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>Oiling Systems >Super Comp Engines >Machine Shop Market ProfileSERVING ENGINE BUILDERS & REBUILDERS SINCE 1964

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2 June 2013 | EngineBuilder

ENGINE BUILDER founded Oct. 1964Copyright 2013 Babcox Media Inc.

ENGINE BUILDER (ISSN 1535-041X)(June 2013, Volume 49, Number 06): Published monthly by Babcox Media Inc., 3550 Embassy Parkway, Akron, OH 44333 U.S.A. Phone (330) 670-1234, FAX (330) 670-0874. Periodicalpostage 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.

COVER DESIGN BY NICHOLE ANDERSON

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.13 Features ON THE COVER

Performance DieselOur inaugural Performance Diesel Guide addresses thegrowing internal engine parts market and the bolt-onperformance market. Included with the guide are articles covering performance diesel engine building,turbos and tuning, a directory of parts suppliers andour diesel performance product showcase. ..............26

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Oiling System TechnologyMost OE engines use a wet sump system, which can be modified for performance applications to improve oil controland increase horsepower. A dry sump system, on the otherhand, has been specifically designed for performance applications and is mainly used at the higher levels of racing. Technical Editor Larry Carley explores the options ............20

Machine Shop Market ProfilePart 1 of our Annual Machine Shop Market Profile reportwritten by Associate Publisher/Editor Doug Kaufman provides results from our examination of the machine shopmarket. In this report, we track trends in the production ofengines, cylinder heads and crankshafts, as well as specificbusiness data ................................................................41

Sleeves and LinersWhether a sleeve is being installed in an aluminum or iron block, dimensional accuracy is an absolute must.Contributing Editor Bob McDonald looks at sleeves and liners for performance and diesel applications..................58

Columns

Tales From the WD........................16By Dave Sutton, Contributing EditorOne Minute Might Save You Thirty!

Final Wrap....................................68By Doug Kaufman, Associate Publisher/EditorKnowing You, Knowing Me

DEPARTMENTSIndustry News......................................................8

Events ..................................................................6

Shop Solutions ....................................................14

2013 Supplier Spotlight ........................................63

Cores/Classifieds/Ad Index ..................................66

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Super Comp Drag RacingThe Super Comp class is the fastest of the heads-up Superclasses (8.90 index). Four and six-cylinder- powered entriesmay have a minimum weight of 1,000 pounds; all otherscannot weigh less than 1,350 pounds. Technical EditorLarry Carley investigates the market..............................52

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Events

Industry EventsJune 22AERA Tech & Skills Regional Conference Hosted by National Performance WarehouseLos Angeles, CAwww.aera.org or 888-326-2372

July 20-22EFI University at Pro Car AssociatesAkron, OHwww.efi101.com or 866-316-7744

September 18AERA Tech & Skills Regional Conference Dallas, TXwww.aera.org or 888-326-2372

September 18-2068th Annual PERA ConferenceDallas, TX www.pera.org

September 25-26Rottler 6th Annual Open HouseKent, WAwww.rottlermfg.com/open_house.php

September 27AERA Tech & Skills Regional Conference Hosted by Rottler ManufacturingKent, WAwww.aera.org or 888-326-2372

October 2MERA Remanufacturing andSustainability ConferenceTroy, MIwww.mera.org or 248-750-1280

November 5-7AAPEX ShowLas Vegas, NVwww.aapexshow.com or 708-226-1300

November 5-8SEMA ShowLas Vegas, NVwww.semashow.com or 702-450-7662

Circle 6 for more information


For more industry events, visit our website at

www.enginebuildermag.com or subscribe to

www.aftermarketnews.com.

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Hastings ManufacturingCompany Acquired by RFEInvestment PartnersHastings Manufacturing Company,a nearly 100-year-old global manu-facturer of piston rings, has an-nounced its acquisition by RFEInvestment Partners (RFE), togetherwith management. The firm cur-rently manages more than $450 mil-lion in committed capital.

RFE is a private equity firmbased in New Canaan, CT withover 30 years of experience invest-ing in growth companies withstrong management teams operat-ing in the manufacturing and serv-ice sectors.

“We are very excited to partnerwith RFE and continue to grow thebusiness,” commented Bob Kollar,president and CEO. “RFE has astrong track record of acquiringbusinesses and successfully takingthem through their next phase ofgrowth.”

Hastings also announced that

Marion Holt has been appointed tothe position of vice president ofbusiness development reporting toKollar. In this capacity, Holt will beresponsible for complete manage-ment of the company’s sales andmarketing in the U.S., Canadianand Australian aftermarkets. Holtassumes the position most recentlyheld by Tom DeBlasis of Hastings.DeBlasis will be expanding Hast-ings’ growth plans as vice presidentof business development in the European, African and Middle Eastaftermarkets. Jeff Guenther willfocus on the increasing growth forthe company as vice president ofbusiness development in the Mexi-can, Caribbean, Central Americanand South American aftermarkets.

“Hastings Manufacturing Com-pany has great brand recognition,world-class manufacturing and astrong leadership team,” com-mented Jim Parsons, managing director and partner at RFE. “Wesee tremendous opportunities for

Hastings Manufacturing Companyand are excited to become partnersin their future growth.”

For more information visitwww.hastingsmfg.com.

Federal-Mogul Board ElectsCo-CEO of F-M Corp. andCEO, Global AftermarketThe board of directors of Federal-Mogul Corp. has announced theelection of Kevin Freeland to the position of co-CEO of Federal-Mogul Corp. and CEO of Federal-Mogul's Vehicle ComponentsSegment (VCS), effective June 17.Freeland will report to the com-pany’s board of directors.

Federal-Mogul's VCS is one ofthe largest independent global sup-pliers of leading, premium-brandedautomotive parts to the automotiveaftermarket. The company manu-factures and distributes more than20 of the world’s most recognizedauto parts brands, including ANCOwiper blades, Champion spark


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plugs, MOOG chassis parts and Wag-ner brake products.

Freeland replaces Mike Broderick,

who held both positions since June2012. According to Jim Burke, directorof corporate communications at Fed-

eral-Mogul, Broderick is completing abrief transition with the company.

Freeland joins Federal-Mogul after32 years of merchandising, marketingand procurement experience, most re-cently as chief operating officer of Ad-vance Auto Parts Inc. Prior to joiningAdvance Auto Parts, Freeland spenteight years, from 1995 to 2003, withBest Buy Co., a specialty retailer ofconsumer electronics, office products,appliances and software, serving assenior vice president in its procure-ment and distribution group and, ultimately, president of its MusiclandDivision.

Elgin Receives JASPER Engines & Transmissions2013 Service AwardElgin Industries has once again beenhonored as one of the leading suppli-ers to JASPER Engines & Transmis-sions, receiving the 2013 JASPERService Award during a recent cere-mony in Jasper, IN.

Elgin has supplied internal enginecomponents to JASPER for more than60 years and has held Preferred Part-ner status with the company for 12years. JASPER relies on Elgin for abroad range of advanced valvetrainproducts, including pushrods, rockerarms, lifters and valve springs, with amajority of these parts being designedand manufactured in Elgin’s state-of-the-art facilities in Elgin, IL.

The JASPER Service Award is pre-sented to manufacturers who provideexceptional service in each of severalcritical business areas, including prod-uct quality, fill rate, accuracy in billingand credit processes, and overall responsiveness.

“We are approaching our 95th yearof operation and quality and customerservice are every bit as importanttoday as they were when we firstopened our doors,” said Elgin Indus-tries President Bill Skok. “With 60years of mutual growth and success,Elgin and JASPER have defined thequalities of a strong business partner-ship. We are very proud to serve thisgreat company and its thousands ofcustomers across North America.”

Racing Industry Pioneer Harvey Crane Passes AwayHarvey J. Crane, Jr., founder of CraneCams, Inc., and a pioneer figure in the


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racing and performance automotiveindustry, passed away Friday, May 31,2013, following a brief illness. Hispassing came peacefully, with hisdaughter, Susan Farris, at his bedsidein Gainesville, FL.

Crane was born in Hallandale, FL,August 17, 1931, discovered hot rodsat age 13, and opened Crane Engineer-ing on January 1, 1953, in a rented cor-ner of his dad’s shop. After initiallystruggling, the business came alive inthe early ’60s.

According to Crane advertisingand marketing veteran Jim Hill, Craneearly on recognized the need to havean organization that represented theindustry, and he was one of SEMA’sfirst members and exhibitors at the

first SEMA Show. He was later recog-nized by SEMA and inducted into theSEMA Hall of Fame. He was also in-ducted into the East Coast Drag Rac-ing Hall of Fame, in Henderson, NCamong many such honors during his60+ year career in the industry.

Harvey James Crane, Jr., is sur-vived by four children: David Crane;Mona Crane; Steven Crane and SusanFarris, and his beloved companiondog, Stormy. He was preceded by hisfirst wife, Mildred and by his secondwife, Maxine Solis.

New AETC Website DebutsEach year the Advanced EngineeringTechnology Conference (AETC) bringstogether engine builders, racers, engi-

neers and media members fromaround the world to exchange infor-mation on popular engine-buildingtopics. In an effort to make informa-tion about the conference even moreaccessible, AETC has recentlylaunched an updated, easy-to-navi-gate website: wwwaetconline.com.

The 24th annual Advanced Engi-neering Technology Conference isslated for December 9th – December11th and will be held just prior to thePRI Trade Show at the Indiana Con-vention Center.

The redesigned site features anoverview of the conference and anews section, as well as a continuallyupdated list of speakers and schedule.It also includes a testimonial sectionwhere users can read about the experi-ences of past attendees, and a lodgingtab that features hotel recommenda-tions as the conference shifts to itsnew home in downtown Indianapolis.Users can also register online. The up-dated website, including updatedseminar topics, can be found atwww.aetconline.com.

Melling Engine Parts, Dura-Bond Consolidate Sales and Marketing EffortsMelling Engine Parts and Dura-BondBearing Co. have announced a consol-idation of their sales and marketingefforts. Charles Barnett, vice presidentof sales and marketing at Dura-Bond


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Bearing Co., will be heading up theconsolidated efforts.

Barnett has been a long-term em-ployee at the company as presidentprior to the Melling purchase severalyears ago. He also had a career withACDelco/General Motors and previ-ously served as general sales managerfor PACCAR Parts, prior to workingat Dura-Bond.

For more information aboutMelling Engine Parts, visitwww.melling.com.

New AAIA/AASA ReportProjects 3.4 Percent Growth Through 2016The U.S. automotive aftermarket in-dustry is expected to grow 3.4 percentannually through 2016 to $263.8 bil-lion, adding an additional $32.6 bil-lion to the economy, according to ajointly produced Channel ForecastModel sponsored by the AutomotiveAftermarket Industry Association(AAIA) and the Automotive After-market Suppliers Association(AASA).

IHS Global Insight, a global leaderin economic and financial analysis,forecasting and market intelligence,conducted the market sizing and fore-cast for the associations. Data is basedon U.S. Department of Commerce,Federal Reserve Board and U.S. Cen-sus Bureau’s data, IMR and Polk dataas well as proprietary IHS economicanalysis and forecasting models.

Goodson’s Tech ServicesManager Tapp to RetireGoodson Tools & Supplies for EngineBuilders has announced the retire-ment of former Tech Services Man-ager, Jim Tapp.

Tapp, whose last day is June 28,2013, has been with Goodson Tools &Supplies since April 1992. Accordingto David Monyhan, Goodson SalesManager, “Jim has been at the heart ofmany of our new products over theyears. He has experience in runninghis own shop and teaching at a techschool, which gave him a unique per-spective on the shop supplies busi-ness. Jim will be missed and we wish

him the absolute best.”Tapp says that once he retires he

plans to get his home machine shopreorganized so he can work on smallengines and “finally finish the 1937Ford Half-Ton Pickup I’ve been tryingto get to for years.”

For more information about Good-son, visit www.goodson.com.

SEMA Hall of Fame NamesFour New MembersGeorge Barris, Eric Grant, WadeKawasaki and Joe Schubeck will beinducted into the SEMA Hall of Fameduring the SEMA Installation Banquet& Gala Fundraiser, Friday, July 26, atthe Sheraton Fairplex Hotel & Confer-ence Center in Pomona, CA.

The Hall of Fame recognizes indi-viduals who have raised the statureor growth of the automotive spe-cialty-equipment industry. Detailedbiographies of each inductee can befound at www.sema.org/hof. ■

EngineBuilderMag.com 13

Industry NewsTHIS ISSUE: PG 14 >> Shop Solutions PG 20 >> Oiling Systems PG 26 >> Performance Diesel


Have industry news to share? Email it toDoug Kaufman at [email protected]


Removing Stubborn Dowel PinsDo you ever have solid dowel pinsthat are worn or tapered, and theslap hammer slips off no matter howtight you make it? Add a dab ofvalve lapping compound to thedowel pin. It works wonders. Mostof the time the pin slaps right out.

Jeffrey MyersMAR Automotive, Inc.Philadelphia, PA

Making Your Own ValveSeal Removal ToolIn older vehicles, valve seals oftenstick and are hard to remove. Toolmanufacturers make handy tools to re-move the seals, but they can be costly.

Here is how to make your ownvalve seal removal tool. Start with apair of new or used vise grips, takean old socket or some tubing stockand cut it down the middle. Weld thehalves to the jaw of the vise grips.You now have an inexpensive valvestem seal removal tool.

Roy MaloneyEngine & Performance WarehouseHouston, TX

Lighting Up Your ShopProper lighting in a machine shopcan make a big difference in the qual-ity of your work, and also make apositive impression on customers.We have all ventured into “blackholes” of machine shops and won-dered how anybody can turn outgood quality work in a place likethat. Replacing old lighting fixtureswith new, more efficient fixtures isone way to increase light and reduceyour electric bill.

Probably the easiest way to makeyour shop brighter and well lit is topaint the walls and ceiling white.Painting the floor a practical color,like grey, and keeping it clean is an-other way to keep things light andmake a positive impression withyour customers.

Something you may have alreadythought of – don’t paint the bottomfew feet of your shop walls white.That is probably taking light and

white too far.Steve RichSterling Bearing, Inc.Kansas City, MO

Measuring Camshaft ThrustButton Clearance in ChevyV8 EnginesIf you need to measure proper clear-ance for your small block or bigblock Chevrolet V8 camshaft thrustbutton, modeling clay works verywell. Here is what you need to do:

• Install the gasket and chain as-sembly onto the engine without thethrust button;

• Then, take a wad of soft model-ing clay and put it into the holewhere the thrust button will go;

• Next, install the cover and thenremove it. This squishes the clay intoshape;

• Now, carefully remove the clayand measure the thickness. Somelight oil on the surface will keep itfrom sticking to the metal;

• Finally, select the proper lengththrust button or machine it to theproper length and proceed with theinstallation.

Jeff "Beezer" BesethBeezerBuiltNewtown Square, PA

Yet Another Way To Remove BushingsIf you run into a situation where youhave to remove a bushing from ablind hole and a pilot bearing pullerwill not work, here is another way toget the job done.

Take a standard threading tap thatis close to the I.D. of the bushing andthread the bushing. You can then usea slide hammer or other type ofpuller to remove the bushing, or youcan thread it all the way in and thenjack the bushing out with a bolt.

Lee JohnsonPro PerformanceDenver, CO

Editor’s Note: In our March 2013 issuewe ran a Shop Solution titled "WhichPiston Rings to Use 7.3L Ford V8Diesels." Below is a reader’s response to

the Shop Solution followed by commentsfrom the author.

