quote:Originally posted by mike the snake:
All of this goes completely against what my common sense tells me, which is tear the engine down and rebuild it, but I just don't have the time, money, or tools to do that job presently.
Well, this is one of the issues with this kind of an engine on the street. The owner.
People just don't get what it means that they (race engines) are subject to unique, separate and individual issues?
This isn't a new story. In fact it's getting kind of old.
Back in the "olden days" if you happen to buy a "race car" from Shelby, you got the stock, as Ford built 289hp, AND YOU put in YOUR OWN race engine.
This eliminated the possibility of hard feelings between Shelby and the new owner over a broken and expensive race engine.
There isn't a shred of doubt on my part, and probably a lot of other people here, that for all intents and purposes this is a FULLY CLAPPED OUT RACE ENGINE, "with all the rights and privileges". It's going to act like one AND BREAK LIKE ONE. GET OVER IT BECAUSE IT WILL BREAK AGAIN! Period.
IT IS NOT GOING TO EXPERIENCE THE SAME LONGEVITY AS A "PRODUCTION ENGINE".
Having said that, NOW you do what every race team would do here, which Roger did, clean all the mess out, put in a new part, and get on with it. I like to think of that as "the first day of the rest of my life." It's just life with an engine like this. It IS a HARSH REALITY.
You put big ugly magnets on this thing to trap the shrapnel that gets loose and when the engine gets to the point where the peripheral damage gets too extensive, you build another one OR put in the spare that you have ready waiting in the wings simply because "you" understood all of this and expect that will happen at some point, sooner or later?
This engine has the same likeliness of surviving that you will "go through one "race" season" on one engine as an "iceberg in Hell" has a chance of surviving.
All that stuff about, "modern roller lifter camshafts being dependable and having the bugs worked out"...well where is it? Doesn't matter this is a rocker arm and not a lifter. LUCKY FOR YOU that's all it is and NOT a lifter!
Like you said, this is a "race engine", but you already knew this before you bought the car right?
