-Royce engineand one for a Packard, plus lots ofModel T and Model A Ford stuff. Hehas more than 600 vintage rods and pis-tons in stock. “We have a lot of peoplewho just come by here and clubs likethe Antique Truck Historical Society.Our best customers are probably JohnDeere restorers.”

To stay healthy businesswise,Schworer watches his accounts receiv-ables closely and keeps suppliers on ashort leash. “The restoration customershave enough money and it seems likethe economy isn’t bothering them,” heexplains. “And sometimes these carshave sentimental or investment value.”

According to Schworer, there’s defi-nitely still a market in babbitt and Ihave photos of neat old cars we did allover the place.” Unlike some othershops, Paul’s stays busy even in thesummer and winter months. “My cus-tomers are restoring cars in the winter,so typically wintertime is a pretty goodseason for us,” he says.

After joking that he had a huge shopwith 500 employees, Mike from VintageEngine Machine Works in Coeur d’A-lene, ID, says his one-man shop does“total restorations” of just five to six en-gines per year. “We specialize in full-blown show engines for old cars andold boats,” he says. “We paint the partsbefore we put them together and ourcustomers want the gaskets to show forthe car shows.” VEMW does rebabbit-ting and rebuilding of mostly Americanengines.

“The economy has been in a steadydecline the past few years so I say a lotof prayers and do a lot of hoping thatthe phone will ring,” Mike notes. “But


Feature




in the past year I did a Cadilac V8, aModel A Ford four-banger, a 230 Dodgeflathead six and a 192 Chevy overhead-valve six. A few years ago, I actuallyhad a run on Chevy sixes and I’ve doneBuick, Packard and Hudson straighteights. I haven’t done many Ford flat-head V8s lately. What I get in reallyvaries.”

To get an overview of the restorationengine market we asked Angelo VanBogart, editor of Old Cars Weekly

(www.oldcarsweekly.com)what he’s seeing andhearing about enginesfrom his 70,000 readers.He says there are twotypes of rebuilders,those building moderntype hot rods with crateengines, and those whowill go to extremelengths to keep an en-gine original. Van Bogart

feels thatyears agoauto collec-tors would

rebuild their own engines, but thattoday both backyard restorers andrestoration shops rely more on profes-sional rebuilders.

The hardest part about building avintage engine is that it isn’t a small-block Chevy,” Van Bogart stated.“Often, if a supplier is out of parts, theywill wait until demand builds beforefiring up the machines and making an-other batch.” When Angelo had a 1955Cadillac V8 rebuilt, he found it hard to

locate someone who knew the nuancesof his engine during reassembly. “Ascool engines like early Olds V8s andnailheads and flatheads become older,the supply of running parts cars de-creases,” says Van Bogart. “Old engineslike these seem to now be sourced frompeople’s garages, where they have beenstored for many years, or from long-parked salvage vehicles, and in bothcases, they need to be rebuilt.”

Bottom LineWhat it all comes down to is that therestoration engine market is like thecollector car market itself. This niche isa small part of the engine rebuildingindustry, but it’s also keeping the doorsof many smaller, veteran machineshops open. In other instances, it’s pro-viding a very good supplement to theregular business that some larger shopsenjoy. And it’s important to add thatmany in this niche feel it is growing,due to classic car auctions being seenon TV and the move to collect morelater model cars as they age and become part of history. ■


Feature


This 1936 Pontiac flathead six has been detailed withnew engine paint and vintage-looking spark plug wires.


Fact: There are more than 700dirt tracks in this country and avast number of them have some

type of a Dirt Late Model (DLM) se-ries. Some even have multiple DLMclasses. In addition, there are dozensof traveling series headed by the top-gun Lucas and World of Outlawgroups. They support a multitude ofcrown jewel races, such as the World100, The Dream, the North-South100, the World Dirt Track Champi-onship, and others that pay $50,000to $100,000. At Eldora Speedway in2003, there was even a race that paida million to win!

It is therefore easy to see that dirtlate model cars rule the short tracksand have fan support that is unbe-lievable to comprehend. And withthe great motivation to win, a largeindustry has evolved for engine de-velopment and production to sup-port the sport.

These totally-aftermarket enginesburn gasoline, sport compression ra-tios in the mid-teens, use large four-barrel carbs and produce more than800 hp. We took a look at this marketby polling some of the prominent en-gine builders in the market today.They told us about their enginebuilding philosophies and their con-cerns about the growing cost of the

dirt late model sport. Here are theirthoughts on a number of different as-pects of their business:

We first asked just whatsize engines dirt latemodel engine builderswere building these days.