On the 7.3L engines listed in thearticle, why would you use a Hast-ings manufactured ring? SealedPower designed and dyno-testedthese ring packs for IH years backand came up with new specs for peo-ple to follow. So if you really want toseal your 7.3L, do your homework.What would you set your gap onyour #2 ring? Want to do this againsoon?

Dennis Deckervia email

Re: Nice to see people are payingattention to details....

Second rings gaps are impor-tant. Research done starting in the’90s found that many engines couldbenefit from increasing the gap onthe second ring. This change reducescombustion gas pressure pulses be-tween the top and second ring thatcan cause the top ring to lose its sealagainst the piston ring groove. Thebenefits of these wider gaps, withinreason, are improved power, betteroil control and reduced emissions.

Hastings Manufacturing has longbeen on top of these revised largersecond ring gaps. Here are the sec-ond ring gaps that have been de-signed into the Hastings ring sets forthe Ford 7.3L engines based on OErecommendations and our own pis-ton ring testing and development:

• 1988-’94 Ford 7.3L IDI NaturallyAspirated (Rectangular 2nd rings)Second ring gap .062˝ - .072˝ (Set#2M4741);

• 1993-’94 Ford 7.3L IDI FactoryTurbo (Keystone 2nd rings)Second ring gap .055˝ - .065˝ (Set#2M4873); and

• 1994.5-2003 Ford 7.3L DI PowerStroke (Rectangular 2nd rings)Second ring gap .062˝ - .072˝ (Set#2M4882).

You can be assured that HastingsManufacturing Company suppliespiston rings that are top quality. Hast-ings is TS-16949 and ISO14001 regis-tered and has a long history as anoriginal equipment supplier to Ford,


14-15 Shop Solutions 6/19/13 8:57 AM Page 14


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

distributors that warehouse a full line of

internal engine components for

domestic and import passenger car,

light truck, heavy duty, industrial,

marine, agricultural and performance

applications.

They also produce engine parts under

the Engine Pro name that offer premium

features at an affordable price.


General Motors, Chrysler, Harley-Davidson and many other engine manufacturers.

Response from Ray Falkenrath, Director of Product Development, Hastings Mfg. Co.

Factoid of the MonthWhich vehicles are the most Americanmade?

It is a common belief that many Toyotaand Honda vehicles are more Americanmade than our “Big Three” vehicles.

Not so, according to Prof. FrankDuBois of the Kogod School of Business

at American University. His recent study viewed 253 cars, trucks and SUVsto determine which had the most domestic content. The study takes into ac-count labor, R&D, inventory, capital spent, engine parts, transmission parts,body, interior, chassis, electrical and profits.

Here are the most American made cars, according to the study:Buick Enclave, Chevy Traverse, GMC Acadia 88.5Ford F-Series trucks, Dodge Avenger 87.5Chevy Corvette, Ford Mustang 85.0Toyota Avalon (highest ranked import) 81.0

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The call, one of hundreds madeevery day, goes something likethis:

“Hello. This is Billy-Joe-Bob, can Ihelp you?”

“Yeah Billy, this is Hank with SmithMachine. I’m working on an F-150 witha 4.6 and I need some parts.”

“OK, Hank. I have several SmithMachines, do you know your accountnumber?”

“No.” “OK, can I get your phone number?” “Ah, yeah.”“Hank, now that I’ve got your ac-

count up, can you give me more info?On a 4.6 I need the year and the VINnumber. You know the eighth digit?”

“Well, I think it’s a ’99 and he didn’tgive me the VIN. Aren’t they all thesame?”

“No, they’re not. Is it a Windsor or aRomeo? Single cam or dual cam? Oh,and for the timing set, I do need theexact year.”

“Windsor or Juliet? Err, Romeo? Re-ally? Why do I need to know all that?How can I tell?”

“You need to know all that so I canget you the correct parts. You can tell bygetting me the VIN number.”

The fact that this conversation mim-ics the one he had yesterday while try-ing to find parts for an import engine –an even bigger nightmare – still doesn’tdawn on Hank. The real fact of the mat-ter is he could spare himself all thisgrief and waste of time by doing a bet-ter job of receiving his labor.

No, Hank didn’t lie to Billy whenasked about the vehicle identificationnumber (VIN) – his customer reallydidn’t give that to him. No one everseems to offer the critical info. That iswhy you have to ask for it. Just as youhave to ask for a name and phone num-

ber. What if your customer, say Joe’sRepair, doesn’t have the VIN? That’sOK. Just make sure that Joe knows youcan’t get his job started until he getsthat for you. If Joe is a smart man andwants to get that car done and out ofhis bay, he sure as heck will get thatinfo to you quickly.

Let’s turn this around. Same conver-sation but this time Billy doesn’t do hisjob, doesn’t ask the right questions.Sure, old Hank doesn’t know and nei-ther does he, so he’ll just choose thefirst part he finds. It was just an esti-mate, right? So Hank gets a price on amystery part and the snowball beginsits journey down the hill. His quote tohis customer is wrong, and odds are, itwill probably be too low. Somewheredown the line, the go ahead is givenand the mystery part is ordered. Nowwe’ve added shipping costs to all thetime we’ve spent acquiring a quote andthen the part.

We’ve all been here so there is nosurprise when the part or parts arewrong. But we have time, freight andmoney tied up in the wrong part. Addin return freight, all for nothing, andwe’re back to square one. Now you’recalling Billy-Joe-Bob and you’re mad.But let’s ask ourselves, who’s at faulthere?

I personally hate fault. It accom-plishes nothing and is only a defensemechanism to protect our own fragileegos. Resolve comes only when wemove forward. And since this isn’t awaltz, let’s not take two steps forwardand one step back.

First, we must face the fact that it isnot always as simple as year, make,model and VIN. I know it can be im-possible to acquire even these, butmany times I would be asking formore. Sometimes much more. We work


One Minute MightSave You Thirty!

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Dave [email protected]

You face a litany of questions when ordering parts, but it’s worth the timeTa

les

From

The

WD


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on a variety of engines and there are avariety of questions to answer to getthe correct parts. Let’s look at somegeneral applications and see what youmight be asked to provide to makesure you get the right parts the firsttime.

For most import or domestic pas-senger cars and light truck applica-tions you need an accurate year,make, model, cubic inch or literdisplacement, and for anythingfrom this century or from the ’80sand ’90s we need the eighth digitfrom the manufacturer’s VIN.

I started in the parts business be-hind the counter in 1974. I left thatstore in the early ’80s and by then, wewere occasionally asking for a VINnumber. It’s now 30-plus years later,and the VIN is needed to find most anypart for a modern vehicle. Why do I al-ways get that long silence on the otherend of the phone when I ask for ittoday for an engine part?

Marine applications get to be morecomplex. Year, boat manufacturer,

engine manufacturer, cubic inch andhorsepower rating will be just the start.We’ll also need to know if it’s standardor reverse rotation. Some reverse rota-tion engines were available with bothgear drive and chain drive camshafts.You might be asked if the pistons areflat top, domed or dished. Solid, hy-

draulic or roller lifter camshaft, oval orrectangular intake port heads and thefiring order are all potential questionswhen trying to identify a marine en-gine.

Heavy-duty and industrial enginesrequire year, make, chassis model andengine size, but these type of applica-tions will also require an engine serialnumber. Parts for Caterpillar will alsorequire an arrangement number, whileCummin’s parts require a manufac-

turer’s CPL number.When you’re talking about parts

like crankshafts, cylinder heads or con-necting rods, a casting number willmost likely be required.

When I started this story, I claimedthat one minute could save you 30minutes or more. If that one minute is

used to collect the information I’vedescribed, it could easily save youthe 30-plus minutes you’ll wastecalling your parts distributor onlyto learn you need to contact yourcustomer for more info before youcan call your distributor again to

get what you needed in the first place.If your shop rate is $70- $80 an hour,you’ll save yourself $35-$40 in wastedtime. Not quite free money, but you getthe point.

There are still two more points tomake. First, if you guess or assume youknow the vehicle information, you’regoing to be wrong. And you knowwhat they say if you assume, you makean ass of you and me. And I personallydon’t like being made an ass. Given the


WD Tales


“If you guess or assume youknow the vehicle information,

you’re going to be wrong.”

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right circumstances and a bar, I’ll dothat for myself! Seriously, please don’tguess.

The second point I’d like to maketakes us into the future. Have you noticed how difficult it is today to getcurrent cataloging? Things are chang-ing at a rate that the parts manufactur-ers can’t even keep up with, yet alonecatalog. Plus, with cost being a majorconcern, printed materials are oftengoing by the wayside.

If your shop is equipped with acomputer and Internet access, you canhave available the most current infor-mation. But I’m not seeing a high per-centage of shops with computers orInternet access. That’s going to have tochange. As we move forward, I believe,one of the most difficult jobs we’ll faceis gaining access to the informationwe’ll need. Many of us old-timers stillappreciate a catalog. When you havethe book open, you have access to several pages of info and youcan compare, size up and find whatyou’re looking for. Without a catalog,you’ll need the correct answers to eachof the electronic catalog prompts to getto a part number. Now having that in-formation is mandatory.

This is like the snowball rollingdownhill. Today I train you to givewhat is needed to your WD to get youthe correct parts. Tomorrow you starttraining your customers. Get a properwork order, one that prompts you intoasking the right questions and filling inthe blanks. Collect this info at the timeyou bring in the job. You may not needto get their name and number if they’rea regular, but get the info anyway. Ifthe delivery driver doesn’t have it,make him or her responsible for get-ting it to you. Assert that the job won’tleave your counter until you’ve got theinfo you need to do the work and getthe parts. Repair shops usually want ityesterday. Plant a seed that you can’tstart until you get that info and watch’em move.

Knowledge is power. Having theright knowledge, or information, willmake parts acquisition quicker andeasier. And the less time you have in-vested getting the parts, the more timeyou’ll have to get the job done and themore profitable those parts will be. ■

EngineBuilderMag.com 19Circle 19 for more information

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Oil is the lifeblood of every en-gine. Any significant loss of oilpressure can destroy an engine

in a split second so the oiling systemmust provide a constant supply of oilunder all operating conditions.

With performance engines, keepingthe engine lubed with a steady supplyof oil can be a challenge because of theG-forces that may be encountered. Oneof the most demanding applications isthe marine environment. Strapping abig V8 or a pair of V8s into a boat hulland running at full throttle acrosswater can push any oiling system tothe limit. The constant pounding andbouncing of the hull against the wavesmakes it hard to keep a wet sumppickup fully submerged in oil all thetime. That’s why a dry sump system isoften the best way to go for a marineperformance engine.

The challenges are similar in roadracing. The high lateral G-forces (up to2 G’s) combined with hard braking (upto 3 G’s) and rapid acceleration (up to1.5 G’s) create a lot of sloshing insidethe oil pan. Baffles and trap doors inthe oil pan can control oil movement tosome extent, but a dry sumpsetup is usually better for thistype of racing. A shallow drysump oil pan also allows the en-gine to be positioned lower in thechassis to keep the center of grav-ity closer to the ground.

With off-road racing, verticalG-forces can pull the oil away from thebottom of the oil pan in a wet sumpsystem. Every time the vehicle leapsover a hill or flies through the air, theoil pump pickup may suck in air, caus-ing a momentary drop in oil pressure.Again, a dry sump setup can provide amore reliable supply of oil under suchdemanding conditions.

With circle track racing, the car is always turning left so the oil wants toclimb up the right side of the oil pan.Extending the oil pan sideways on theright side and using baffles, trap doorsand an offset pickup helps keep thepickup submerged in oil so the pumpcan deliver a steady supply of oil. Adry sump system can do the samething while offering some groundclearance advantages with a shalloweroil pan, but the typical Saturday nightdirt track racer usually can’t afford adry sump system. Track rules may alsoprohibit the use of a dry sump oilingsystem, depending on the class.

As for drag racing, it’s all straightline acceleration down the strip. The oilwants to climb up the back of the pan,so a deep oil pan with baffles and extra

oil capacityis usually

recommended to maintain steady oilpressure for the duration of the run.Don’t forget there’s also deceleration atthe top end once the vehicle passesthrough the timing lights, so baffles ora trap door inside the pan that preventsthe oil from sloshing forward is also agood idea.

Street performance is probably the

easiest oiling application to deal withbecause the G-forces acting on the oilin the crankcase are less severe and lessabrupt. Most street performance carsand trucks are driven the same as astock vehicle 95% of the time, so a stockwet sump oil pump and stock oil panare usually adequate. Extra oil capacityis always nice because it helps keep theoil cooler and adds some extra insur-ance against oil starvation under harduse. For higher horsepower engines or street/strip applications, anaftermarket performance oil pan withbaffles and extra capacity would berecommended. A high volume oilpump might also provide some addi-tional cooling for the bearings and bebetter able to maintain oil pressure athigher engine speeds.

Oil Pump TechWith most wet sump oiling systemsthere are two basic designs: a twin-gear or gerotor-style oil pumpmounted inside the oil pan on the un-derside of the engine block, or acrankshaft-driven gerotor pumpmounted on the front of the engine(Chevy LS, Ford modular, etc.). Astock oil pump is usually adequatefor stock or slightly modified engines.But if you are building a high-power,high-revving engine with extra bear-ing clearance, a high-volume oil

pump usually becomes necessary. There are several factors that affect

the flow characteristics of wet sump oilpumps. The pump’s flow capacity de-pends on engine rpm and the displace-ment of the pump. The faster the pumpturns, the more oil it flows – up to apoint. Above a certain rpm (typicallyaround 5,500 rpm for SB/BB Chevy oilpumps), flow tends to level off becauseoil flow into the pump can’t keep up.


Oiling SystemTechnologyKeeping a steady supply of oil flowingcan be a challenge in racing applications

Feat

ure BY TECHNICAL EDITOR LARRY CARLEY

[email protected]

This performance high volume(18% over stock) for late modelLS engines delivers improve-ments in flow and pressure acrossthe engine operating range.

20-25 Oiling Systems 6/19/13 8:55 AM Page 20

The flow capacity of the pickup screenand pickup tube become a restrictionthat limits how much oil the pump candeliver to the engine.

Cavitation occurs when bubblesform inside the oil pump. When the oilthat is being sucked into and pushedout of the pump can’t keep up with thegears, tiny vacuum bubbles form onthe trailing edges of the gears. Theseare similar to the bubbles that form be-hind a high-speed boat propeller. Thebubbles create drag, reduce pumpingefficiency and cause a drop in oil pres-sure. Over time, they can also erode thesurface of the gears. Cavitation can alsooccur when air is sucked into thepump. Aerated oil causes a similardrop in pumping efficiency, oil pres-sure and flow. Either way, cavitation isbad news.

The thicker the viscosity of the oil,the harder is it to pull it up the pickuptube into the pump. Using a lower vis-cosity synthetic oil can help here be-cause it flows easier and is less likely tocause cavitation inside the oil pump athigher engine speeds. The most impor-

tant factor, however, is the diameter ofthe pickup tube and the type of inletscreen on the pickup in the oil pan.Small pickup tubes and/or a restrictiveinlet screen can be a major cause of oilpump cavitation. The inlet screens ordrilled covers that are found on someaftermarket performance oil pumppickups can actually restrict oil flow athigher engine speeds – especially whenthey are used with a high-volume oilpump. The larger the mesh size of thepickup screen or the diameter of thedrilled holes on the pickup cover, thebetter. The only function the screen orcover performs is to prevent bigchunks of debris from being suckedinto the oil pump. The pickup providesno meaningful filtration because theclearances inside the oil pump are usu-ally only a few thousandths of an inchso any debris larger than that willcause interference or damage inside thepump.

