It's a wrap !!!

There was a little debate about the pros and cons of wrapping headers.....

Of course, as with every gearhead discussion, things can quickly get out of order...........Last I heard was "I don't want to have a fire hazard in my engine bay"   Trust me, I put fire to this thing, it does not burn.   Any how, after talking to our experts and getting some info from the net,  this makes sense:

PERFORMANCE:  The goal of headers is to make it easier for the engine to push exhaust gases out of the cylinders.

TEMPERATURE:
The titanium wrap will keep the hot air inside the header, allowing for cooling air intake:  cooler intake produces more horsepower, as cooler air contains more oxygen, which aids the burning process in the cylinder.  Wrapped headers can reduce the under hood temperatures significantly.

VELOCITY:
In theory, wrapped headers help contain the heat, making the exhaust gases move more rapidly away from the engine and towards the exhaust pipe.  This increased exhaust velocity increases potential horsepower by evacuating the cylinder more quickly and allowing the piston to move upward with less resistance.

 SCAVENGING:

The gases velocity also helps with the scavenging, or the removal of combustion waste from the cylinder more efficiently.  This makes for a cleaner and faster burn of the mixture of fuel and air on the next piston stroke. 

all geared up....

Man !!  why is it taking so long.......

Well,  let me explain;  Some people call themselves gear heads, or weekend wrenchers,  they love that kind of stuff.....

I don't ,  we are just good at it, and on top of that, a really good deal came on this six speed transmission came along,  how can you say no,  limited slip, steel synchros on first, second, third and forth and geared to do 200 mph with no problems,  this thing was built for racing, and/or going on a trip to the Sin City.

Now, let's clean the air that is going to be forced into the turbos

Space is becoming very scarce once more elements go into this engine bay,  at this point we have to use flex 3 inch hose to be able to maneuver around  the other items that were invited to this party.  It won't be long.........

Hang them high..

Or they might hit the ground....

Well, we finally made some serious progress on the ex Targa,  it  has been a slow process due to the invention of certain things, many non stock items have been added to made this twin turbo a special one.

But first we gave it a new hat and a pair of shoes.
Finding a manual top now days seems a difficult task, in the end we have to modify an electric one and made  it work with the Targa locks.

Finding the right wheels is always a headache, wheels can make your car, or it can trash it,  lucky for the master of this beast, we had the opportunity of looking at different options thanks to a few of our customers that were nice enough to let us try their shoes on.

But the sweetest thing is that the turbos are being hung and that means,  we are past the Ecuador of this reinvention, we are on the other side of half.  When turbos are positioned it is easy to know when the rest of the piping will go.........Let's cut some tubes.....................

The reunion

These two air cooled turbos have not been in the shop since National Geographic Channel aired the episode of "Break it Down"

I was surprised to see them arrive almost at the same time.

 What was called the 75 Beast on National TV came to get a few adjustments and details, and we gave it new HID eyes, and LED bulbs all around, some details around the fog lamps to jazz it up a bit. we also install a high efficiency cooler fan with thermo control unit to make sure oil stay at temperature, even in heavy traffic, after all,   .......this is L. A.

Big red has been quiet  since its TV debut, but now it's ready to play and we have to give it the toys to do so.

A manual boost controller to start, so if you are in need of more boost, just press play.

A couple of electrical Gremlins were running rogue behind the gauges giving the tach and speedo a hard time..........but it's all better now.

Oh ! and the white leather interior got a good scrubbing to get so white as driven snow.

I you haven't seen our cameo on the Nat Geo Channel, feel free...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pa1-1WtoRM

When it's all .....LOBE....

 I remember when I was a kid in school, if I had homework, I would have to convince some friends to come with me to the library and then try to get there before other 50 kids with the same assignment get the one book...........decades later, there is Wikipedia.  So, lets talk cams: if your heads need more air to create more power, the valves' timing of the duration of the lift, has something to do with it, it's a "lobe" affair.