Cornett Engines, located in Somerset,KY, has been in business since 1948and was established by “Red” Cor-nett. It is headed today by his son,Jack, who told us, “I have had thesame displacement ranges for 20years, from 400-440 cid and 800-840horses. I also have a 50-50 split be-tween Ford and Chevy engines.

Malcuit Racing Engines, Stras-burg, OH, has an added aspect totheir business. Brad Malcuit has pre-viously been a car owner and contin-ues today as an active dirt late modeldriver. Malcuit cars have won everymajor dirt late model event since hebegan business in 1972. Many of thetop drivers have used his engines.Brad has also won several ‘Driver ofthe Year’ awards. Malcuit’s enginesare of a lower displacement, some at388 cid with 442 being the tops. “Thesmaller engine, though, can stillmake 800 horsepower,” Malcuit said.

Jay Dickens Racing was officially

formed in 1996, but Dickens admitshe worked out of his garage for sev-eral years prior. His Aberdeen, MScompany has always concentratedon the dirt late model engines, butthere were a few pavement enginesbuilt initially. Success has been sub-stantial with hundreds of wins. Dick-ens says, “My engines work best inthe 420-450 cid range. With enginesthis big, they can handle the in-creased horsepower.”

Jim Kuntz Racing started in 1963,initially working with drag racing.He opened his Arkadelphia, AR,shop in 1986 and quickly ownedseven NHRA national records. Hestill builds drag motors but, now,DLM engines make up half his busi-ness, he says.

“It’s sort of like the only thing bet-ter than a 380 now is a little bigger. Itused to be the 380 cid, but now youcan’t sell one. It’s 410 to 450 cubicinch small-block Chevys and Fords.”

Baker Engineering has nearly 50years of racing industry involvementand is a name synonymous withhorsepower in the Midwest. Theypride themselves on the fact thateverything within the facility at BEIis engineering driven. President JackJerovsek says, “Our dirt late modelengines that we build vary from 350

Q&A With Dirt Late Model The market may be suffering at the moment but most b

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32-36 Dirt Engines 2/20/13 3:54 PM Page 32

to 454 cid. The biggest variable affect-ing engine displacement is track con-ditions, specifically the amount oftraction on the track.”

Draime Enterprises was namedafter brothers David and John Draime,who grew up around racing. Their fa-ther, Russell Draime, began racing in1952. When David and John were intheir teens they began to do work forother racers, which included buildingengines, race cars, and chassis set-up.By the time they had both finishedschool, they had a large enough cus-tomer base that they were able to workon race cars full-time. In 1973, DraimeEnterprises was founded and fouryears later, they were only building en-gines. John says their engines rangefrom 380 to 450 cid, “depending on thecustomer.”

The name Roush/Yates needs no in-troduction to the racing world. What alot of people don’t know is that theybuild a large variety of engines in andoutside of NASCAR. One such area isDLM and RYR’s Brad Loden says,“Everyone wants the largest thing youcan build. We have certain horsepowerand torque values we like to meet withthe smallest displacement necessary.The larger (440 cid and up) engines donot seem to accelerate as well and canbe gear sensitive.”


FeatureTHIS ISSUE: PG 38 >> Pistons & Rings PG 44 >> Product Spotlights PG 48 >> Final Wrap

l Engine Builderst believe there’s hope of a turnaround

BY CONTRIBUTORSBILL HOLDER AND JOHN CAROLLO

Photo (CC) by Royal_Broil

Circle 143 for more informationCircle 53 for more information


Our second question wasabout the effects of the economy on engine sales.

Malcuit says he is down 10-20%. “Theeconomy is a factor that is causingsome older drivers to retire and therearen’t enough younger guys comingalong to take their place,” he says.

Dickens echoed these thoughts,“The economy has definitely affectedus, especially because it has resulted inlonger times between engine rebuilds,

whichis a bigpart ofour business.”

Kuntz says, “Our new sales aredown. It’s harder to get deposits, andit’s taking longer for racers to pickthem up.”

Jerovsek explains, “Quite simply,there are just fewer people racing, par-ticularly in the higher level classes likeDLM. In addition to lower car counts,we also see teams running fewer racesin order to keep costs down – less

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 havedropped out. Also many racers havecut back on traveling.”

But Loden says, “Top level racersalways find a way to race. The localSaturday night racers have been hit theworst by the economy. Most racers justkeep freshening old engines instead ofbuying new. Roush/Yates has noticedthese effects and found ways to makeour engines last longer, as well as offerused engines and parts to the public.”