With wet sump performance appli-cations, use the largest diameterpickup tube that will fit the pump.Many aftermarket performance oil

pumps have larger inlets for this veryreason. According to one source, if thediameter of the pickup tube is 20- 30%larger than the inlet port on the pump,the tube will never become a restrictionor cause cavitation inside the pump.

Also important is making sure theoil pump pickup tube and inlet are cor-rectly matched to the oil pan, and thatthe inlet is positioned at the correctheight above the bottom of the pan(typically 1/4˝ to 3/8˝). If the inlet istoo close to the pan, the narrow gapcan restrict flow. If the inlet is too highin the pan, the pickup may suck airunder hard cornering, accelerating orbraking. Oil problems caused by mis-matched oil pans/pickups and mislo-cated pickups are more common thanyou think.

Oil flow can be increased by care-fully porting, blending and roundingany sharp edges in the oil pump inletand outlet ports, by minimizing clear-ances between the pump gears and thegears, housing and cover (typically.0015˝ to .002˝), and by using a pumpwith taller or larger gears. A high-vol-


FeatureTHIS ISSUE: PG 26 >> Performance Diesels PG 41 >> MSMP Pt.1 PG 52 >> Super Comp Engines



ume pump is often necessary for ahigh-revving engine or one with looserbearing clearances.

The pressure delivered by the pumpdepends on the spring in the oil bypassvalve. The stiffer the spring, the higherthe relief pressure of the bypass valveand the more oil pressure the pumpdelivers before the bypass valve opens.

The old rule of thumb of running 10psi of oil pressure for every 1,000 rpm

is still valid for most applica-tions. But some racers are get-ting by with less oil pressureand are gaining anywherefrom 5 to 30 or more horse-power! It takes a certainamount of horsepower todrive an oil pump, so usingthe least amount of oil pres-sure that’s necessary to main-tain a safe level of lubrication

saves powerthat would oth-erwise beneeded for the pump. Many NASCARteams are running less than 5 psi of oilpressure per 1,000 rpm, and are usinglow viscosity synthetic oils with tighterbearing clearances to keep the oil filmin the bearings.

Most oil pumps use an internal by-pass valve to vent excess oil pressure.The advantage with this design is thatit delivers oil at a steady pressure whileallowing pressure to build quickly in acold engine. The drawback with thissetup is that during deceleration, oilcan actually flow backward from thepump into the pickup tube. When thedriver stabs the throttle to accelerate,there can be a slight delay in oil deliv-ery until the reverse flow is overcomeand oil is again flowing in the right di-rection into the pump. By comparison,some racing pumps have an externalbypass valve that dumps excess oilpressure back into the crankcase. Thisprevents the reverse flow effect andhelps maintain a steady flow of oilwhen an engine is decelerating and ac-celerating rapidly.

Some performance oil pumps alsouse a ball bypass valve rather than apiston or cup-style bypass valve. Ballvalves are used in automatic transmis-sions because they are self-cleaningand less likely to stick.

“Energy Recovery” Oil PumpEvery oil pump needs a bypass valveto vent excessive pressure, otherwisebad things might happen to the pumpor engine if oil pressure was not con-trolled. But every time excess oil pres-sure is vented through a bypass valveit represents lost energy. Verne Schu-mann of Schumann Sales & Service hascome up with a way to recover muchof this lost energy with his newly


Feature


This LS wet sump oilpan conversion retainsa wet sump setup butuses an external pumplike that from a drysump system.



23 acl_Layout 1 6/19/13 9:09 AM Page 23

patented “Energy Recovery” oilpumps for SB/BB Chevys and Fords.

Schumann said the new “ER” de-sign “diminishes the input effort re-quired, yielding the same gallons perminute (gpm) volume and pressureas high-effort pumps. Normal inter-nal hydraulic pump by-pass lock-ups areeliminated. Unique energyrecovery engineering con-verts spent energy into ac-tive input oil supply flow.” Schumannsaid his new ER pumps are 30% moreefficient and significantly reduce thepower needed to drive the pump.

Schumann is not making any spe-cific horsepower claims for his pumps,but on one dyno test, an engineshowed a 10 to 15 hp improvement bysimply changing the oil pump.

Schumann’s Energy Recoverypump uses an external hose to connectthe bypass valve discharge port to thepickup tube. By rerouting oil back intothe pickup tube, the oil pressure thatwould otherwise have been wasted is

reused tofeed the pump. It has a siphoning effectthat improves oil flow into the pumpand reduces the chance of oil starvationwhen the engine is accelerating hard oris experiencing lateral G-forces.

Chevy LS Oil Pump IssuesThe front mounted oil pumps onChevy LS engines have been a chal-lenge for many engine builders. Thepumps on these engines have criticalclearances that require the pump gearsto be precisely centered with respect toeach other and the pump housing. Therecommended procedure is to mount

the oil pump with the block out ofthe vehicle sitting upright with thecrankshaft in a vertical position sothe crank will be centered in themain bearings. Shims must then bepositioned between the inner andouter gears, and the outer gear andhousing before the four housingbolts are tightened down to securethe pump to the block. If this proce-dure is not followed, the oil pump

may bind and/or break as soon as theengine is cranked or started.

The stock pump housing can also beeasily distorted if it is clamped in avice, causing the pump to bind when itis installed on the engine. Schumannmakes a special work fixture that al-lows the LS pump to be held securelywithout bending the housing.

Mike Osterhaus, Product Develop-ment Manger for Melling said the frontmounted oil pumps on many latemodel engines has created opportuni-ties for engine builders because manyoriginal oil pumps cannot meet the de-mands of a performance engine. Hesaid Melling’s line of “Select Perform-ance” oil pumps eliminates those is-sues while supplying increasedperformance and durability at an af-fordable price. Osterhaus said that af-termarket oil pumps for the Chevy LSengine and similar applications areavailable from a variety of sources, butthat many of those offerings are basedoff original equipment oil pumps. “Theoriginal equipment pumps cannotcompete against the performance anddurability of a Melling performance oilpump, which was designed from thestart to be used in performance engineapplications.” He said improvementsinclude increasing the pressure tight-ness of the pump assembly to reduceoil leakage. Crank-driven pumps havelarger surface areas which need to besealed. Reducing the leakage comingfrom the pump results in improved oilquality and flow delivered to the maingallery. The pumps are also cast in 356-T6 aluminum, precision CNC ma-chined and hard-coat anodized forimproved durability.

Galling can also be a problem insome applications, such as GM 5.3L,6.0L and 6.2L V8s. A severe galling con-dition can arise from the tolerances andmaterials used in the original GM oilpumps. This situation cannot occur in


Feature


This unique pump features an energyrecovery system that converts spentenergy into active input oil supply.


the Melling oil pumps because of changes that have beenmade in the design of the pump itself. “Our high-volume10296 performance pump for the Chevy LS flows 18% overstock, and delivers improvements in flow and pressureacross the entire engine operating range, not just at hot idle.”

Another option for the LS is to eliminate the stock frontmounted gerotor pump altogether and use an external oilpump. TJ Grimes of Baker Engineering/Pro Cam said hiscompany makes a Chevy LS wet sump oil pan conversionthat retains a wet sump setup but uses an external pump likethat from a dry sump system to supply oil to the engine. Theoil pan is only 6-1/2˝ deep but is 13˝ wide and holds 7quarts of oil. The modification requires blocking the oil portsfor the original front-mounted pump. The conversion elimi-nates the long pickup tube that can delay flow to the stockpump and reduces the risk of oil starvation.

Grimes says the trend is to make wet sump oiling sys-tems work like a dry sump system but without the cost orcomplexity of a full dry sump system. “You can keepwindage down inside the crankcase by using scrapers topull oil away from the crank.”

Dry Sump SystemsWith dry sump oiling systems, the setup is entirely differentthan a wet sump system. Most dry sump systems use one tofour or more scavenge pumps to suck oil out of the pan (andother locations on the engine), and one or two pressurepumps to feed oil back into the engine. Oil aeration is con-trolled by using an oil/air separator and routing the oil intoa vertical storage tank before it is pumped back into the en-gine. The tank adds additional oil-holding capacity to thesystem to help keep oil temperatures down. The externalplumbing makes it easy to add an external oil cooler as well.Pulling oil and air out of the crankcase also increases horse-power by reducing windage and drag onthe crankshaft. The only drawback withdry sump systems is their cost, which canrange from $1,500 up to $3,500 or more,depending on the setup.

Bill Dailey of Dailey Engineering sayshis company specializes in high-end cus-tom dry sump pumps and pans for racingapplications. “A lot of people sell off-the-shelf components for dry sump oil sys-tems. We do too. But many racers wantspecial mountings or designs to fit theirspecific race car. So most of what we do iscustom work for racers.”

One such product is a custom billet oilpan with an integral oil pump. “Theywon’t allow it in NASCAR, but whererules allow it, the setup provides a smallerand cleaner installation,” said Dailey.

What kind of oiling system you ulti-mately decide to use in an engine you arebuilding will depend on the application,your customer’s wishes and how muchmoney he is willing to spend to keep hisengine lubed. Lubrication is one areawhere you don’t want to take chances. ■


FeatureTHIS ISSUE: PG 26 >> Performance Diesels PG 41 >> MSMP Pt.1 PG 52 >> Super Comp Engines




With all of the bolt-on dieselcomponents that are avail-able on the market these

days, why would you get into offer-ing performance engine rebuilds forthe diesel market? I’m sure you areasking yourself this question everytime you get a call fromsomeone with a diesel en-gine asking how they canget more power. But be-lieve me when I tell you itis a growing market. Andbetter yet, it’s one thatcan make you money!

Over the last three years the useddiesel truck market has seen a yearlyincrease in sales of about 10-12 per-cent and is slightly above new dieseltrucks sales. This tells you the oldertrucks are still in use and requiremore maintenance from the localdiesel shops or garages.

If you are familiar with diesel en-gines, and how they work, you knowdiesel engines last longer than theirgasoline engine counterparts IF theyare maintained properly throughouttheir life. Like any good technicianwill tell you, whether it’s gas or

diesel, an abused engine will failwhen you need it most.

Today’s diesel enthusiast oftenknows the basics of how to work onhis diesel engine, but when some-thing goes wrong internally, that’swhen he will seek you out for re-

pairs. This is a

huge opportunity for a local shop tostep up and solve your customer’sproblem.

The common theme that we seeover and over with diesel guys isthat they add bolt-on performanceitems without thinking of reinforcingthe internal parts of the engine or


Diesel Hot RodsExploring opportunities for performance diesel engine work

Today’s diesel hot rods may costthe same to build as a big blockChevy, but these 800+ hp turbodiesels will last 150,000 milesand deliver great fuel economy.

BY CONTRIBUTING EDITOR RON [email protected]

Sponsored by:

26-31 Diesel Engines 6/19/13 8:53 AM Page 26


27 cloyes_Layout 1 6/19/13 9:09 AM Page 27

Performance Diesel Marketdrivetrain. Bigger doesn’t alwaysmean better when it comes to diesels,you upgrade one component youhad better upgrade other importantparts of the engine as well.

I get calls all of the time from peo-ple who have a blown engine, blownthe turbo or blown tranny. I ask themimmediately, “Did you turn yourtuner up all the way and floor it?”And most answer, “Yeah, sure did!”

Yes, many bolt-on componentscan produce extra horsepower andtorque, but the problem is the origi-nal stock engine is not rated for thatmuch power, so when it is pushed tothe limit, parts start breaking.

I will cover some of the engineparts that break easily when thishappens, and I’ll cover a few eachmonth in my Diesel Motorsports col-umn in the pages of Engine Builderuntil we have explored all aspects of a performance diesel engine.

One of the first questions I ask is,do you have performance head boltsinstalled? If your customers are in-creasing the power through variousbolt-on components, the heads androds are the first to cause significantproblems inside the engine.

In fact, many turbo suppliers arenow recommending that customersinstall performance head bolts beforeusing their products!

Building For PerformanceBuilding a performance diesel enginetakes a different approach than a per-formance gas engine build. Whilemost diesel engines are turbo-charged, they make most of theirtorque and power at relatively lowrpm. The bottom end in a diesel en-gines is already fairly stout, withforged steel crankshafts and heavy-duty connecting rods, so the amountof modifications that may be neededare usually minimal for a mild per-formance build. And because moststreet performance and pulling ap-plications don’t require a lot of rpms,engine balance is not as critical as ina high-revving gas engine. However,pistons may have to be cut, modifiedor replaced, depending on howmuch turbo boost the engine runs,what kind of fuel it will be burningand what kind of modifications arebeing made to the camshaft and val-vetrain.

Because diesels require a lot ofcompression, camshaft durationtends to be short with minimal over-lap. Valve lift may also be limited bythe tight piston-to-valve clearancesin some diesel engines. So unlike gasengines, you can’t go with extremelift and duration setups to makemore power. A bigger camshaft canprovide more power, but only if thelift and duration are right for the tur-

bochager, cylinder heads, pistons,valvetrain and application.

The most significant power gainsin a diesel engine come from increas-ing the amount of boost delivered bythe turbo (or turbos if their are multi-ples). But there’s more to it than justbolting on a bigger turbo. Thecamshaft must have the right ex-haust characteristics so it will spoolup the turbo faster and keep it spin-ning at peak efficiency in the en-gine’s power band. For some typesof pulling, the power band can bequite narrow, maybe 3,000 to 5,000rpm for a diesel pulling truck. Astreet truck, by comparison, maymake most of its power at evenlower rpms.

If engine speed drops too lowduring a truck or tractor pullingevent, the turbo can stall or “chirp,”causing the boost pressure to sud-denly drop. This kills power andmay even cause the engine to stall.

Diesel experts say that one of thetricks to getting more power is topay more attention to the pressuredeveloped in the cylinders. Withgasoline engines, you want to in-crease valve duration to get morepower. But this approach doesn’tnecessarily work with all diesel en-gines. By doing just the opposite anddecreasing duration you will gainmore power, say some experts.

One tip for Cummins engines isthat the press fit cam gears used up

to 2003 have atendency to pushoff the end of thecamshaft if theengine is modi-fied to produceover 600 horse-power. For modi-fied Cummins

engines, converting to a bolt-ondrive gear set is recommended.

Since most diesels run at rela-tively low rpms compared to gas en-gines, modifications to the valvetrainare often not necessary for mildbuilds (until they want big hore-spower, that is). This means youdon’t need monster springs andpushrods to prevent the valves fromfloating at high speed. On the otherhand, there may be some concernsabout the effects of turbo boost onthe intake valves.

28 Month 2013 | EngineBuilder

Cummins is like the SBC for diesel guys,who as much pride in tricking out theirengines as street rodders do, with cus-tom paint schemes and attractive wiringand plumbing to show it all off. But theinternals also need attention, too.



29 qualitypower_Layout 1 6/19/13 9:08 AM Page 29

Many diesel engines run veryhigh boost pressures, from 80 to asmuch as 200 psi on some really ex-

treme engines. So there’s a concernthat really high boost levels mayovercome the force exerted by the

springs on the intake valves forcingthe valves open. While some dieselexperts say that for every 10 psi in-crease in boost, you should usesprings that are at least 10 psi stifferthan the stock springs, others saythis really isn’t necessary becausewhen the piston is coming up on itscompression stroke, the pressure de-veloped inside the cylinder will holdthe intake valves shut.

