1952 Olds 303 Rocket Engine

Yesterday I was called by my friend Alex that his new rebuilt '52 Olds Rocket engine with only 200 miles on it makes funny noises from the valvetrain. He disassembled the complete valvetrain. There were some rockerarms seized to the shaft and a pushrod with a quarter of an inch shorter than new. Oiling problem, a real tragedy. These hard to get valvetrain bought new from Kanter Auto Products almost completely destroyed. After further investigations the problem was found. All rockerarm oiling wholes bored the wrong way and wrong position!!! No sufficient oiling to valve, pushrod tips and rockerarm on the shaft.
Conclusio: Check every part twice you buy new!!!

440ci for 73' Barracuda

Last evening we assembled the 440ci engine for a customers 73' Barracuda. Engine got a standard performance job. SpeedPro forged, coated 060 over pistons for a 9.5 to 1 static compression ratio. Pocket ported 452 heads with 2.14, 1.81 stainless valves, new valvetrain and pushrods. First time I use not a proven camshaft design and opted for a new hydraulic grind from CompCams. Named Xtreme Energy XE274H 230/236@50 110LSA 488/491 lift. Should be good for lumpy idle and at least 400nethp with 1 3/4 headers. Intake will be dualplane M1 with 750cfm 3310 Holley and half inch spacer. Completion next week.

Hell of a Ferrari P4

A customer car worth to mention here. Ferrari P4 kitcar on a custom tubular chassis and Testarossa drivetrain and suspension. Engine built by Albert in Tyrol famous for engineering the Koenig Ferraris of the 80's. Four intercooled variable vane turbochargers feeding the 12 cylinder Ferrari engine with 1.5bar of compressed air. Good for approx. 850 to 1000hp depending on boost. Monster brakes bring the 2200lbs car to a halt. Body was cut in half and widened 5inch in front 10inch in back to house the Testarossa's engine and wide track suspension. One of a kind custom job.

New camshaft

A new camshaft was orderd today for the 500ci wedge engine in my Jensen Interceptor. The cam is a custom grind Compcams with 241/247@050/112LSA and 545/545 lift. It is very similar to my current cam Engle 238/244@050/108LSA and 537/545 lift except the fact that the new cam has less overlap to recover idle, vacuum. Should be more suitable to the future Hilborn EFI setup.
I will run the new cam with 1.6 rockers for a total of 581 lift.

Leanout Katana 1100

The leanout condition on cyl.#1 is almost gone. After driving awhile the situation was getting better and better. All exhaust tubes have same temp now.
Still slight hesitation between 5000 and 6000 rpm.

Katana 1100 alive!

The last two days a played around with my Suzuki Katana 1100. It was retired now for five years and it wasnt easy to bring it back to live. Complete service done with oil, filter, sparks, brakes bleeded, etc. New battery installed, fired it up, did run immediately, also the carbs overflowed immediately. Complete fuel mess....f..*
Ok disassemled the carbs, cleaned them up, blew air and solvent through all the jets, emulsion tubes, idle circuits, blah, blah,....
Runs perfect now on idle and lower rpms, leanout condition above 5500rpms and 240 degreeF too low EGT on cylinder #1 .

OK next week, next try.....

The mighty sword of the Samurai's Katana