Cornett says, “Everything isdown about 20 percent, whichresults in a smaller profit mar-gin.”

Next, we asked aboutthe weak links in a typ-ical DLM engine.

Malcuit indicated that there is no mainweak point in their DLM engines inparticular. “You run into various prob-lems due to material and manufactur-ing flaws. This sometimes comes incycles,” he says. “I am still an activedriver and will do testing when I amracing, which helps me uncover poten-tial problems.”

Kuntz was quick to answer with,“Roller lifters are number one andnumber two is rod bolt and rockerarms.”

Draime says, “Technology hascome a long way, and with this comesincreased rpms, causing potential valvetrain issues.”

Loden points out, “The entire en-gine takes a beating at high rpm. Didyou know that the piston speed in a4.00˝ stroke dirt engine at 8,800 rpm ismore than the piston speed of aNASCAR engine at 10,000 rpm?”

Cornett says from his point ofview, the pistons and valvetrain arethe first to go. “At 9,000 rpm, there istremendous stress and strain onthose parts. Most of the time, it’smore than is needed.”

That 9,000 rpm figure was alsomentioned by Dickens, “It’s often anissue with us, too,” he says.

We changed gears andasked about NASCAR’s recent move to fuel injec-


Feature


The typical dirt late model enginesare under a tremendous amount ofstress that can torture valvetrains.Pistons and valvetrain componentsare often times the first to go.


tion and would that be areasonable move for theDLM engines. The answerswere almost a unanimous,“no thank you.”

Kuntz said, “You would just have tochange the induction side – intakemanifolds and so on. In Sportsman, itcosts more and makes less power,” henotes.

Jerovsek explains, “Switching toEFI would require conversion of thecore DLM engine, not a completelynew engine. Modifications would berequired for things like the intakemanifold, sensors, crank trigger anddistributor. The obvious benefit wouldbe improved driveability.”

Draime echoes others’ comments inthat it would cost racers money.“Given the state of the economy, Iwould suggest that the rules not bechanged. Every rule change causes theracer to spend additional money.”

Loden offered, “Current enginescould be used. To fully take advantageof EFI, we would probably makechanges to the intake manifold,camshaft and compression ratio.”

Cornett cautions, “It would be moreexpensive and complicated, and manythings could go wrong.”

Dickens agrees. “We have such agood handle on the carburetor, whychange to something else now?”

Malcuit chimes in, saying that someof the technology could be borrowedfrom NASCAR, “There’s the greaterexpense for EFI electronics and re-

search and development,” he says.“Quite frankly, fuel injection shouldnot be a part of dirt late model racingin my opinion.”

With their sometimes totalinvolvement in the sport,we asked our experts abouttheir concerns for the future of DLM racing. Andtheir answers were wellconnected.

Draime said, “Not having full fields,our sport needs to have enough cars atevents to make the event exciting andcompetitive. One example is Eldora.Rather than having 200+ cars, theentry list has dropped to around 160 ifI’m not mistaken.”

Kuntz says, “I’m concerned about agood viable series, good promotersand track prep. I worry about thesheer dollars to do it and the regula-tions that are involved. However, therewill always be people to do it.”

Loden says, “The crate engine hastaken the place of local Saturday nightopen engine racing. The top level guyshave lost their places to sell season-oldequipment,” he explains. “That slowsdown the cycle of the touring raceteams continually buying new enginesand passing down their old equip-ment.”


The biggest variable affectingengine displacement is trackconditions, according to ex-perts, specifically the amount oftraction on the track.



Cornett he’s most worried aboutthe costs as there are no rules in thistype of racing. “Everybody wantsmore horsepower and rpms, whichmeans more money. We need to makethe engines cheaper with a fixed dis-placement, along with reduced com-pression ratio and rpm limits,” hesays.

Dickens adds, “These engines areputting a lot of teams out of business.The weekly guys are really gettinghurt. One way to help would justallow the big traveling teams to usethese unlimited engines with localdrivers using a small block enginewith 9:1 compression ratio, a 390 cfmcarb and a rev limiter.”

Malcuit agrees with Dickens sayingthat an engine such as this with re-duced power could make 600 horse-power with much longer engine life.He also adds, “Maybe a crate enginecould be another choice for the limitedseries cars.”

For our last question, weasked about marketingtechniques for selling engines.

Kuntz says he doesn’t do a lot of ad-vertising. “We go on referrals,” hesays. “Dependability and word ofmouth will bring customers. If youhave the power to run in the top five,they’ll look at you.”