On Cummins engines, for in-stance, there is a concern that overlystiff valve springs may increase wearin the cam bores. In Cummins en-gines, there are no cam bearing in-

serts – the camshaftjournals run directlyon the machinedbores in the block.Because of this, ex-tremely heavy valvespring pressurepushing the rockerarms, pushrods and

lifters down against the camshaftmay cause the bottom of the cambores to wear out. As the cam settles


Performance Diesel Market


Pistons may have to be cut,modified or replaced, depend-ing on how much turbo boostthe engine runs, what kind offuel it will be burning and whatkind of modifications are beingmade to the valvetrain.


lower and lower into the block, it up-sets valve lift and timing, causing asignificant loss of power. One way toprevent this in a performance Cum-mins engine with stiffer than stockvalve springs is to machine out thecam bores in the block and install af-termarket bearing inserts.

Any engine builder who is cur-rently doing gasoline engine per-formance work could probably dodiesel performance work too, saydiesel experts. You do have to learnabout diesel fuel systems and how tocorrectly set up the injection pump,injectors and turbo. But the machinework you do on the block, heads andother internal parts are pretty muchthe same as any other performanceengine.

Many diesel performance enginesare running 130 to 180 psi of boostpressure, so when you modify astock engine to produce significantlymore power, you also have to in-crease the flow capacity of the fuelsystem. You may have to modify theinjection pump so that you can dou-ble the fuel delivery. The injectorscan be modified by increasing thenumber and size of the nozzle ori-fices. Stronger fuel lines are also amust to handle higher fuel pressures.

There are also ample opportuni-ties to do diesel performance modifi-cations for the street. It’s fairly easyto tweak the turbo and squeeze anextra 100 or more horsepower out ofan engine without sacrificing fueleconomy or everyday driveability. Tomaintain good driveability andthrottle response, you want the turboto spool up quickly and providegood low end torque.

Experts say that street-drivendiesel trucks tyically develop peakpower between 1,800 and 3,200 rpm.Depending on how the truck isgeared, a drag truck may be set up torun at a somewhat higher rpm. But itdoesn’t take much rpm to hit bigtorque numbers with a diesel. ■

Ron Knoch is president of DIESEL Motor-sports, a marketing company for the dieselindustry that is also the only santioningbody for diesel motorsports. For more information about getting involved in per-formance diesel or a schedule of events,visit www.DIESELmotorsports.US.


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While sled pulling is the bulk ofthe performance diesel market,diesel drag racing has a loyal fol-lowing and is continuing to grow.


There is nothing more fast and furious than the roar of a turboengine when it is finely tuned

and performing efficiently on all lev-els. Whether pulling gear with thediesel truck or revving the street hotrod, making the most out of the turbois crucial to most engine builders. Asthe consumer’s appetite for speed issteadily increasing, so is the demandfor more diesel engine modification.

“Our customers demand morehorsepower each year and we have todeliver,” says Justin Norris, Diesel Spe-cialist with Precision Turbo and En-gine in Hebron, IN. “For example, westarted with a 3x3 (inlet/outlet) for the3.0 truck pulling class back in 2009,then a 3x3.35 in 2010, after that was the3x3.6 in 2012, and now we are workingon a 3x4.

“In the motorsports world, stayingcurrent with the latest innovations andtechnologies is absolutely essentialwith regards to remaining competi-tive,” Norris explains.

In addition to the origins of dieselpulls, the diesel tuning market hasevolved, joining drivers who have uti-lized the power of turbo for their ownuse.

“The diesel tuning market is splitinto three camps,” explains Matt Snow,owner of Snow Performance in Wood-land Park, CO. “‘The Towing Guy,’who wants better fuel economy, intactwarranty and some power; ‘the PowerGuy,’ who still wants his diesel partic-ulate filter (DPF) intact; and ‘the Wild-Haired Power Guy,’ who doesn’t careabout emissions testing or warranty.Of course, there is some overlap, butthe biggest change – for the Wild-Haired Power Guy – is the recentcrackdown by the EPA on DPF-deletetuners andexhausts.”

Locatedunder thevehicle’sframe, the

DPF removes soot – “the blacksmoke” – from the exhaust gas of adiesel engine. The filters can remove atleast 85 percent of soot from the ex-haust, thus emitting less of the blacksmoke that is accustomed with the leg-end and allure of the diesel-poweredvehicle. But as the DPF helps withmaintaining clean air, some turbodiesel enthusiasts such as Snow’saforementioned “wild-haired guys”became discouraged about the sacri-fice of horsepower and torque.

As a result, DPF-Delete kits weremanufactured to bypass the sootcleanse and recoup the torque andhorsepower that were nabbed by thefilter. But currently under the EPAClean Air Act, DPF-Delete tuningproducts are strictly for off-road useand are illegal on public highways.

“The EPA has cracked down andlevied some stiff fines on everyonefrom manufacturers to the guys whoown the vehicle,” says Gale Banks,CEO of Banks Power in Azusa, CA.“Right now they are going after thepeople who make the stuff, the distrib-utors and some of the online sellers.”

Although some sellers boast claims

of major horsepower and torque gain,Banks contends the extra work for theactual gain might not even be worththe trouble.

“It’s truly not much gain,” he says.“Maybe worth about 20 hp more on a700-800 hp configuration. Bottom line:if you tune your diesel right, thingscan perform pretty well and you don’thave to face jail time or million-dollarfines.”

Aside from black smoke, there aremany other aspects to consider for theengine builder, Norris says.

“Generally, the first question weshould always ask a customer is ‘Howmuch power do you want?’ And fromthere we can start the selectionprocess,” he said. “If the charger is toobig, then it may not light or run intocompressor stall when the motor lugsdown to a low rpm. If the charger istoo small, then we may not hit thepower goal and the charger may alsofail as a result of over-speeding. Afterthe power goals are addressed, enginesize, rpm and how much fuel are thethree big questions, because those as-pects will determine how much en-ergy is available to drive the charger.”


Turbos & TuningDiesel engine modifications are ramping up due to consumer demand, say experts

Most performance diesels run at leastone turbo, or two, such as this Banks 6.6LDuramax twin-turbo (sport truck build)with marine water-to-air intercooler.

BY MICHAEL [email protected]

32-35 Turbos/Tuners 6/19/13 8:51 AM Page 32

Norris suggests the best way togauge turbo sizing is to monitor thedrive pressure in relation to the boost.A ratio of 1:1 is ideal for efficiency, butmore boost than back pressure canlead to compressor stall.

“Our chargers seem to perform re-ally well with about 20 more psi ofdrive pressure compared to boost,which helps the charger lug,” Norrisexplains. “A ratio of 2:1 drive pressureto boost starts to become a restrictionand is a sign that the turbo is too small.Different turbine housing sizes canalso help finetune how a certain turbosize performs on an engine.”

When it comes to today’s tur-bochargers, Banks, who’s considered apioneer in diesel motorsports and engine building, says although thereare many variables and a lot of geome-try involved in maintenance, turbosare still basic to the core.

“If you are going to repair a turbo-charger, you need to be able to balancea turbocharger. You shouldn’t take aturbocharger apart and change wheelswithout balancing the rotating groupas an assembly,” he says. “That’s theturbine wheel and the compressorwheel. You balance them or otherwiseyou may be fragging turbos and notwondering why or killing the bearingsystem and not wondering why. Thecrucial element is if you are going tooverhaul, modify or upgrade, youneed to know how to do it properly.”

Like Banks Power and other dieselperformance shops, Ryan Flanders ofIndustrial Injection out of Salt LakeCity, UT, considers turbocharging anexact science where the products areheavy duty in a constant process tobalance their customers’ needs fortowing and performance.

“What we do is take turbo parts todifferent chargers and we build acharger for certain applications. For in-stance, we have a guy who needed atowing turbo. We built it with strongerinternals so it will last 200,000 miles ata maximum of 50 pounds of boost run-ning at 600 hp,” Flanders says.

Industrial Injection’s Silver Bullet62 turbocharger and other diesel tur-bos are part of the work of a dedi-cated turbocharging team that“builds, rebuilds and repairs turbosall day, every day.”

Flanders says his company has awing concentrated on building Cum-

mins and Duramax engines for streetand race performance that gather upto 600 hp to the flywheel and 550 hp tothe wheels.

“We want to build these engines tolast. They need to last 100,000-200,000miles,” Flanders says. “We fully gothrough the cylinder heads, valves andbetter valve seats on the Cummins forinstance, as well as higher strengthvalve springs and modified camshaft

for two different stages: street andrace.”

In addition to the hot rod prefer-ences, the diesel pullers have theirpenchants for turbo performance.

“An individual who tows with hisdiesel doesn’t want any turbo lag. Infact, large single turbos are fine forcompetition but on the street, whereinstant torque is needed, they canmake a high horsepower truck feel like





a dog, along with heavy black smoke,”Snow warns. “Variable vane singleswork great up to about 650 hp. In fact,we just tested a new variable vane de-sign called The Switchblade by Blay-lock Turbochargers that spooled as fastas a stocker with 600 hp capability andit’s very nice on the street. Of course,you could go to twins but that gets ex-pensive very fast.”

To handle the power of max dieselperformance, Snow explains that thedegree of strength of internal engineparts vary and ultimately depends onthe make of vehicle, but one common-ality is pressed-in valve seats.

“This becomes an issue with thehigh combustion temperatures causedby over-fueling. After a while from re-peated super heating and cooling, theengine will drop an exhaust valve seat,causing piston and cylinder wall dam-age,” Snow says. “Water methanol in-jection helps with this in that EGTs(exhaust gas temperatures) are re-duced to safe levels even with pro-longed high engine load states whiletowing.”

As the basic turbocharger bringsmore air in the combustion chambermore efficiently, water methanol injec-tion is the equal mix of water andmethanol that cools the engine allow-ing it to receive more fuel while keep-ing the combustion heat steady. Thus,giving the tuned engine/vehicleadded horsepower. Snow Performanceoffers such a system, the Comp-One,for its performance diesel market com-plete with loaded tunes.

“The tunes include tow, perform-ance and extreme ranging from 50 to190 hp increases,” he said. “With thewater methanol, this makes the Comp-One worth up to a 260 hp increase.Better yet, these tunes can be usedsafely even while towing as the injec-tion cools EGTs 200-300° F.”

Far from the latest new trend, watermethanol injection dates back to the re-search of Sir Harry R. Ricardo withwater injection and later during theWorld War II era that provided variouswarplanes a tremendous turbochargedboost with equal parts water andmethanol.

“It is remarkable,” says Banks of thelong-time injection method. “When Iwas a kid in the 1950s, I read a bookcalled The High Speed Internal Combus-tion Engine by Sir Ricardo. He startedwith water injection and then it wentto water methanol. The Ricardo labsare still around today designing en-gines for major auto manufacturers.They are a real high-tech company.”

Banks says his shop, which alsoprovides a water methanol injectionoffering in the StraightShot, is cur-rently working with professional semi-truck race driver Mike Ryan to build aFreightliner with a Detroit Diesel 60 se-ries engine in hopes of breaking theworld record at Pikes Peak Interna-tional Hill Climb in Colorado Springsthis summer.

“We are doing a 3.8L screw-type supercharger blowing into a monsterturbocharger to help break the recordthat Mike currently holds with thetruck,” Banks explains. “It has threedifferent injector points: the watermethanol as well as a charger andcooler. We are also using the pure





water system to mist the intercoolercore and also to cool the brakes. Thiswater methanol controller can be usedfor brake cooling and the intercoolermisting system injects straight into theintake.”

Another benefit to water methanolinjection, Snow says, is that it doesn’tleave a signature on the vehicle’s PCM(power control module) and workswith most of the newer emissionsequipment. “Water methanol injectionactually reduces emissions so the inci-dence of regeneration is reduced,which saves a tremendous amount offuel,” he says.

As manufacturers are looking fornew ways to tune or utilize other tried-and-true electronic tuning aids, themain goal continues to be enhancingan engine that pushes performance tothe maximum.

“A hot tune will give the enginemore fuel, which will create morepower and increase EGTs,” Norrissays. “Adding a bigger turbochargerand a better intercooler will help bringthe EGTs down and maximize the

power potential of the tune.”Most manufacturers caution that

bigger is not always better – and thebest way to simply monitor anyprogress is through use of gauges.

“Gauges are a must. If you buy aprogrammer that doesn’t have thebuilt-in gauges to monitor everything,you should get them. You need toknow that boost and exhaust gas tem-perature are tuned with different set-tings, so you can get the most bang foryour buck,” Flanders says. “We buildthese huge injection pumps and somepeople figure that the bigger pumpsmean they can turn up the fuel railpressure above a normal setting.

“The pumps we build fuel morethan a stock pump,” says Flanders.“They are there to give you the fueyou need, but if you turn them up toomuch, you are going to over-pressur-ize. Then, you are going to have fail-ures. We have to inform people thatit’s not about maximizing every set-ting and saying ‘let’s go.’”

In the long run, it is best to havetuning aids that do not overwhelm, for

example, the transmission or torqueconverter, but rather complement theengine or, as Banks describes, “honor-ing the host.”

“It’s as if I go over to your house fordinner and when we’re done, I volun-teer to help you wash the dishes and Iend up breaking every one of them,”he says. “That’s not honoring the host.You put too much stuff on the vehicle,it ends up killing the engine.”

Banks says that most diesel tur-bocharger manufacturers are steadilykeeping a pulse on the industry andit’s coming back as the economy andturbo technology gets better.

