Establishing engine redline

Steve,

to establish red-line, start the motor & let it thoroughly warm up. Then carefully watching the tachometer, slowly depress the gas pedal, increasing the motors rpm. Keep an eye on the tach. Continue slowly increasing rpm until the motor SEIZES! Subtract 15% from the highest rpm you achieved before the motor seized, and establish that value as your red line!

lol....George

That is a perfect example of hindsight!

It's like when your tightening that bolt... a little more, a little more, a litt SNAP! Ok, I guess that was enough.

Michael

I was helping a guy at work a couple years ago who was having a hard time keeping up with life. He drove an old Ford Escort (less than a $500 car). He overheated it and warped a head. He has no mechanical ability. Together (mostly me with him handing me tools) we removed the head, had the crack repaired, and had it planned.

When we went to put the head back on I was torqing the heads. On one bolt, the torq values climbed then just before reaching their peak value they started dropping (bolt was just begining to strip). I dropped back fast. I said "don't touch that one!".

He drove it for another couple years that way until it was finally hauled off to the junk yard. He couldn't even sell it. I think the tax man had the title! LOL

Here we go, getting off topic.

An old mechanics joke about torquing bolts:

How do you know how much torque to apply to a bolt?

tighten the bolt until it gets loose again, then back off 1/4 turn!

an old mechanic, George

Sounds like its by guess and by golly!

Well, It certainly isn't a Porsche, but even a Ford should be able to spin to 6000.

Hope I don't prove myself wrong!

It will spin 6K no problem, unless something is wrong, the motor will tell you when it feels bad, trust me. Just listen to it.

your friendly neighborhood motor psychologist, George