Loden offers some effective ideasas well. “Always remain open minded

to cus-tomerfeedback,” he says. “Under promiseand over deliver. People sell to people.Build the best product, provide thebest customers service, and win.”

Cornett was quite frank about thissubject, “Racers buy what wins. Theyare watching over drivers and buybased on what they see. They knowwhat the engine is that each driver isusing.”

Dickens added, “Winning the bigraces is like money in the bank. I workclosely with certain drivers; which alsoprovides exposure.”

Malcuit indicated that competingon the track is an excellent marketingtool. “I think I get a lot of respect fromthe other drivers as they know I amtesting my engines from a driver”spoint of view.”

Dirt Late Model racing engineshave their own niche. And it’s one ofthe biggest in racing. ■

36 February 2013 | EngineBuilderCircle 36 for more information

The biggest variable affectingengine displacement is trackconditions, according to experts, specifically the amountof traction on the track. (Photo:Malcuit Racing Engine)

There is a wide variety of dis-placement ranges for the DLMmarket from 350-454. (Photo: JayDickens dirt late model engine)



37 NPR_Layout 1 2/20/13 3:27 PM Page 37

Whether you are rebuilding ahigh-mileage engine orbuilding a fresh engine from

scratch, matching the pistons andrings to each other and the applicationis essential for a successful outcome.Rings are a wear component that areusually replaced during a rebuild. Thepistons may be reused if they are notdamaged, cracked or scuffed and thering grooves have minimal wear. But ifthe cylinders have to be bored to over-size to remove wear, replacing theoriginal pistons with oversize pistonsis a must.

Many piston sets today are soldwith rings. The piston supplier pro-vides the rings based on the bore sizeof the engine and the piston set. But, asone ring manufacturer cautioned, therings that come with the pistons maynot always be the “right”rings for the application.

Everybody wants thinlow-tension rings to re-duce friction. The less out-ward pressure the ringsexert against the cylinderwall, the less friction they create as thepistons move up and down. The re-duction in friction does not createmore horsepower but it does allow thehorsepower that the engine producesto be used more efficiently and to gen-erate more power at the flywheel.

Some compression rings today areless than .023˝, which is less than 0.6mm, or about the thickness of the oilrails on a traditional three-piece oilring. That’s not very thick, so if thecylinder bores are not almost perfectlyround and straight with the propersurface finish, the rings may not sealvery well. Lost compression means

more blowby and lost power.low-tension 3 mm oil rings are com-

monly used on many pistons. Depend-ing on the design of the ring and thematerials from which it is made, manyof these rings exert only around 10 lbs.of tension against the cylinder wall.Thinner rings (say 2.8 mm) exert evenless pressure, maybe as little as 7 lbs. oftension. With good bore geometry andthe proper bore finish, low-tensionrings are perfectly capable of maintain-ing adequate oil control. But a lot ofengines that are running these thin,low-tension oil rings often turn out tobe smokers.

The Real Cause Of Ring Seal-ing ProblemsWhen an engine burns oil, you have toblame somebody, right? The natural

tendency is toblame the ring

manufacturer. But, in most instances,the real problem is poor bore geometryor bore finish. Bore tolerances are ab-solutely critical when you’re usinglow-tension rings. If you’re using thesame honing equipment and tech-niques that you’ve been using for thepast 30 years to rebuild Chevy 350swith standard ring packs, you’re likelygoing to have sealing issues when youuse the same equipment and tech-niques on a late-model engine or a per-formance engine with thin,low-tension rings.

Thin, low-tension rings like aplateau finish with a relatively smoothfinish but adequate crosshatch to retainoil for proper ring lubrication. Typicalsurface finish for a normal plateau fin-ish would be Rpk of 8 to 12 mi-croinches, Rk of 25 to 35 microinches,and Rvk of 40 to 50 microinches. In aperformance application, an optimized

Matching PistonsAnd RingsYou must be realistic about the application and conditions the piston and rings will be under

Feat

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Some performance pistonsmay be vented vertically orhorizontally with gas ports tohelp ring sealing at high rpm.


TECHNICAL EDITOR Larry [email protected]

38-43 Pistons&Rings 2/20/13 3:56 PM Page 38


39 Hastings_Layout 1 2/20/13 3:26 PM Page 39

plateau finish should have a Rpk valueof less than 12 microinches, Rk ofaround 20, and Rvk of around 40 mi-croinches. If friction reduction is moreimportant than longevity (say as inProStock drag racing or NASCAR), aneven smoother finish would be desir-able with Rpk numbers in the 3 to 5microinch range, Rk of 12 to 18, andRvk of 20 to 25 microinches.