“The diesel industry peaked andthen we had the recession. Now con-struction is coming back and guys arebuying trucks,” he said. “Most of thosetrucks are out of warranty and we aregoing back and doing those trucksfrom scratch. When we apply today’stechnology to a 12-valve Cummins ora 7.3L Ford, to me, it’s kind of exciting.These are affordable hot rods today forguys who are into trucks, and we areafter them.” ■






Performance DieselProductsCP-Carrillo Diesel Rods CP-Carrillo diesel rods are made from a proprietary blend of steel and are de-signed for the extra heavy-duty treatment of the diesel engine. Compare theCarrillo rod to OEM and you will immediately see the difference; greater crosssectional strength, Arc Serration not concentric to the bolt hole allowing oil toescape during assembly and during operation, and tested for quality assurancebefore leaving the building. This line of products is built by race industry profes-sionals who have engineered quality rods specifically for racing or pulling dieselengines with horsepower and torque. CP-Carrillo first offered Duramax rods andnow offer them for Cummins and Powerstroke.

www.cp-carrillo.comCircle Number 118

Or call (949) 567-9000

Water/Methanol InjectionThe Snow Performance COMP-ONE system is a completely new concept, combin-ing powerful tuner programing and innovative water/methanol injection to givediesel truck owners the single most powerful upgrade they can do. Thewater/methanol injection reduces combustion temperatures, lowering exhaust gastemperatures (EGT) by 250-300°F. The system is also safe to use on vehiclesequipped with diesel particulate filters (DPF).

www.snowperformance.netCircle Number 119

Or call 866-365-2762


36-38 Diesel Products 6/19/13 9:32 AM Page 36


Performance Diesel Products

Banks SpeedBrakeThe Banks SpeedBrake™ reduces downhill speed bynearly 80-percent without touching the brake pedal;keeping brakes cool and ready for emergenciesshould they arise. It increases the stopping power andextends the service life of brakes. Plug-in connectionmakes for a clean, simple installation without cuttingor tapping into vital wire harnesses. The SpeedBrakeuses the truck’s own components to provide safetywhen towing, so there’s no added mechanical partsnecessary. With its patented technology, the Speed-Brake controls transmission shifting, locks and unlocksthe torque converter and infinitely varies a VG turbo’svanes to hold set speed and maximize stopping per-formance. It controls the gear selection in order to se-lect the best gear for any given braking situation

without building excessive engine RPM. Three levels of braking aggressiveness are available: high, medium and low. Anauto mode automatically maintains a specified downhill speed from 25 to 75 mph. The Banks iQ keeps the driver in-formed by displaying important parameters and on-screen alerts. In addition, it displays numerous vehicle parameters,from current braking effort and operating gear to braking mode and target speed.

www.bankspower/bp2Circle Number 120

Or call (800) 340-7775




Performance Diesel Products

Duramax High-Strength Valve Cover BoltsOne of the more exciting kits that has recently been introduced from ARP Products is its newhigh strength valve cover bolt kits for the 2001-’04.5 GM Duramax 6.6L and 2004.5 -’10 GMDuramax 6.6L LLY, LBZ, LMM and LML engines. Rated at 170,000 psi tensile strength andavailable in either 12 point or Hex, 8740 chrome moly with black oxide finish or polished stain-less steel. The ARP external 12 point and Hex drives also eliminates “stripping,” common withthe OE internal allen drive fasteners.

www.arpfasteners.comCircle Number 121

Or call (805) 339-2200

New Line of Billet CamsNo Limit Manufacturing offers a new line of billet camshafts, and camshaft regrinding for diesel applications. No Limit’s billet cams are manufacturedfrom 8620 or S7 tool steel. The cams feature a higher effective surface hard-ness to prevent roller tracking. The cams are cryogenically treated to relieveinternal stresses, for the best durability and strength. Available in flat tappetor roller profiles, No Limit stocks many cores for diesel trucks and tractors.Custom cams for any gas/diesel engine are also available, customized foryour application and engine build.

www.nolimitmfg.comCircle Number 122

Or call (715) 384-4422


High-Performance SleevesPowerBore Cylinder Sleeves produce high-performance sleeves in gray iron,ductile iron and other ferrous materials for all applications including automo-tive, motorcycle, truck, tractor, marine and more. Custom-sleeves can bemade to print and ready to ship in less than 3 weeks. All parts are made inthe USA.

www.qccast.comCircle Number 123

Or call (330) 332-1566


AMSOIL, INC.925 Tower AveSuperior, WI(800) [email protected], Oils/Additives & Performance Products

ARP1863 Eastman AveVentura, CA 93003(805) 339-2200www.arpfasteners.comHead Bolts, Fasteners

Banks Power546 Duggan Ave.Azusa, CA 91702(800) 339-2860bankspower.com/[email protected] BoardmanTurbos and Components, Pumps, Exhaust & Manifold Components

Champion Oil1001 Golden DriveClinton, MO 64735(612) 845-1972www.championbrands.comOil, Lubes

Cloyes Gear7800 Ball Rd.Fort Smith, AR 72908(479) [email protected] Murphywww.cloyes.comTiming Chains, Gears

CP-Carrillo1902 McGawIrvine, CA 92614(949) 567-9000www.cp-carrillo.comRods, Pistons

Custom Diesel, Inc.2536 Fairview Road, Morristown, TN 37814(877) 259-4977www.custom-diesel.comPerformance Kits, Steering Stabilizer, EGR Per-formance Kits

Design Engineering, Inc.604 Moore RdAvon Lake, OH 44012(800) 264-9472www.designengineering.comNitrous Systems for Gas/Diesel Performance,Heat Protective Wraps, Covers, Etc.

Elgin Industries1100 Jansen Farm Dr.Elgin, IL(847) [email protected] SimkoCamshafts, Valvetrain Components

Flowmaster Mufflers (BM Group)100 Stony Point RdSanta Rosa, CA 95401(707) 544-4761www.flowmastermufflers.comExhaust systems; Subsidiaries: Hurst Shifters,B&M Racing

Fuelab826-A Morton CourtLitchfield, IL(217) 324-3737www.fuelab.comFuel Pumps for Gas or Diesel Performance

Industrial Injection5919 South 350 WestMurray, Utah 84107(800) 800-4103www.IndustrialInjection.comTurbos, Injectors, Engines, Pumps

MAHLE Clevite, Inc.23030 MAHLE DriveFarmington Hills, MI(248) [email protected] McKnightTurbos and components, Filters, Bearings,Camshafts, Crankshafts, Engine Kits, Valvetrain Components, Pistons, Piston Rings, Sleeve As-semblies, Gaskets

Mahle Motorsports270 Rutledge Road Unit BFletcher, NC 28732(888) 255-1942www.us.mahle.comPistons

No Limit Mfg.1710 E. 29th St.Marshfield, WI(715) [email protected] StaabCamshafts, Connecting Rods, Cylinder Heads, Valvetrain Components, Sleeves, Billet Main Caps

Pacific Performance Engineering303 N Placenta AveFullerton, CA 92831(714) 985-4825www.ppediesel.comTuners, Engine Parts, Transmissions

Precision Turbo & Engine 616A South Main StreetHebron, IN(219) [email protected] NorrisTurbos and Components, Injectors, Fuel Delivery Components

PRW Industries, Inc.1722 Illinois AvenuePerris, CA(951) [email protected] PostFlexplates

Sinister Diesel2025 Opportunity Drive Suite 7, Roseville, CA 95678877-692-4110EGR Upgrades, Diesel Engine Parts, Transmissions

Snow Performance1017 Highway 24 East, Unit A Woodland Park, CO 80863(866) 365-2762www.snowperformance.netDiesel Engine Accessories, Engine Tuners

Turbonetics, Inc.2255 Agate CourtSimi Valley, CA 93065(805) 426-0333www.turboneticsinc.comTurbochargers, Pressure Control Valves, Intercoolers


Performance Diesel Market Directory

We thank these suppliers for their contributions to our InauguralPerformance Diesel Section. This is by no means an exhaustivelist of suppliers of performance diesel components. For addi-tional contacts, we encourage you to visit www.enginebuilder-mag.com and access our exclusive online Buyers Guides.

39 Diesel Directory 6/19/13 8:46 AM Page 39


Feat

ure

In June of 1984, the magazineyou’re reading now – then calledAutomotive Rebuilder – began sur-

veying the jobber machine shop audience to determine the size,scope and health of the engine rebuilding industry.

Since that time, a lot of thingshave changed at this magazine andin this industry.

What hasn’t changed is the factthat we have consistently surveyedthe same machine shop/custom engine rebuilder (CER) populationto get a snapshot of this industryfrom the experts – you, the enginerebuilder. Numbers can give a cold,stark impression of the growth ordecline of an industry, but we believe the information in this studyis still the most reliable data avail-able for tracking trends in the pro-duction of engines, cylinder headsand crankshafts, as well as specificbusiness data. We thank every one ofour survey respondents for takingthe time to contribute to this report.

The data generated for this year’s

Machine Shop Market Profile wascollected through survey question-naires sent to the machine shop/cus-tom engine rebuilding membershipof the Engine Builders Association(AERA). Four different question-naires, consisting of four pages each,were developed to obtain the infor-mation contained in our profile.

We mailed questionnaires to themembership of the AERA and con-tacted a random sample of EngineBuilder subscribers with an emailsurvey containing key questions regarding production. In all, weheard from more than 180 locationsthat are performing machine workand building engines in the U.S.

Analysis of the data was completedby Babcox Market Research.

The survey information reflectsdata for production year 2012. Part 1of this two-part profile includes dataon monthly production of engineblocks and cylinder heads, brokenout by engine size as well as by gasand diesel configurations, crank-shafts, core sourcing, shop equip-ment ownership and purchasing,and total production time spent inspecific engine building areas.

As we’ve declared many times inthese pages, there is no such thing asa “typical shop” – you know thateach company is unique. However,you can use these averages to see

“AS WE’VE DECLARED MANY TIMES IN

THESE PAGES, THERE IS NO SUCH THING

AS A ‘TYPICAL SHOP’ – YOU KNOW THAT EACH

COMPANY IS UNIQUE.”

BY ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/EDITORDOUG [email protected]

40-49 MSMP 13 6/19/13 9:02 AM Page 40


41 SAP_Layout 1 6/19/13 9:08 AM Page 41

how your business compares.Nationally, the numbers look like

this: the average machine shop pro-duced nearly 21 gas and diesel en-gines monthly last year, up from 18in 2011. Cause for celebration? A blipon the radar? It’s a nice return afterlast year’s slight downturn from ahuge 2010. Of course, small varia-tions in numbers can actually bedramatic percentage changes – thisis the nature of statistical-based arti-cles. The key, of course, is to look atthe big picture with intense focus onsome of the major points.

Increases were seen almost acrossthe board, although six-cylindergasoline engines (up 25 percent in2010) saw a modest decline this year.Eight-cylinder diesels (anotherbright spot last year), fell slightly aswell, but generally, the engine mar-ket appears to be doing quite well,all things considered.

V8 gas engines – which declinedlast year (partially, we believed, dueto the “Cash for Clunkers” programand vilification of large engines in thewake of gas price increases) –jumped impressively. Four- and six-cylinder gas engines saw modest in-creases. The number of unspecified“other” gas engines fell rather dra-matically last year from slightlymore than 12 per year in 2011 to lessthan 2 per year in 2012.

Overall, gas engine production in-creased around 18 percent in 2012.

The diesel engine segment experi-enced another great year last year, ex-cept for the aforementioned V8s. Thegrowth of 4-cylinder, 6-cylinder and“other” engines indicates that indus-trial, commercial and agriculturalopportunities remain.

Overall, the number of diesel en-gines climbed to 3.1 engines permonth, an impressive 24 percent in-crease from last year.

The average national monthly gasand diesel engine production of al-most 21 units translates to 252 en-

42 June 2013 | EngineBuilder MSMP Part 1

Feature Engine Production Data

2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 GAS ENGINES 4 CYLINDER 4.0 3.7 4.0 2.9 3.1 6 CYLINDER 4.2 4.4 3.3 3.1 2.3 8 CYLINDER 9.4 5.6 10.1 6.1 4.9 OTHER 0.15 1.4 0.52 0.13 0.08 TOTAL 17.8 15.1 17.9 12.2 10.4 DIESEL ENGINES 4 CYLINDER 0.80 0.57 1.8 0.68 0.75 6 CYLINDER 1.76 0.86 1.4 1.2 1.4 8 CYLINDER 0.44 0.65 0.46 0.6 0.6 OTHER 0.14 0.040 0.5 0.06 0.4 TOTAL 3.1 2.5 4.1 2.5 2.8 TOTAL NUMBER OF ENGINES 4 CYLINDER 4.8 4.3 5.8 3.6 3.9 6 CYLINDER 5.9 5.3 4.7 4.3 3.7 8 CYLINDER 9.8 6.3 10.6 6.7 5.0 OTHER 0.3 1.8 0.19 0.12 0.6 TOTAL 20.8 17.7 22.1 14.8 12.7

AVERAGE NUMBER OF GAS/DIESEL ENGINES REBUILT PER MONTH IN 2012

ENGINE PRODUCTION INCREASES/DECREASES

REBUILT ENGINE SALES – DOMESTIC AND IMPORT

RESPONSE 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 INCREASED 40.6% 26.5% 29.3% 15.8% 9.6% REMAINED THE SAME 35.9% 70.6% 40.4% 47.4% 57.7% DECREASED 23.4% 2.9% 30.3% 36.8% 32.7% TOTAL 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% AVERAGE INCREASE 14.4% 13.0% 4.5% 29.7% 12.5% AVERAGE DECREASE 8.8% 20.0% 14.0% 20.8% 22.3%

GAS 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 DOMESTIC 71.5% 68.6% 69.6% 71.8% 73.2% IMPORT 28.5% 31.4% 30.4% 28.2% 26.8% TOTAL 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%DIESEL 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008

DOMESTIC 84.1% 86.2% 80.3% 88.8% 84.1% IMPORT 15.9% 13.8% 19.7% 11.2% 12.9% TOTAL 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

40-49 MSMP 13 6/19/13 9:02 AM Page 42


Feature

gines produced annually. This isdown from the 264 reported in 2010,yet is still higher than the annualproduction of 216 engines producedduring 2011 and the 152 engines pro-duced during 2008 by the typicalCER.

Projected onto a universe of 3,000to 5,000 full-service machine shops,it’s estimated that CERs accountedfor between 648,000 to 1.26 milliongas and diesel engines built duringproduction year 2012. Last year themarket range for the same size uni-verse was 924,000 to 1.08 millionunits.

If you add in an estimated 450,000engines remanufactured annually byapproximately 30 North Americanproduction engine remanufacturers(PERs), the combined total numberof engines rebuilt in 2012 by CERsand PERs would be approximately1.21 million to 1.71 million units.This compares to an upper range ofapproximately 1.53 million enginesproduced by PERs and CERs duringproduction year 2011.

At an average retail cost of ap-proximately $2,600 per engine, wecalculate that the total rebuilt/re-manufactured engine market gener-ated between $3.15 billion and $4.45billion in rebuilt engine sales in 2012.

Engine Production Data

2012 2011 2010 2009 AUTOMOTIVE GASOLINE 46.2% 44.9% 38.7% 46.9%

PERFORMANCE 20.1% 19.6% 22.5% 27.6%

INDUSTRIAL ENGINES 6.6% 10.6% 4.7% 8.3%

MEDIUM-DUTY DIESEL 7.5% 6.3% 5.5% 2.5%

AUTOMOTIVE DIESEL 4.9% 6.3% 3.7% 3.7%

PERFORMANCE DIESEL 4.3% 2.0% 1.6% –

MARINE ENGINES 4.2% 4.0% 3.8% 3.7%

MOTORCYCLE/MOWER/OTHER SMALL 1.7% 3.2% 1.1% 2.8%

HEAVY-DUTY DIESEL 3.8% 2.1% 11.9% 3.7%

OTHER TYPES 0.6% 1.0% 5.0% 0.9%

2012 2011 2010 2009 AUTOMOTIVE GASOLINE 92.3% 93.1% 90.0% 95.7%

PERFORMANCE GAS 84.6% 86.2% 80.0% 78.3%

INDUSTRIAL ENGINES 46.2% 65.5% 53.3% 60.9%

AUTOMOTIVE DIESEL 46.2% 62.1% 56.7% 60.9%

PERFORMANCE DIESEL 15.4% 17.2% 23.3% –

MARINE ENGINES 61.5% 58.6% 60.0% 60.9%

MOTORCYCLE/MOWER/OTHER SMALL 34.6% 37.9% 30.0% 47.8%

MEDIUM-DUTY DIESEL 53.8% 44.8% 40.0% 52.2%

HEAVY-DUTY DIESEL 38.5% 27.6% 46.7% 21.7%

OTHER TYPES 7.7% 10.3% 16.7% 13.0%

PERCENTAGE OF ENGINE REBUILDING FALLING INTO THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES

PERCENTAGE OF SHOPS THAT REBUILDTHE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES

PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL REBUILT ENGINE SALESRETURNED AS WARRANTY

PERCENTAGE OF WARRANTY RETURNS WHICH ARE ACTUALLY CUSTOMER INSTALLATION

OR DIAGNOSTIC PROBLEMS

2012 2011 2010 2009 Customer Caused 86.2% 79.9% 63.0% 70.4% Percent change 7.9% 26.8% -10.5% -8.6%

“OF THE 3,000 - 5,000

FULL-SERVICE

MACHINE SHOPS,

IT’S ESTIMATED THAT

BETWEEN 648,000 TO

1.26 MILLION GAS AND

DIESEL ENGINES WERE

BUILT DURING 2012.”

