The new HOT ROD (May) has an excellent article on Poteet's LS based Dart head and block engine. It details ever aspect of the engine including spec, clearance and manufactures. Also discloses the problems they found the fix for. Anyone with just a couple hundred thousand $ could take the info in this story and easily replicate the results. I literally can't believe the detailed info for anyone that can read. Kenny Duttweiler, the Rembrandt of land speed
Hi Racergeo,
I'm not trying to upset anybody with this post, I'm just trying to inject a bit of reality about the process of "building racing engines". Racing engines are, for the most part, simple and reliable lumps of machinery. But they are "sensitive" to certain conditions, and respond poorly to some types of "abuse".
IMO, and I've been doing this a long time, there is little to no danger to the efforts of Mr. Poteet, Mr. Main, or Mr. Duttweiler in this situation. "Revealing your secrets" in a magazine article, is a far cry from "coherent duplication". The article may provide a reasonable "road map" for other "professionals", but does little for the average "enthusiast", except to provide fodder for bar room "discussion".
My reasoning is thus:
A/ "Anyone with a couple of hundred thousand dollars . . ." Possession of the parts, does not predicate knowledge of the "complete" process . . . .
2/ Magazine articles of this nature typically are "incomplete". I have never seen an article where "every last detail" was printed . . . . . and trust me, much is left out.
d/ Readers do NOT get: Mr. Duttweiler's experience or work ethic from the magazine article. The ability of "consummate professionals" is often under-rated, IMHO . . . . .
And finally:
A statement I have heard often is: "I can build an engine as good as anybody." To which my response (on a diplomatic day) might be: "Well, uhhmm, NO, you can't."
My reasons:
1/ Enthusiast built engines, seldom achieve target bhp. Various reasons for these "phenomena", but most often it is lack of attention to details, such as:
a/ Unrealistic expectations (this could be a book . . . .)
b/ Properly timing the cam(s)
c/ Properly calculating compression ratio
d/ Properly measuring clearances
e/ Properly tensioning fasteners
f/ Lack of investment in the actual time required to perform a task properly (ie: rush job)
2/ Lack of proper tools for the above, lack of tool maintenance, lack of tool certification, improper use of these tools . . . . .
3/ Wrong attitude about the actual responsibility of checking every last detail of the assembly.
I could go on and on, but I'll spare everyone and stop by saying this: After "enthusiast built" engines perform poorly on the dyno, the company I work for gets hired to fix them.
Fordboy