If you are not familiar with thesevalues, here’s what they mean:

Rpk = Peak HeightRvk = Valley DepthRk = Core Roughness DepthNeedless to say, if you are building

high-end performance engines and donot already own a surface profilome-ter, you should invest in one. As forhoning, you don’t necessarily have touse expensive diamond stones, but di-amonds can provide a more consistentfinish when used in equipment thathas been designed from the start fordiamond honing.

Even with the best honing equip-ment and techniques, you may stillend up with a bore distortion problemthat affects ring sealing. A seasonedblock or one that has been cryogeni-cally treated or vibrated will be morestable and less apt to shift than a newvirgin casting. The loading on the headbolts can also cause distortion (whichis why you should always use torqueplates when honing). Problems withcoolant flow inside the engine can alsoaffect bore distortion and ring sealing.Some lightweight blocks can also dis-tort, depending on how the engine ismounted in the vehicle. Bore distortioncan vary from almost nothing, up to acouple thousandths of an inch de-pending on what is causing it! Withtoday’s tight piston-to-wall clearances,even .0005˝ of bore distortion may betoo much for some engines.

Stiffer Rings May HelpIf you want to use the thinner rings(like 1.5 mm top and second compres-sion rings with a 3.0 mm or 2.8 mm oilring), and you’re not ready to admitthat you need (or can afford) new hon-ing equipment, one alternative is to gowith a slightly stiffer ring pack. Somering manufacturers have thin “hightension” rings that apply 14 to 16 lbs.of tension with a 3 mm oil ring. Simplyswitching from the low-tension to the

higher tension oil rings can often solvean oil burning problem.

Some racers don’t care if an enginesmokes a little or not. Burning a littleoil is no big deal if the engine is onlymaking short runs down a drag stripor running a limited number of laps ona circle track or road course. Yet for anendurance engine or a street engine, itcould prove fatal if the engine con-sumes all of the oil in the pan andstarves to death for lubrication. Youalso have to ask yourself that if the engine is burning oil, is it also losing alot of compression due to ringblowby? As we said earlier, lost com-pression is lost power.

Piston & Ring SealingFor optimum sealing of the top com-pression ring, a barrel-faced steel ringis usually best, and the flatter the ringgrooves in the piston the better. Cylin-der pressure twists the ring down onthe compression stroke so a barrel faceexperiences less friction and wear. Toaid ring sealing, the piston may havean accumulator groove between thetop and second compression ring.Some performance pistons may also bevented vertically or horizontally withgas ports to help ring sealing at highrpm. The extra pressure behind the topring helps force it outward against thecylinder wall for a tighter seal.

In most high-performance enginesas well as late-model high-output stockengines, there’s more heat in the com-bustion chambers. This increases thethermal shock and stress on the topcompression rings as well as thermalexpansion. Consequently, most per-formance ring sets as well as a growingnumber of stock ring sets are usingsteel top compression rings (thoughductile iron plasma moly faced ringsare still widely used in Top Fuel dragracing).

One major aftermarket supplier toldus that they are now using SAE-9254high-alloy carbon steel top rings in 40percent of its stock replacement sets.Steel rings allow the radial wall thick-ness of the rings to be reduced to pro-vide better groove seal, better boreconformability and less ring instabilityat high rpm. The higher tensilestrength of steel compared to ductileiron means less bending and flexingunder high loads, which reduces ring

40 February 2013 | EngineBuilderCircle 40 for more information


and piston groove side wear.The reason why most rings fail is

not because of detonation and break-age (though detonation can certainlydamage rings). More often than not,rings fail as a result of abra-sion destroying the ringsurface. The abrasioncomes from dirt and debrisleft inside the engine by therebuilder (the most com-mon cause according to one ring man-ufacturer), by airborne abrasives andcontaminated lubricants (poor air fil-tration or air leaks into the crankcase)and by poor-quality cylinder finishes.

Though the use of steel rings hasbeen expanding, ductile iron molyfaced rings are a good option for natu-rally aspirated traditional street/stripengines like SB/BB Chevys and Fords.Ductile top compression rings can han-dle loads of up to about two horse-power per cubic inch. Beyond that, youshould upgrade to steel rings.

The most popular design for thesecond ring these days is the napierstyle ring, often made of ductile iron

rather than cast iron for added durabil-ity. The face of a napier ring does a su-perior job of scraping oil off of thecylinder wall when the piston travelsdown to help reduce oil consumption.