2012 2011 2010 2009 Returned 2.8% 3.0% 1.5% 1.8%

40-49 MSMP 13 6/19/13 9:02 AM Page 43

More rebuilders said they saw a production increase in2012 – unfortunately, more also saw their productionnumbers decline. However, the bulk of our respondents(more than 76 percent, as a matter of fact) said productionnumbers stayed the same or increased. Of those who didreport an increase, it was, on average, nearly 14.5 percent.The average decline was a relatively mild 9 percent.

Sales of rebuilt engines in 2012 trended in differentways. Import gas engines fell nearly 3 percentage pointswhile domestic gas engines rose the same; the diesel mar-ket saw import engines hand the domestics a 2.1 percent-age point decline.

We’ve used the word “diversification” a lot in EngineBuilder recently. While certain shops specialize in a partic-ular type of engine, increasingly we see the successfulshops being the ones who can, frankly, do it all. With lesscompetition, someone has to do the rest of the work, youknow.

According to our survey respondents, the percentageof engine rebuilding falling into various categories in thetypical shop breaks down like this: automotive gas – 46.2percent; performance – 20.1 percent; industrial – 6 per-cent; medium-duty diesel – 7.5 percent; automotive diesel– 4.9 percent; performance diesel – 4.3 percent; marine engines – 4.2 percent; heavy-duty diesel – 3.8 percent;motorcycle/mower/other small – 1.7 percent; and othertypes – 0.6 percent.

As you can see in the chart at left, the small blockChevy 350 continues to be the strongest engine out there.Other engine platforms made a moderate attack last year,but the Mouse continues to roar. The perennial king isranked as the number one engine built by half our respon-


Feature

PERCENTAGE OF RESPONDENTS 2012 2011 One to 10% 31.4% 33.0% 11% to 20% 20.9% 21.6% 21% to 30% 11.6% 11.4% 31% to 40% 2.3% 5.7% 41% to 50% 7.0% 6.8% 51% to 70% 3.5% 6.8% More than 70% 17.4% 11.4% None/no answer 5.8% 3.4%

2012 2011 2010 SHORT BLOCKS 7.3% 7.9% 10.3%

LONG BLOCKS 11.9% 11.3% 22.6%

COMPLETE ENGINES 23.7% 31.5% 23.6%

HEADS* 49.3% 41.8% 33.8%

CRANKS 7.8% 7.5% 9.8%

*Not used on long blocks or complete engines

2012 2011 2010 SHORT BLOCKS 3.4% 4.7% 8.4%

LONG BLOCKS 14.1% 10.0% 24.0%

COMPLETE ENGINES 22.3% 22.3% 13.7%

HEADS* 52.4% 53.3% 43.5%

CRANKS 7.9% 9.6% 10.4%

*Not used on long blocks or complete engines

PERCENTAGE RANKING AS #1ENGINE REBUILT

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%Chevy GM Ford HD/ Import Chrysler Others 350 (Others) (Any) Comm (Any) (Any)

The small block Chevy 350 continues to be the most common enginerebuilt and despite its age and the wealth of competition, the numbers for 2012are up a healthy percentage from the previous year. This year, the small-blockChevy was noted as the #1 engine rebuilt by 50 percent of the shops – last yearthat figure was 40 percent. And proving that GM has staying power, “any otherGM engine” accounts for another 21% of shops, so about 70 percent of shops

say a GM engine of some kind is their number one product.

50%

21%

12%8%

6%2%

1%

PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL REBUILDING BUSINESS IN GAS ENGINE PRODUCTION

FOR FOLLOWING CATEGORIES

PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL DIESEL ENGINE REBUILDING PRODUCTION

IN FOLLOWING CATEGORIES

PERCENTAGE OF ENGINE PRODUCTION (TOTAL) THAT IS PERFORMANCE-RELATED

Engine Production Data

40-49 MSMP 13 6/19/13 9:02 AM Page 44

Feature

dents. In fact, a GM engine of somekind is listed number one by 71percent of our respondents. Fordsaccount for 12 percent; HeavyDuty and Commercial engines ac-count for 8.8 percent; imports for 6percent; Chryslers for 2 percent;and “other engines” for 1 percent.

Each year we ask survey respondents to tell us about their engine building business by break-ing down their operation into fivespecific machining processes –production of short blocks, longblocks, complete engines, cylinderheads (not used on long blocks orcomplete engines) and crankshafts(also not used in long blocks orcomplete engines). When we askedfor the percentage of business ingasoline engines they did in each,we found things to be fairly stablefrom last year – with the exceptionof complete gasoline engines.

Cylinder heads became a biggerpart of the typical shop’s produc-tion. In 2011, this category ac-counted for about 42 percent of thetypical shop’s gas engine produc-tion – this year it’s nearly half.Cylinder head work remains thesingle biggest part but completeengines and heads together ac-count for 73 percent of the typicalrebuilding business.

For diesel engine builders, it’s aslightly different story. Declinesare seen in short blocks, cylinderheads and crankshaft productionnumbers, while complete enginesstayed even with 2011 results.Long blocks saw an increase. Com-plete engines and cylinder headsstill account for 75 percent of totaldiesel engine rebuilding produc-tion numbers.

The national average number ofgas and diesel crankshafts regroundmonthly by the typical CER in-creased in 2012, from 21 units in2011 to 28.5 units in 2012.

Diesel crank production de-creased in 2012 relative to 2011,falling from 4.8 to 3.6 total units permonth. Gasoline crankshaft regrind-ing increased, percentage-wise,

Crankshaft Production Data

RESPONSE 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 INCREASED 16.4% 16.1% 14.8% 9.1% 12.5% REMAINED THE SAME 65.6% 74.2% 55.6% 69.7% 62.5% DECREASED 18.0% 9.7% 29.6% 21.2% 25.0% TOTAL 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 TOTAL NUMBER OF CRANKSHAFTS 4 CYLINDER 7.8 7.3 9.2 6.6 6.6 6 CYLINDER 6.6 6.4 8.5 5.2 5.3 8 CYLINDER 13.4 10.4 9.1 7.4 7.8 OTHER 0.7 0.76 0.65 0.43 0.17 TOTAL 28.5 24.9 27.5 19.6 19.9

CRANKSHAFT PRODUCTIONINCREASES/DECREASES

AVERAGE NUMBER OF GAS AND DIESEL CRANKSHAFTS GROUND PER MONTH IN 2012

2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 GAS CRANKSHAFTS 4 CYLINDER 6.8 6.0 6.5 5.6 5.9 6 CYLINDER 4.6 4.7 5.6 4.0 4.2 8 CYLINDER 13.0 9.0 8.7 6.7 7.2 OTHER 0.5 .036 0.25 0.26 0.09 TOTAL 24.9 20.1 21.05 16.6 17.4 DIESEL CRANKSHAFTS 4 CYLINDER 0.96 1.3 2.7 1.0 0.7 6 CYLINDER 6.6 1.7 2.9 1.2 1.1 8 CYLINDER 0.4 1.4 0.4 0.7 0.6 OTHER 0.22 0.4 0.4 .17 0.08 TOTAL 3.6 4.8 6.4 3.1 2.5

TOTAL AVERAGE NUMBER OF GAS AND DIESEL CRANKSHAFTS GROUND PER MONTH


“CYLINDER HEAD WORK REMAINS THE SINGLE

BIGGEST PART BUT COMPLETE ENGINES AND

HEADS TOGETHER ACCOUNT FOR 73 PERCENT OF

THE TYPICAL REBUILDING BUSINESS.”

“DIESEL CRANK PRODUCTION DECREASED IN 2012RELATIVE TO 2011, FROM 4.8 TO 3.6 PER MONTH”

40-49 MSMP 13 6/19/13 9:02 AM Page 45


Feature

going from just over 20 total unitsproduced monthly during 2011 toalmost 25 total units produced in2012.

These declines are, as we’veseen in other segments, partiallyattributable to the availability ofquality aftermarket components.The increases? We can also pointto quality: well-made productscan be rebuilt and customers don’twant to waste money if they don’thave to.

Cylinder head productionnumbers remained level year-to-year, although gas head produc-tion increased about 3 percent,going from 44 units monthly in2011 to 45 units produced eachmonth last year. V8 cylinder headproduction swung the pendulum;all other categories were down.

Diesel heads rebuilt monthlycontinued last year’s fall. Totaldiesel cylinder head productionfell from 8.1 units rebuilt monthlyin 2011 to 6.8 units in 2012, anoverall 16 percent decrease. Six-cylinder diesel head productionactually increased slightly but allother categories fell.

The percentage of cylinderhead rebuilding that is aluminumincreased in 2012, although notquite back to 2010’s level. Dieselcylinder head rebuilding also re-bounded somewhat last year,though not to the level some expect and many hope.

As with complete engines,General Motors continues to dom-inate in the cylinder head rebuild-ing market, and to an even greaterdegree, according to our surveyrespondents. When asked what

2012 2011 2010 2009 GAS CYLINDER HEADS 4 CYLINDER 14.8 17.1 16.7 13.4 6 CYLINDER 10.0 11.5 8.6 8.0 8 CYLINDER 19.6 12.7 14.9 12.4 OTHER 0.8 2.6 0.78 0.15 TOTAL 45.2 43.9 41.3 36.4 DIESEL CYLINDER HEADS 4 CYLINDER 2.0 2.1 3.9 2.2 6 CYLINDER 3.3 2.9 5.8 2.9 8 CYLINDER 1.2 2.5 2.5 2.1 OTHER 0.3 0.6 0.6 0.3 TOTAL 6.8 8.1 12.8 7.5 TOTAL NUMBER OF CYLINDER HEADS 4 CYLINDER 16.8 19.2 20.6 15.6 6 CYLINDER 13.3 14.4 14.4 10.9 8 CYLINDER 20.8 15.2 18.4 17.0 OTHER 1.1 3.2 1.4 0.45TOTAL 52.0 52.0 54.8 43.9

PERCENT OF CYLINDER HEAD REBUILDINGTHAT IS ALUMINUM

PERCENT NAMING AS NUMBER ONE CYLINDER HEAD REBUILT

AVERAGE NUMBER OF GAS/DIESEL CYLINDER HEADSREBUILT PER MONTH IN 2012

Any Any Any Any HD/ Others GM Import Chrysler Ford Commercial

12%13%

4%

57%

59%

6%

12%

8%9% 6%

3%

9%

Average 2012 51% Average 2011 42% Average 2010 56%

PERCENT OF CYLINDER HEADREBUILDING

THAT IS DIESELAverage 2010 30% Average 2011 16% Average 2012 20%

2012 2011

Cylinder Head Production Data

40-49 MSMP 13 6/19/13 9:02 AM Page 46


47 acyl_Layout 1 6/19/13 9:07 AM Page 47

the number one cylinder head re-built in their shop was, 59 percentnamed a GM product, up from 57percent in 2011.

However, other brands are mak-ing their presence felt as well. Im-port heads are second place with13 percent of shops naming themas their top product. Ford andheavy-duty/commercial sit at 9percent each. Chrysler has made anice recovery – named number 1by 6 percent of respondents,Mopar outshines the “other” category (3 percent).

Just as with complete engines,performance cylinder head workcontinues to be an important com-ponent of the typical shop’s work.When we asked what percentageof total cylinder head production isperformance related, in 2012, almost 97 percent of respondentssaid they do some amount of per-formance cylinder head work.

“Repair before replace” is an increasingly common mantra insome segments of the cylinderhead business. We found that asmaller percentage of diesel headsare being scrapped (although alu-minum heads continue to bescrapped at a higher rate). Whenthey are repaired, rebuilders con-tinue to leave the work to the experts. Our survey results indi-cate that 36 percent of respondentssay they do aluminum cylinderhead crack repairs themselves and35 percent do their own dieselhead repair.

Welding is used as a repairmethod nearly 75 percent of thetime with aluminum cylinderheads and 36 percent of the timewith diesel heads. Pinning remainsthe most-often used method for repairing diesel cylinder heads(done 65 percent of the time) but isused in only one-quarter of thealuminum head repairs.

Equipment suppliers may be thebiggest winners, according to oursurvey respondents. The averageamount spent on shop equipmentin 2012 was $19,327, the most


Feature Shop Equipment Data

SHOP EQUIPMENT PROFILE

AVERAGE AGE OF ALL EQUIPMENT IS 15.5 YEARS IN 2012

PRESENT VALUE (DEPRECIATION INCLUDED) OF YOUR MACHINE SHOP EQUIPMENT

% OF SHOPS AVG. NO. AVG. % LIKELY TO % PURCHASED TYPE OF EQUIPMENT WHO OWN OWNED AGE PURCHASE LAST YR.

Aqueous cleaning 48% 21% 10.2 5.0% 5.0%

Ultrasonic cleaning 21% 2% 7.9 2.0% 2.0%

Solvent cleaning 81% 33% 14.5 2.0% 0.0%

Aluminum head welding 50% 10% 12.7 0.0% 0.0%

Blasting equipment 100% 26% 13.7 5.0% 0.0%

Cam grinder 2% 0% 30.0 0.0% 0.0%

CNC machining center 12% 2% 3.3 2.0% 0.0%

Crack detection 83% 48% 17.1 0.0% 0.0%

Crankshaft grinder 62% 5% 14.2 0.0% 0.0%

Crankshaft polisher 76% 2% 15.7 5.0% 0.0%

Crankshaft straightener 48% 0% 21.4 0.0% 0.0%

Crankshaft welder 21% 0% 19.4 0.0% 0.0%

Cylinder boring bar 88% 21% 18.8 2.0% 0.0%

Cylinder honing machine 90% 14% 18.2 0.0% 0.0%

Dynamometer 24% 2% 10.9 0.0% 0.0%

Electrical testers 21% 12% 13.6 0.0% 0.0%

Engine balancing 55% 0% 18.0 0.0% 0.0%

Flywheel grinder 86% 10% 17.3 0.0% 0.0%

Head/block resurfacer 93% 38% 16.1 0.0% 5.0%

Heat cleaning 48% 10% 12.3 2.0% 0.0%

Lathe 71% 19% 23.3 0.0% 0.0%

Line boring (blocks) 55% 2% 18.0 0.0% 0.0%

Line boring (OHC heads) 26% 0% 14.5 2.0% 0.0%

Micropolishing equip. 19% 2% 15.3 2.0% 0.0%

Pin-fitting & rod recon. 83% 14% 21.1 0.0% 0.0%

Pressure testing 88% 14% 14.3 0.0% 0.0%

Spray washers 81% 17% 11.6 0.0% 2.0%

Valve guide & seat machine 95% 24% 17.7 2.0% 2.0%

Valve refacer 93% 17% 17.2 2.0% 5.0%

Valve seat grinder/cutter 86% 14% 19.4 2.0% 2.0%

Wet blasting/Cleaning 10% 2% 4.0 2.0% 0%

YEAR AVERAGE PERCENT CHANGE 2012 $191,000 -30.7% 2011 $248,905 11.6% 2010 $223,000 24.6% 2009 $179,066 22% 2008 $146,650 -7.3% 2007 $158,135 -11.9%

40-49 MSMP 13 6/19/13 9:02 AM Page 48

we’ve seen in more than fiveyears. The average amount spentin 2011 was $11,274, and contin-ues a very interesting cyclicalpattern. Over the past eightyears, the year following an in-crease shows a correspondingdecline…but the rebound thenext year has been dramatic. Ourexpectation for 2012 equipmentpurchases was that it would beexceptional – next year is likelyto be off somewhat, but it islikely to be higher than the 2008equipment sales level.