History

An early cam was built into Hellenistic water-driven automata from the 3rd century BC. The camshaft was later described in Iraq (Mesopotamia) by Al-Jazari in 1206. He employed it as part of his automata, water-raising machines, and water clocks such as the castle clock. The cam and camshaft later appeared in European mechanisms from at least the 14th century, or possibly earlier.

Uses

In internal combustion engines with pistons, the camshaft is used to operate poppet valves. It then consists of a cylindrical rod running the length of the cylinder bank with a number of oblong lobes protruding from it, one for each valve. The cams force the valves open by pressing on the valve, or on some intermediate mechanism as they rotate.

Automotive

Material

Camshafts can be made out of several different types of material. These include:

Chilled iron castings: this is a good choice for high volume production. A chilled iron camshaft has a resistance against wear because the camshaft lobes have been chilled

Billet Steel: When a high quality camshaft is required, engine builders and camshaft manufacturers choose to make the camshaft from steel billet. This method is also used for low volume production. This is a much more time consuming process, and is generally more expensive than other methods. However the finished product is far superior.

Timing

The relationship between the rotation of the camshaft and the rotation of the crankshaft is of critical importance. Since the valves control the flow of air/fuel mixture intake and exhaust gases, they must be opened and closed at the appropriate time during the stroke of the piston. For this reason, the camshaft is connected to the crankshaft. In a two-stroke engine that uses a camshaft, each valve is opened once for each rotation of the crankshaft; in these engines, the camshaft rotates at the same rate as the crankshaft. In a four-stroke engine, the valves are opened only half as often; thus, two full rotations of the crankshaft occur for each rotation of the camshaft.

The timing of the camshaft can be advanced to produce better low end torque or it can be retarded to produce better high end torque.

Duration

Duration is the number of crankshaft degrees of engine rotation during which the valve is off the seat. As a generality, greater duration results in more horsepower. The RPM at which peak horsepower occurs is typically increased as duration increases at the expense of lower rpm efficiency (torque).

Duration can often be confusing because manufacturers may select any lift point to advertise a camshaft's duration and sometimes will manipulate these numbers. The power and idle characteristics of a camshaft rated at .006" will be much different than one rated the same at .002".

Many performance engine builders gauge a race profile's aggressiveness by looking at the duration at .020", .050" and .200". The .020" number determines how responsive the motor will be and how much low end torque the motor will make. The .050" number is used to estimate where peak power will occur, and the .200" number gives an estimate of the power potential.

A secondary effect of increase duration is increasing overlap, which is the number of crankshaft degrees during which both intake and exhaust valves are off their seats. It is overlap which most affects idle quality, inasmuch as the "blow-through" of the intake charge which occurs during overlap reduces engine efficiency, and is greatest during low RPM operation. In reality, increasing a camshaft's duration typically increases the overlap event, unless one spreads lobe centers between intake and exhaust valve lobe profiles.

Lift

The camshaft "lift" is the resultant net rise of the valve from its seat. The further the valve rises from its seat the more airflow can be realized, which is generally more beneficial. Greater lift has some limitations. Firstly, the lift is limited by the increased proximity of the valve head to the piston crown and secondly greater effort is required to move the valve's springs to higher state of compression. Increased lift can also be limited by lobe clearance in the cylinder head construction, so higher lobes may not necessarily clear the framework of the cylinder head casing. Higher valve lift can have the same effect as increased duration where valve overlap is less desirable.

Higher lift allows accurate timing of airflow; although even by allowing a larger volume of air to pass in the relatively larger opening, the brevity of the typical duration with a higher lift cam results in less airflow than with a cam with lower lift but more duration, all else being equal. On forced induction motors this higher lift could yield better results than longer duration, particularly on the intake side. Notably though, higher lift has more potential problems than increased duration, in particular as valve train rpm rises which can result in more inefficient running or loss or torque.