If a piston is designed for a tapered sec-ond ring, it may have a J-groove cut inthe lower second ring groove land. Thegroove creates a little shelf that allowsoil to accumulate as it is scraped off the


Pistons & RingsTHIS ISSUE: PG 44 >> Product Spotlights PG 46 >> Classifieds/Cores PG 48 >> Final Wrap


Everybody wants thin low-tension rings to reducefriction. The less outward pressure the rings exertagainst the cylinder wall, the less friction they create as the pistons move up and down.


cylinder wall.For some applications, though, a

napier ring would not be the bestchoice. For engines that are runningnitro or alcohol, or are using a lot ofboost pressure, the second ring has todeal with more pressure than in a natu-rally aspirated gasoline engine. Conse-quently, there is more blowby to dealwith so a ductile iron reverse twist ringor a barrel face top compression ringmay be used in the second ring grooveto improve sealing.

Matching Pistons And RingsPistons and rings obviously have to bedimensionally compatible with eachother, which is why many piston sup-pliers include their own ring sets. Therings that are provided should havethe proper back spacing and side clear-ances with respect to the ring grooves.They should also be the right size forthe bore diameter. Even so, you don’thave to go with the rings that comewith a particular piston set.

If you’ve been having oil control orsealing problems with the rings thatcome with a particular piston set, askyour piston supplier to provide ahigher tension ring set. And if the pis-ton supplier can’t provide the ringsyou want, shop the various ring sup-pliers to find a ring set that better sealsthe engine and meets your customer’sexpectations.

As one ring manufacturer said, youhave to be realistic about the applica-tion and what kind of operating condi-tions the piston and rings will besubjected to. When you’re building anengine for a bracket class, extremelythin low-tension rings may not be thebest choice for this kind of racing. Onthe other hand, if the engine will beused in a heads up class, a thinner ringpack may provide the reduction in fric-tion that can help win a race.

Piston SelectionLike rings, pistons must match the ap-plication. You must have the correct di-

ameter to fit the bore size of the engine,and the right piston height, compres-sion ratio and wrist pin location so thepiston will match the rods and stroke.

For circle track racing, rules oftendictate what type of pistons you canand can’t use. Rules may prohibit theuse of domed pistons or high compres-sion ratios. For drag racing, compres-sion ratios of 14:1 to as much as 16:1 arecommon today depending on the octane rating of the fuel. With a power-adder such as a turbo, blower or ni-trous, you’ll want a stronger pistondesign with reinforced skirts to preventthe piston from collapsing. Some pis-ton manufacturers use box-style rein-forcing ribs to add rigidity.

Really high-output drag enginesalso need stronger thick-wall wrist pinsto handle the loads. The wrist pins areoften starved for oil, so a hard coatingon the pins, such as physical vapordeposition diamond, can help the pinssurvive. Some racers are even doingaway with the wrist pin bushing in the


Pistons & Rings


Circle 130


small ends of the rods so the rod can bethicker and stronger, or a larger wristpin can be used.

Low-strength cast pistons are finefor everyday drivers but have noplace in a high-output or high per-formance engine. You need strongerhypereutectic or forged pistons. Forg-ings can withstand the most punish-ment and help conduct heat awayfrom the combustion chamber. Butforgings typically require a little moreclearance to compensate for increasedthermal expansion.

For serious racing, the preferredalloy for forged pistons is usually 2618.This alloy is more malleable than 4032,which allows it to resist detonation bet-ter than 4032. It also has a higher coeffi-cient of thermal expansion than 4032,so pistons made of 2618 aluminum require more wall clearance and makemore piston noise while a cold engineis warming up. But 2618 lacks thelongevity of 4032 so a set of pistons

may last only a single season of racingbefore they have to be replaced. For astreet application or an engine that hasto last multiple seasons, forged pistonsmade of 4032 would be the way to go.

Piston weight is also something tobe considered. Lighter is usually betterwhen you are building a high revvingengine or want quicker throttle re-sponse. But you don’t necessarily needlighter if the engine is stroked andcammed to be a low-rpm high torquemotor. There’s nothing to be gainedwith lighter pistons except less stresson the rods and crank. If you do gowith lighter pistons, keep in mind thatchanging the piston weight changesthe bob weight of the piston and rodassembly. This means metal has to beremoved from the crankshaft counter-weights to balance the engine.