Shops indicate that the pres-ent value of their equipment (including depreciation) is over$191,000 and is approximately15.5 years old. 2012 Survey re-spondents say 42 percent of theirpurchases were of new equip-ment and 58 percent of equip-ment was used.

In most cases, shop ownerssay they’re spending more timeperforming many of the neces-sary tasks to doing a completeengine build than last year. Weattribute this to the fact they’rebusier than they’ve been. Ofcourse, new CNC or other up-dated equipment can ease thatlabor burden. Survey respon-dents say likely equipment pur-chases include various types ofcleaning equipment, crankshaftpolishers, CNC machining cen-ters, valve seat and guide serviceequipment as well as other typesof machining equipment. ■

FeatureShop Equipment Data

CATEGORY 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 DISASSEMBLY/CLEANING 17.3% 14.9% 16.7% 17.1% 13.2% BLOCK RESURFACING 6.0% 5.4% 5.5% 6.9% 8.4% CYLINDER BORING 12.4% 12.2% 12.4% 11.0% 12.0% CYLINDER HEAD RESURFACING 15.4% 13.5% 15.6% 15.4% 17.7% VALVE GUIDE AND SEAT WORK 15.5% 13.4% 14.0% 12.6% 15.4% CYLINDER HEAD CRACK REPAIR 2.5% 0.9% 2.0% 2.6% 2.3% CONNECTING ROD RECON 5.7% 5.8% 4.7% 5.8% 5.5% VALVE RECONDITIONING 9.9% 8.7% 10.6% 10.8% 10.0% FLYWHEEL GRINDING 2.6% 4.0% 4.2% 3.9% 5.3% CLUTCH RESURFACING 0.0% 0.6% 0.3% 0.3% 0.4% CRANK GRINDING/POLISHING 4.4% 8.5% 4.8% 5.1% 4.7% CRANKSHAFT WELDING 0.4% 0.7% 0.7% 1.2% 0.2% OTHER 7.6% 11.3% 8.5% 7.3% 4.7%

AVERAGE AMOUNT SPENT ONMACHINE SHOP EQUIPMENT IN 2012

PERCENT CHANGE*

2012 $19,327 71%

2011 $11,274 -38.7%

2010 $18,400 78%

2009 $10,566 -22.8%

2008 $13,684 18.5%

*From previous year

USED58%

NEW42%

PERCENT OF TOTAL PRODUCTION TIME SPENTIN THE FOLLOWING AREAS

PERCENT OF EQUIPMENT PURCHASED THAT IS NEW AND USED


A complete downloadable versionof this report can be found onlineat www.enginebuildermag.com.Part 2 of the Machine Shop MarketProfile – which includes additionalinformation on financial data, employee information and customer base analysis of the typi-cal CER/machine shop comparedto the national average – will bepresented in July.

40-49 MSMP 13 6/19/13 9:02 AM Page 49

The second annualPerformance Engine Builder of the Year Awardwill be presented at a special ceremony during the Advanced EngineeringTechnology Conference (AETC) December 8-11, 2013.

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51 driven_Layout 1 6/19/13 9:07 AM Page 51

What does it take to builda winning engine forSuper Comp drag rac-

ing? The Super Comp drag racingclass runs on a 8.90 time limit,with essentially no rules regard-ing engine displacement, carbu-retion or type ofvehicle. Enginescan burn eithergasoline or alco-hol but no nitroor nitrous. En-gines can benaturally aspirated or boostedwith a blower. Most racers arerunning a single four-barrelDominator-style carburetor, al-though a few are using injectorson their engines.

To be competitive in the SuperComp class, you don’t need thefastest car in the field. In fact,that’s why most of the peoplewho race in this class like SuperComp. The cars that race in thisclass typically hit 165 to 175 mphin the traps, but speeds can

range anywhere from 150 to 190mph. It’s not the speed that mat-ters most – it’s the elapsed time.In Super Comp, you just have tobeat the other guy to the finish

line without breaking out of the8.90 limit. If you run a lower ET,and both racers break out, thenwhoever is closest to the 8.90 timeis the winner.

Super CompDrag RacingThere are no rules for engine size, but enginebuilders should look to build for consistency inthis class

Feat

ure

The majority of vehicles racingin Super Comp are rear enginerail dragsters because they arelightweight, relatively simpleand affordable.


BY TECHNICAL EDITOR LARRY [email protected]

52-57 Super Comp 6/19/13 8:45 AM Page 52

Super Comp is amore affordable al-ternative to some ofthe other drag rac-ing classes where itcan take lots ofpower and lots of bucks to be a winner. In SuperComp, you can be competitive with a 600 to 800 hpengine in a rear engine dragster. Some racers are run-ning upwards of 1,200 hp, but they don’t really needthat much power. In fact, some racers say if a carmakes too much power and is too fast, it makes itharder for the driver to judge his distance to the finishline and the car in the other lane. Ideally, you justwant to nose out the other car at the finish line whilestaying within the 8.90 time limit.

The majority of vehicles racing in Super Comp arerear engine rail dragsters because they are light-weight, relatively simple and affordable. Most of thedragsters are powered by big block Chevys, rangingfrom 509 to 632 cid, although some racers are runningChrysler engines or even small block Chevy V8s. Apopular setup is a 565 cid big block Chevy built toredline at 7,500 rpm while making 900 to 1,000 horse-power.

Charles Linne, president of the Pacific NorthwestSuper Comp Association says his group races at fourdifferent strips and usually averages 15 to 20 competi-tors per event. “You probably need at least 800 horse-power to be competitive in our series but you don’tneed any special tricks to be a winner. It dependsmore on driver skill than the engine or chassis.”

Linne races a Super Comp dragster himself and hashis car dialed in to run consistent 8.90 ETs. “Onceyou’ve established a baseline, you can fine-tune yourcar to run 8.88 to 8.92 consistently.”

Linne says that racing in Super Comp doesn’t re-quire much engine maintenance compared to racers insome of the higher classes such as Comp Eliminatorwho are constantly tearing their engines down and re-placing parts. “I’ll run my engine two seasons beforeI’ll refresh it,” he says.

Linne believes one thing every Super Comp racerneeds is an accurate weather station to monitor tem-

EngineBuilderMag.com 53Circle 53 for more information

Most of the dragsters arepowered by big block Chevys,ranging from 509 to 632 cid,although some racers are run-ning Chrysler engines or evensmall block Chevys.


perature, humidity andbarometric pressure.These are the variablesthat affect engine tuningso you have to knowwhat kind of jetting andtiming changes to makeas the weather changes.

Rich Kwasiborski ofthe Midwest SuperComp Series says a typi-cal Super Comp event ata local track in Illinoiswill usually attract 26 to27 competitors. At anNHRA divisional event,there may be 80 or morecars, and at an NHRAnational Super Compevent, the field is usuallylimited to 140 cars.

“Many racers are nowusing some type of dataacquisition system thatrecords engine rpm,torque converter and dri-veshaft rpm to see if theyare getting too much tireslippage,” says Kwasi-borski. “This kind of in-formation is necessary tohelp them dial in theircars so they will be moreconsistent.”

Kwasiborski saysmost of the dragsters inthe Midwest SuperComp Series are in the900 to 1,000 horsepower

range, turning 7,500 rpmand running 160 to 180mph with 4.10 gears. Theengines are equippedwith one of two kinds ofthrottle stops: under thecarburetor or in-line. Thethrottle is usually CO2operated, which controlshow quickly the throttlecomes on and off. “Youdon’t want all the powerto hit the wheels all atonce; otherwise you’lllose traction,” Kwasi-borski explains.

He says most of theengines are lasting up tothree seasons, thanks tothe fact that most ofthem are being cooled byradiators to keep theheat under control. “Alot of these engines haveradical cams that requirea lot of valve springpressure and strongpushrods, so you have tokeep an eye on the valvesprings and the rollerlifters,” Kwasiborskisays. “But other thanthat, the engines hold upwell.”

General EngineBuilding TipsIf you are building anengine for a customer

54 June 2013 | EngineBuilderCircle 54 for more information

A typical Super Comp event at some localtracks will usually attract 26 to 27 com-petitors. At an NHRA divisional event,there may be 80 or more cars, and at anNHRA national event there could be 140.


who wants to race a Super Compdragster, consistency and reliabil-ity are essential. You want a strongblock (cast iron or aluminum), astrong crankshaft (forged 4340steel), and rods (H-beam) and pis-tons (forged) that can take the pun-

ishment. The top com-pression rings should besteel or ductile iron witha moly facing to with-stand the heat. The compressionratio will depend on the fuel, so ifyour customer wants to run alco-

hol or a high octane racing fuelyou can run more compression.

A leaded racing fuel rated at 107pump octane can typically handlecompression ratios in the 12:1range. Run the engine on 110 pumpoctane leaded racing fuel and thecompression ratio can be bumpedup to 13:1. Use 112 pump octaneracing fuel and the engine can bebuilt with up to a 15:1 compressionratio.

Oxygenated racing fuels cantypically make up to 3 to 7% morepower than leaded racing fuels.The higher the oxygen content of

the fuel, thegreater thepotentialpowergains it candeliver. Anoxygenatedfuel such as

E85 ethanol (85% ethanol and 15%gasoline) typically carries an oc-tane rating of 110 (or 116 for some


FeatureTHIS ISSUE: PG 58 >> Sleeves & Liners PG 64 >> Product Spotlights PG 68 >>Final Wrap

Super Comp doesn’t require muchengine maintenance compared tosome of the higher classes such asComp Eliminator. Racers in Compseem to be constantly tearing en-gines down and replacing parts.



E90 blends). A compression ratioof 14.2:1 works well with E85.

The compression ratio will alsodepend on the size of the combus-tion chamber (small versus large)and valve overlap and timing. Thehigher the compression ratio, thegreater the thermal efficiency ofthe engine and the more power itwill produce.

Camshaft selection will dependon the heads and how muchpower you want to make. You’llneed a cam with a lot of lift andduration if you want to make 800to 1,000 hp, but you don’t have togo crazy with lift, duration andvalve spring pressure. A cam thatdelivers a flatter, broader torquecurve will be easier to race andtune than a cam with a narrowerand peakier torque curve.

A typical cam profile that is ca-pable of producing up to 1,000 hpin a BB Chevy 565 engine wouldbe 283/296 degrees duration at.050” lift, and .824˝/.785˝ of liftwith 1.7 ratio rocker arms.

The roller lifters and pushrodsshould be stout enough to handle

the required valve spring pressurefor up to two racing seasons. Thecam drive system should also bestrong and reliable, and alloweasy cam timing adjustments.

Engine oiling is also critical, soyou want an oil pump that willprovide plenty of oil pressure andflow, and a baffled oil pan to pre-vent the oil from climbing up theback of the pan when the dragsteris accelerating down the strip.

Since the engine is going to beturning a lot of rpms, a good bal-ance job is critical for reliability.

Engine assembly, break in andtuning is like any other perform-ance engine you might build.Make sure everything is thor-oughly lubricated when it goes to-gether, and that the oil system hasbeen primed before the engine isfired up for the first time. ■

For more information aboutdrag racing engine builds,scan the QR code or visit

enginebuildermag.com.

56 June 2013 | EngineBuilderCircle 56 for more information

Super Comp cars typically hit 165 to 175mph in the traps, but speeds can rangeanywhere from 150 to 190 mph. It’s notthe speed that matters most – it’s theelapsed time. You have to beat the otherguy without breaking out of the 8.90 limit.



FeatureTHIS ISSUE: PG 58 >> Sleeves & Liners PG 64 >> Product Spotlights PG 68 >>Final Wrap


Left: Roller cam bearings are a plus in a race engine for a couple of reasons. They can handle very high valve spring pressures betterthan plain bearings, and they help reduce power-robbing friction. Top right: Main bearing clearance is checked by bolting the caps to100 ft.lbs. with the bearings installed, then measuring with a dial bore gauge. Bottom right: The cap on this connecting rod for a 565sportsman engine is torqued to 95 foot-pounds. A bore gauge to measure bearing clearance is then used and the coated bearings areset to .0025˝-.0032˝ clearance . The rods are forged from 4340 steel alloy that has a compact, uniform grain structure for ultimatestrength. The wrist pin and big end bores are honed to a +/-.0002˝. tolerance, and the wrist pins have bronze alloy bushings. (Photos courtesy of Atech Motorsports)

DRAG RACING ENGINE BUILDING TIPS


Ioften hear customers ask aboutthe difference between a sleeveand a liner. It’s an understandable

question. Automotive guys call themsleeves and diesel guys call them lin-ers. And while they may be used forsimilar purposes, the perception ofwhat they do may be very differentamong different groups.

Many automotive enthusiasts un-derstand that sleeves are used in the

repair of damaged cylinder bores in engine blocks or in heavily modifiedfour-cylinder engines for racing. Whilethis may all be true, the fact of the mat-ter is they both are the same. The term“liners” is often used in relation tocylinder bore repair in a diesel engine.Either way, it is still understood to bean item that is machined and insertedinto the engine’s block as a way to repair the cylinder bore.

But, what other way would a sleeveand or a liner be used, other than to re-pair, when dealing with today’s mod-ern power plants?

Most cast iron automotive engineblocks do not require sleeves becausethe iron is hard enough to resist pistonring wear. This is important becausethe purpose of the cylinder is to sealthe piston rings. Over time, as the engine components become worn, a


Sleeves & Liners

The differences may come down to what type of engine you work on

Feat

ure


BY CONTRIBUTING EDITOR BOB [email protected]

58-62 Sleeves 6/19/13 8:43 AM Page 58

rebuild will be inevitable. But cast ironengine blocks allow the cylinders to bebored and oversized pistons installed.The only time that a sleeve is requiredis when the cylinder is cracked or thereis not enough material in the engine’scasting for the cylinder to be bored. Ineither situation, the cylinder that is inneed of repair can be machined for asleeve that will be interference fit,which means that it will need to bepressed into the cylinder block.

The same can be said for mid-sizediesel applications. Diesel blocks areusually thick enough to be machined,so the only time a sleeve should beneeded is when the cylinder is cracked.But diesel engines are also more expen-sive to repair. Most of the time, when adiesel is in need of repairs, it is becausethere is a problem with one or more ofthe cylinder bores. Damage to the borecomes from extreme temperatures thatmay distort – or melt – the pistons.When the piston becomes distorted tothis extreme, it will gall the cylinderbore leaving melted aluminum behind.Generally this is referred to as a “burnt

hole,” and in most instances is found inonly one cylinder. The engine block canbe machined to accept a replacementsleeve, repairing the bad cylinder andrequiring only one replacement piston,saving the rest of the block.

Of course, engines aren’t only madefrom cast iron. Today, even daily driv-ers have lightweight aluminum engineblocks. These aluminum blocks aremanufactured with a “cast-in-place”dry sleeve, in which the cylinder sleeveis placed into the mold when the alu-minum cast is poured to form thecylinder block. This can be a very cost-effective design, but can restrict the po-tential of the engine’s power. Thissleeve design will be perfectly reliablefor the purpose it was designed, butfrankly, it typically won’t be able totake the stress it would face in a highhorsepower environment.

One example of this is the GM LS1.The factory sleeves may not be able totake the heat in some high-perfor-mance applications.

Another method used to producesome production aluminum engines is

to use no sleeves at all. Instead, the alu-minum cylinders are coated with anickel silicone alloy or some other spe-cial plasma coatings that resist wearand offer longevity, durability and aimproved ring seal.

