Well, the "K"'s still in the queue. Steve has been sick twice since the first of the year, but there's a bit of "misery loves company" comfort in knowing he also has a customer with a Mercruiser engine in his shop that has been there longer than mine. Just like the crank, I'm confident I'll see it eventually, and given his reputation, I expect nothing short of a stellar job.
If nothing else, this sport has caused me to develop patience. And honestly, it's been well rewarded, I think.
I'm having some fun with the EnginePro software, and a new product I received from SpeedTalk - Controlled Induction.
The CI program is an interesting camshaft prediction tool. You enter the parameters, and it gives you an optimized cam profile.
I started questioning whether or not it was effective when it predicted 158 hp with 278 degrees and .262 effective intake lift.
Yeah, the head breathes pretty well, and there are 4 valves per cylinder, but I suspect I'll need a bit more than 1/4" lift.
And until I can verify that number, I'm disinclined to sink money into a custom pair of camshafts.
I also did a couple of engine iterations with data I remembered off of the top of my head. Most of the information had been "archived" on Photobucket - a service I have since dumped. Yes, I downloaded all of the photos before I ditched the account.
One of the reasons I posted so much of the information on this diary was to have easy access to the information both Fordboy and I have put out to everyone. But now that the information has been ransomed - a demand from Photobucket for $399.00/year to receive 3rd party hosting privileges - I've been forced to search out all of the hard copies I have in order to input information into the program.
So far, using an existing Piper cam profile, I'm looking at 125 hp potential. Would be nice to use off-the-shelf parts for a change - even if the shelf is half way around the world.
I'm really looking forward to seeing Neil's Manta and the Shimmer and Son lakester. While I do wish I had a car ready to race this year, not racing has a strong appeal to me. I get to see the big picture again. It's just too cool.
See ya'll in a few weeks.