What about coated pistons? Manypistons today are available with sometype of anti-scuff side coating. Coat-ings protect the piston against a dry

start when the engine is initially firedup, and to provide some additionalscuff protection if the engine over-heats or starves for oil. Anti-scuffcoatings provide an extra measure ofprotection but, are not absolutely necessary.

Anti-scuff coatings are typicallyquite thin, and can usually be ignoredwhen figuring piston-to-wall installa-tion clearances, unless the piston man-ufacturer tells you otherwise. Somecoatings, though, are thicker to providea “cushioning effect” that helps reducepiston rock that causes piston noise in acold engine. These types of coatingsmay require some extra clearance forassembly.

Some pistons also have a hard an-odized coating to provide extra wearresistance in the ring grooves. ■

For a list of piston and ring suppliers, visitour Online Buyers Guide at http://bit.ly/XvnTOT.


Pistons & Rings

Product Sp

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Circle 132Circle 131 Circle 133



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Product Sp

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Ergonomic Blast Cabinets

ZERO blast cabinets are now available inan ergonomic body style, which allows theoperator to sit while working. The cabinetconfiguration provides comfortable knee-room for the operator without interferingwith the free flow of media for reclamationand re-use. Standard cabinet features in-clude: large, quick-change window, re-verse-pulse cartridge-style dust collector,suction-blast or pressure-blast models.HEPA filtration as an option. Cabinets canwork with glass bead, aluminum oxideand other recyclable media. Applications:cleaning, de-burring, peening, and finish-ing.

Clemco Industries Corp.Phone: 800-788-0599www.clemcoindustries.com

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USED AND REBUILT EQUIPMENTCBN TOOLING:WE RESHARPEN

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JAMISON EQUIPMENT1908 11th St., Emmetsburg IA 50536

800-841-5405Check out our used equip. list atwww.jamisonequipment.com

SPECIALIZING IN ENGINE CORES

GGRRAANNTT(314) 421-5585

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46-47 Class-Cores 2/20/13 3:57 PM Page 46

Simply the Best Lists:Automotive Aftermarket

Truck Fleet & Powersports Markets

What Type of Direct Marketing

Initiatives Do You Have in Store

for 2013?

Don Hemming, List Sales ManagerBabcox Media, Inc.

Phone: 330-670-1234 x286 Fax: [email protected]

Direct MailE-Mail MarketingTelemarketingNew Business• ProspectingDrive Web Site

Traffic

Database Enhancement

Catalog MailingPromote Upcoming

Tradeshows


Classified

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Used/New AutomotiveEquipment

1-800-223-2573www.AllStates.com

Call now to order or to receive a free 2012 catalog 1-800-434-5141www.autobodysupplies.com

Advertiser IndexCOMPANY NAME PAGE # CIRCLE #

Atech Motorsports 42 42

Automotive Service Equipment 8 8

Bill Mitchell Products 30 30

Brad Penn Lubricants 4 12

Clemco Industries 31 31

Cloyes Gear & Products Inc. 6 6

Dakota Parts Warehouse 9 9

Darton International 4 4

Dipaco Inc. 10 10

DNJ Engine Components 1 2

Driven Racing Oil, LLC 40 40

Dura-Bond Bearing Co 16 16

Eagle Specialty Products 19 19

Engine Parts Group 13 13

Engine Parts Warehouse Cover 3 51

Engine Performance Warehouse 17 17

ESCO Industries 22 22

Go Power Dynamometer Systems 23 23

GRP Connecting Rods 21 21

COMPANY NAME PAGE # CIRCLE #

Hastings Mfg. Co. 39 39

Holley Performance Products 36 36

Injector Experts 33 53

King Electronics 34 34

Liberty Engine Parts 5 5

Lubriplate Lubricants Co 20 20

Mahle Motorsports 41 41

Melling Engine Parts 29 29

Motor State Distributing 3 3

Motovicity 7 7

Mr Gasket Performance Group 9 11

NPR of America, Inc. 37 37

Packard Industries 26,27 27

Performance Trends 30 32

PRW Industries 28 28

Quality Power Products 15 15

Rottler Manufacturing Cover 4 52

Scat Enterprises Cover 2 1

T & D Machine Products 35 35

To Advertise in CLASSIFIEDS!