Sleeve ConstructionMost sleeve manufacturers today formsleeves by a centrifugal casting process.Molten metal is poured into a rotatingmold in which the centrifugal forcedrives the material toward the walls asthe mold fills. The finished sleeve iseasy to machine and offers greatstrength and durability compared toductile iron. Sleeve manufacturers offera wide range of bore diameters rangingfrom 2” to 8.5” that can range up to 24”in length. Sleeve thicknesses are avail-able from 3/32” and 1/8” for bores upto 5-1/8”. For some special applica-tions, sleeve wall thicknesses of 1/16”and 2mm can be achieved.

Special iron alloys are used for eachmanufacturer’s castings. Each has beenformulated to provide the supplier’sideal blend for ease of installation with


FeatureTHIS ISSUE: PG 26 >> Performance Diesel Guide PG 41 >> MSMP Part 1 PG 63 >> Product Spotlights


58-62 Sleeves 6/19/13 8:43 AM Page 59

trouble-free boring. The sleeves containalloys found in today’s plated cylin-ders that will not peel or flake. Thesealloys offer superior tensile strengthwith efficient and quick heat transfer.

Fit and FinishOne thing that needs to be addressed isthe thermal efficiency of a sleeve andthe type of block into which it is in-stalled. It all comes down to interfer-ence fit. Because sleeves are flangeless,a tight fit keeps the sleeve from movingup and down in the bore when the en-gine reaches operating temperature.

When a sleeve is installed into a castiron block, the process is fairly simpleand effective. The sleeve, which ismostly constructed of ductile iron, ispressed into the cast iron block. Whenpressing a sleeve into an iron block,there needs to be an interference fit be-tween .0015” to .002”. As the engineoperates under normal conditions, thecast iron sleeve can transfer heat fromthe cylinder into the cast iron of the en-gine’s block. Coolant is circulated

through the engine block and sur-rounds the cylinders to effectively re-move heat from the installed sleeve.

However, cast iron and aluminumdissipate heat differently, due to a dif-ferent rate of expansion. For an alu-minum block, there needs to be aninterference fit of .003” to .004”.

When a sleeve is installed into analuminum cylinder block is where apotential problem can begin. In an alu-minum block, heat may be removedfrom the aluminum cylinder block butnot properly transferred from the castiron sleeve into the aluminum bore.The sleeved cylinder can overheat,causing damage to the piston and ringsbecause of this poor heat dissipationbetween the different alloys.

It’s very important to understandwhen installing a sleeve, that the engine block must be machined asround and straight as possible. Con-centricity is very important to elimi-nate bore distortion. Most sleeves arevery accurate in outside bore dimen-sions. If the block is not truly accurate

by being bored round and straight andthe sleeve is pressed in, piston clear-ance and ring seal will become a prob-lem. If there is a poor fit with a lot ofgaps, the sleeve can run the risk ofmoving up and down in the bore. Also,if there are gaps from poor machining,there will be hot spots in the cylinderfrom poor heat dissipation into the en-gine block.

Wet SleevesWhen it comes to dealing with engineblocks like GM’s LS engine with thecast-in-place sleeve, replacement canbe a problem. If the original sleeve be-comes worn, the cast-in-place sleevewill have to be machined out. Whenyou do this, there will not be enoughmaterial to support a replacementsleeve. The alternatives are to machineout the cylinders entirely and convertthe block to a wet sleeve design.

Heavy-duty diesel engines have al-ways integrated a wet sleeve design,often referred to as a liner. The liner caneasily be understood as a removable


Feature


58-62 Sleeves 6/19/13 8:43 AM Page 60

cylinder bore. In a diesel engine, theliner is designed with a flange at thetop that fits into the deck of the cylin-der block. There are no cylinder wallsin the cylinder block; the liner is thecylinder wall. On the outside of the

liner, there are machined recesses at thetop and bottom that house rubber O-rings. These rubber O-rings seal theliner at the topand bottom ofthe engine

block from coolant leaks. This allowsengine coolant to pass around thecylinder liner to remove heat from the

pistons and rings yet notleak coolant into the oil panor cylinder head.

The rebuild process of aheavy-duty diesel engine istypically referred to as an“in-frame” rebuild, becausemost of the time, new com-

ponents such as bearings, gaskets, pis-tons and rings can be installed withoutengine removal. The frame of the vehi-cle is simply used as the engine stand.During the in-frame, once the pistonsand rings are removed from the cylin-der, a special tool is used to pull the lin-ers out of the engine block. When newliners are installed, they come alreadyfitted with new pistons, connectingrods, and rings ready to be insertedinto the cylinder block. Most heavy-duty rebuild kits come with internalcomponents pre-fit and ready for in-stallation for the application so there isno need for liner boring or piston fit-ment.


FeatureTHIS ISSUE: PG 26 >> Performance Diesel Guide PG 41 >> MSMP Part 1 PG 63 >> Product Spotlights


Heavy-duty diesel engines havealways integrated a wet sleevedesign, often referred to as aliner. The liner is designed witha flange at the top that fits intothe deck of the cylinder block.

58-62 Sleeves 6/19/13 8:43 AM Page 61

If your application is for hardcoreperformance or a severe-duty, a designhas been invented that allows you tomachine the block to accept a patentedsleeve design known as Modular Inte-grated Design (MID). In the MIDprocess, the block is machined so thesleeves can be siamesed and nestedinto the block to form a solid deck sur-face. The sleeve flanges are held in ten-sion, reinforcing the upper deck area.The beauty of this design is not onlystrength, but each sleeve can be re-placed if needed. Each sleeve is fittedtogether by integrating them side-by-side to lock in the entire cylinder block.

The sleeves are a wet design justlike a diesel in which water flowsaround the sleeve and not the cylinderblock. This wet design promotes waterflow from the block to the cylinderhead to give stability to the cooling sys-tem. There is also water flow aroundthe flange of the sleeve by ported waterflow called Swirl Coolant Technology.

The MID process has a specificsleeve design for each engine applica-

tion. For each engine design, the manu-facturer will model the sleeve accord-ing to cylinder head and combustionchamber shape, with increased waterflow to areas that are subject to themost heat. Heat transfer will also be directed to a set of “registered fins” in-tegrated into the sleeve for the applica-tion. While heat can be translated intoenergy, high resident heat in the com-bustion chamber can lead to detona-tion. A range of MID sleeve designsthat cover many performance applica-tions is available.

Keep several things in mind whenthinking about sleeves and liners.Whether their purpose is going to berepairing an OE application or to go allout in the restructuring of the engineblock, they have to be able to perform anumber of tasks. They should be con-centric in shape to offer good ring sealand wear resistance. The sleeve or linerwill need to be manufactured with analloy that is going to provide an anti-galling property that will offer a slidingsurface for the rings and be able retain

lubricant and transfer heat. Therefore, when needing to install

either of the two, you will need to con-sider the application as to what thesleeve or liner will be used for and thework you’ll have to do to install them.It may not be a simple process, but itcan give an old block new life. ■

Very special thanks to the companiesthat contributed to this report: DartonSleeves (www.dartonsleeves.com); IPDParts (www.ipdparts.com); L.A. Sleeves(www.lasleeve.com); and Melling EngineParts (www.melling.com). For more infor-mation on cylinder sleeves or liners, visitEngine Builder online (www.enginebuil-dermag.com) and search for articles andtech bulletins. Or access our exclusiveonline Buyers Guidefor additional prod-uct and contact information. Scanthis QR code to godirectly to the page.


Feature

Circle 62 for more information Circle 63 for more information

58-62 Sleeves 6/19/13 8:43 AM Page 62


Product Sp

otlights

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Engine Pro High PerformanceConnecting Rods

Engine Pro H-Beam Connecting Rods areforged from 4340 steel and produced onCNC machinery. They are finished in theU.S. to ensure precise big-end and pin-endbore sizes. Rods are magnafluxed, heattreated, stress relieved, shot peened andsonic tested to ensure they provide thestrength required for high horsepower ap-plications. Engine Pro connecting rodsequipped with standard 8740 bolts are ratedfor up to 700 horsepower in small blocks,and 850 horsepower in big block applica-tions. Visit, www.goenginepro.com.

Engine ProPhone: 800-ENGINE-1www.goenginepro.com

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Ultra Double PumpersHolley’s Ultra Double Pumpers arenow available with a manual choke.The Ultra Double Pumper carbure-tors feature all aluminum construc-tion and are equipped withmetering blocks and a base platemade from 6061–T6 billet alu-minum. These carburetors comewith a tumble-polished aluminumbody with three anodized color op-tions (Red, Blue, or Black) for thebase plate and metering blocks.They are also available in the popu-lar Hardcore Gray hard coat an-odized finish. The all-aluminumconstruction makes them approxi-mately 5 lbs. less than a comparablezinc carburetor.

Holley Performance ProductsPhone: 270-781-9741www.holley.com

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Product Sp

otlights

Web-Based Valvetrain Parts Catalog

SBI has released a Web-based version ofits acclaimed catalog in order to provideusers with real-time updates on additionsto the company’s line of replacement val-vetrain parts for close to 3,000 applica-tions divided among late-model domesticand import passenger car, light truck,performance, marine, agricultural, heavy-duty and forklift/industrial. The catalogalso features listings of K-Line BronzeBullet-brand valve guide liners and mis-cellaneous K-Line tooling stocked by SBI,Exclusive Master Distributor for K-Line.Based on SBI’s CD-ROM catalog, the SBIWeb-based catalog allows the user tosearch the database by part type/partnumber, vehicle type, engine manufac-turer, or specific engine and make codes.

S.B. InternationalPhone:1-800-THE-SEATwww.sbintl.com

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High Volume Oil Pumps

Orbit performance oil pumps are designedwith high output and volume capabilitiesrequired for high RPM engines. The gero-tors are precision machined from steel-copper alloy (FCO205), an exceptionallydurable metal that assures dependabilityand durability. Tight housing and gerotortolerances provide optimum pressure andflow requirements. Housings are die castDC-12 aluminum and are anodized to pre-vent corrosion. All pumps are individuallyinspected and tested. Passenger carpumps are equivalent to OEM design, en-gineering and metallurgy to meet or ex-ceed original equipment specifications.Present applications include nine applica-tions (three performance and six passen-ger car); new applications will be added.

ACL DistributionPhone: 800-847-5521www.orbitoilpumps.com

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ores

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

USED AND REBUILT EQUIPMENTCBN TOOLING:WE RESHARPEN

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

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To Advertise in

CLASSIFIEDS!

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

[email protected]

66-67 Class-Cores 6/19/13 8:40 AM Page 66


Classified

/Cores

Need Reprints?Call

Tina Purnellat 330-670-1234, ext. 243

Advertiser IndexCOMPANY NAME PAGE # CIRCLE #

AAPEX 11 11

ACL Distribution 23 23

American Cylinder Head, Inc. 47 47

Apex Automobile Parts 7 7

ARP/Automotive Racing Products Inc 31 31

Atech Motorsports 10 10

Automotive Service Equipment 37 37

Avon Automotive Products 58 58

Bill Mitchell Products 56 50

Brad Penn Lubricants 6 6

Chrysler Group LLC 8 8

Cloyes Gear & Products Inc. 27 27

Cometic Gaskets 56 56

Comp Performance Group 19 19

Comp Performance Group 55 55

Dailey Engineering 25 25

Dakota Parts Warehouse 25 12

Dart Machinery Ltd 54 54

Darton International 6 4

Diamond Racing Products

/Trend Performance 16 16

Dipaco Inc. 34 34

DNJ Engine Components 1 1

Driven Racing Oil, LLC 51 51

Edelbrock Corp 13 13

Engine & Performance Warehouse 17 17

Engine Parts Group 15 15

Engine Parts Warehouse 59 59

ESCO Industries 62 62

Goodson Mfg Co 18 18

GRP Connecting Rods 61 61

Henkel Corp 9 9

Holley Performance Products 53 53

Injector Experts 62 63

King Electronics 10 14

Liberty Engine Parts 4, 5 5

Mahle Motorsports 35 35

Melling Engine Parts 21 21

Packard Industries 60 60

PAI Industries Inc 12 12

Permatex Inc Cover 3 69

PowerBore Cylinder Sleeves 33 33

Pro Cam/Baker Engineering 24 24

PRW Industries Inc 31,36,38 31,36,38

Quality Power Products 29 29

Rottler Manufacturing Cover 4 72

Safety Auto Parts Corp 41 41

SB International 3 3

Scat Enterprises Cover 2 2

Schumann's Sales & Service, Inc. 22 22

T & D Machine Products 57 57

66-67 Class-Cores 6/19/13 8:41 AM Page 67


Fina

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

Senior Executive EditorBrendan Baker, ext. [email protected]

Tech EditorLarry [email protected]

Group PublisherJeff Stankard, ext. [email protected]

Graphic DesignerNichole Anderson, ext. 232 [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 RepresentativesRoberto [email protected], ext. 233

David [email protected] ext. 210

Bobbie [email protected], ext. 238

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

Karen [email protected], ext. 295

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

For almost 30 years now, EngineBuilder has been asking the pro-fessionals in this industry about

business. We ask you for detailed infor-mation on how much you charge, howmuch you make, how much you spendand how much you have left over.

We compile all of this informationinto several different reports eachyear – in this issue, for example, Part 1of our annual Machine Shop MarketProfile is presented. Next month, we’llmake Part 2 available. Our annualLabor Costing Studies look at howmuch – on average – the industrycharges to work on the Late ModelHemi or a Ford Zetec or the Navistar7.3L diesel.

The average is very important to us,because it gives us (and you) a nice,statistical snapshot of this industry The10,000-foot view, if you will, lets us seethings in broad strokes and provide information that will benefit the whole.

What’s important to remember, ofcourse, is that each of these data pointsis an individual. Like a Georges-PierreSeurat painting (or one of those coolphoto mosaic posters that catch youreye at the mall) a close inspection of the

total picture yields some very colorfulstories.

We’ve met a lot of great people attrade shows and industry events andbelieve me – meeting you, hearingfrom you by phone, email or evengood old fashioned U.S. Mail (yes, theystill deliver that to our offices) – eachindividual character adds a level of detail to the big picture.

Our profiles of shop owners and operators allow us to share your sto-ries, with the assumption that we canall learn something from others’ expe-rience. Shops seem to be more willingthan ever to share details of their busi-ness practices in order to help their fellow industry colleagues – a risingtide raises all ships.

The details are vitally important inyour business of course. Specs and tol-erances must be maintained in order toproduce the highest quality product. Inour business, details are just as impor-tant. I will admit that we went out ofspec recently, which has led to someconfusion.

In April’s issue, we failed to givecredit where credit is due with regardto the photos and comments in Larry

Carley’s article on Performance Gas-kets and Surface Finishes. Thanks torepresentatives from Fel-Pro/Federal-Mogul, MAHLE Clevite, MagnumGaskets and Apex Automobile Parts.

We also failed to give proper creditfor the photography that accompaniedthe article. MAHLE Clevite suppliedsome informative illustrations aboutcoatings on MLS gaskets, and Fel-Pro/Federal-Mogul contributed sev-eral photos, including the openingphoto of an MLS gasket with its propri-etary LaserWeld Technology. This tech-nology has been used in a 3,300 hp BigBlock Chevy.

We apologize for the oversight. Ourgoal is zero defects, and we didn’t hitthe mark.

Your knowledge and experience arevaluable resources and we appreciatethe confidence you place in us.

Please let us know if you have sug-gestions for markets, technical issues orengines we should be addressing inprint or online. As we refine our aimmoving forward, we’ll continue tocount on you, the individual, to help uscraft a product that is of value to thewhole. ■

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/EDITOR Doug [email protected]

Knowing You,Knowing MeIn total, this is a great industry;Individually, you’re even better

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eb june 2013

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