Cams that have too high a resultant valve lift, and at high rpm, can result in what is called "valve bounce", where the valve spring tension is insufficient to keep the valve following the cam at its apex. This could also be as a result of a very steep rise of the lobe and short duration, where the valve is effectively shot off the end of the cam rather than have the valve follow the cams’ profile. This is typically what happens on a motor over rev. This is an occasion where the engine rpm exceeds the engine maximum design speed. The valve train is typically the limiting factor in determining the maximum rpm the engine can maintain either for a prolonged period or temporarily. Sometimes an over rev can cause engine failure where the valve stems become bent as a result of colliding with the piston crowns.

What a head case !!

 Every one knows that oxygen is what gives you life, gives you power.......

The expression "walking on thin air" is only true to humans, our interaction with air give us the impression that it is almost non-existent, but only because we move so slow,  actually, some slower that others.

A fast moving object can find air a difficult substance to maneuver through,  what can give you speed and power can also chock you and slow you down...................breath baby, breath.

Most engines denied themselves the horsepower simply by the lack of air,  stock cylinder heads are usually suboptimal, sometimes due to design or manufacturing restrains.

I got three words for you:  Porting, porting, porting.
Improving the flow of air through the heads will bring any engine to its highest level of efficiency.  More air, more power;  After all, can you run a marathon with something stuffed up your nose ???


A stock factory turbo came at 265 hp, if we can modify the intake and exhaust ports  of the internal combustion and improve the quality and the quantity of the air flow.....

We can improve the wild ponies driving Big Red away...

and when the Boss flow bench those heads.....................................stay tuned.

Out of body experience

 It seems like our movie star is going to collect one more part, one very important part.

All that running around making his presence felt has left him clutch less, his powerband does not surpass the 400hp, pity, that is where the fun is.

So up we go, it's time to let doctor operate.

 The "while you're there" bug always pays a visit and the temptation of adding a few more things is gaining momentum, a limited slip and alcohol injection have been on the wish list, who knows, maybe we can proceed to check out

 In the meantime, let's add some real clamping power and keep the rubber on the ground.  We had one our vendors build us a dual face Kevlar disc and a heavy duty pressure plate.......that ought to work out your leg muscles.  I don't think my chicken legs can handle that.

When this ride was called the 75 beast on TV, it really didn't show how wild of a beast it really is,  but here you can see it in all it's nakedness,  intercoolers stayed on the car of course, the twins breath through 3 inch pipes and their oil feed get monitored, as well as the engine pressure by mechanical gauges....it's a Hot Rod kind of thing.

It is still using the stock fuel rails and pressure regulators, so we also monitor the fuel the same way.

We may have to add something to the wish list......

I

Experience the acceleration



  In the always exciting world of turbos, we are about to get our feet wet.

In years past, one nagging problem, at least for me, was the limitation of the position of the turbo charger.

cast wheel...billet wheel...billet wheel with air diffuser

Things are about to change,  new technologies developed at Comp Turbo are going to allow us more flexibility, we are about to go "OIL LESS"  just a few more details and our client will be able to drive without sump hanging down from the turbo.  We will keep you updated.

Santa came earlier.........

FROM COMP TURBO TECHNOLOGIES:

Comp Turbo X-HF billet compressor wheel

After intense research and development the X-HF billet compressor wheel design flows 15-20% more air flow than prior impeller designs. The X-HF line is machined from high grade billet aluminum for durability and lower inertia. Comp Turbo X-HF line is the most advanced compressor wheel design and was engineered for maximum performance output.

For more info on the new turbos available visit:  http://www.compturbo.com/

Two down.....several to go....

 Let's close the gate, time to go home......-What a challenging week we had....................-what do you mean????......................-Have you ever had an easy week at this place??........True, there are times it seems like it is as busy as an emergency room,  we have to patch things, cut things, fix things,  and every now and then we have time for lunch.

The Good news is that two patients were released today,  they may have to comeback for some small check ups, but at least now we have two more beds available,  the bad news is that this track beast went to try its muscle to the dyno today and bled copiously from one the sumps, it's going to need a transplant, but it did push the powerband above 450HP.Next week we will make our rounds on another set of patients..........I need some interns.......Tune in next week.