Call Roberto Almenar at 330-670-1234, ext. 233

[email protected]

46-47 Class-Cores 2/20/13 3:57 PM Page 47


Fina

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Group PublisherDavid Moniz, ext. 215 [email protected]

Associate Publisher/EditorDoug Kaufman, ext. [email protected]

Senior Executive EditorBrendan Baker, ext. [email protected]

Graphic DesignerNichole Anderson, ext. 232 [email protected]

Technical EditorLarry [email protected]

Advertising ServicesTina Purnell, ext. 243 [email protected]

Director of DistributionRich Zisk, ext. 287 [email protected]

Circulation ManagerPat Robinson, ext. 276 [email protected]

Sr. Circulation SpecialistEllen Mays, ext. 275 [email protected]

Sales RepresentativesBobbie [email protected], ext. 238

Roberto [email protected], ext. 233

David [email protected] ext. 210

Don [email protected] 330-670-1234, ext. 286

Karen [email protected], ext. 295

Dean [email protected]

Dean [email protected], ext. 225

Jim [email protected], ext. 280

Tom [email protected], ext 224

Glenn [email protected], ext. 212

John Zick [email protected] 949-756-8835

enginebuildermag.com3550 Embassy ParkwayAkron, OH 44333-8318

FAX 330-670-0874

330-670-1234

Babcox Media Inc.Bill Babcox, President

Greg Cira, Vice President, CFOJeff Stankard, Vice President

Beth Scheetz, Controller

In Memorium:Edward S. Babcox (1885-1970)

Founder of Babcox Publications Inc.

Tom B. Babcox (1919-1995)Chairman

If you were in Indianapolis for thefinal IMIS Show last December, youmight have been witness to an

amazing sight. Seven top enginebuilders sat side-by-side and gaveaway their secrets.

As part of the Performance EngineBuilder of the Year Contest that EngineBuilder magazine set into place lastyear, a number of contest entrantsagreed to participate in an infor-mative seminar. The “Race EngineRoundtable: Real World Tips To ReachThe Checkered Flag” gave IMIS atten-dees the chance to ask some expertsabout the secrets to their success.

Participants in the Rountable included 2012 Performance EngineBuilder of the Year winner Frank Honsowetz from Ed Pink Racing; BradLagman from QMP Racing Engines;David McLain from McLain’s Automo-tive; “Animal” Jim Feurer from Animal Jim Racing Engines; Matt Dick-meyer from Dickmeyer Automotive;Tony Bischoff from BES Racing En-gines; and DeWaine McGunegill fromMcGunegill Engine.

Moderated by Lake Speed fromDriven Racing Oil, and sponsored byDriven, Wiseco Pistons and GoodsonTools and Equipment, this seminar wasintended to give attendees the chance

to ask about specific engine combina-tions, how to build winning enginepackages and ways to wring morepower out of a powerplant. To be fair,there was some of that – but it wassomewhat surprising to me to also hearthe questions about how to run a suc-cessful business.

Guys asked their peers more abouthow to make their shops perform better than their engines “What worksas a marketing tool? How do you findskilled employees and keep them?How do you handle price shoppers?Can you balance the expectations ofyour customers with the realities oftheir budgets?”

What everyone really wanted toknow is, “How do I make my productstand out and how can I ensure mycustomer recognizes the value in whatI build, rather than just the price theyhave to pay?”

Again, to their credit, each of ourroundtable participants shared theirsuccesses – and even some examples ofchallenges and pitfalls. The give-and-take was refreshing and I would like tothank all who participated.

The 2013 Performance EngineBuilder of the Year contest will be an-nounced soon, so watch the pages ofEngine Builder for your chance at indus-

try accolades and recognition.Speaking of recognition, additional

thanks go out to Chris Nelson and theteam at The Engine Factory for thebeautiful “Eleanor” engine that gracedour January High Performance BuyersGuide cover. This 550 hp 427 WindsorStroker motor is decked out and,frankly, is a great example of how aninnovative approach to business canspawn success.

The Engine Factory was formed in1969 by Bruce Nelson, and this family-run, Lebanon, NJ-based supplier ofFord engines has found the Internet tobe a great way to market their product.

But for all the great tools at their dis-posal now, Nelson says it all comesdown to basic principles like hardwork, integrity and honesty. “Wordsloosely held these days, being a familyoperated company, we take pride inour proven track record. When all thesmoke clears our goal is to make aprofit but without sacrificing quality orservice. In turn we make a better prod-uct along with paying our technicianswell.”

That being said, the value of beingrecognized for your hard work cannotbe overlooked, so thanks, Chris, formaking great looking engines that yourcustomers are eager to buy. ■

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/EDITOR Doug Kaufman

[email protected]

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/EDITOR Doug [email protected]

Credit WhereCredit Is DueWhat are you really looking for?

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