 MACHINING SERVICES
We offer a broad range of services |
|
 ACCESSORIES & APPAREL
Cool tools, clothing, gizmos & gadgets |
|
CAMSHAFTS
Enders
Signature Series |
|
 PROJECTS
Recent Engine Projects from Enders Racing |
| | | WHAT MAKES AN ENGINE “HAPPY”?
Not too long ago a high profile customer who had recently purchased an engine from Enders Racing Engines called to compliment Kevin and extend his first impressions regarding the new engine.
He was quite impressed with the visible workmanship and even more impressed with the performance of the engine. He was particularly impressed with the way that the exhaust ports in his engine looked after running a number of races. He was actually surprised that the sparkplugs all looked the same and that the ports were even in color. After many years with a competing engine builder this customer wondered how Kevin’s engine could be so different. Kevin responded by saying, “My engines are happy”.
What is a happy engine?
An engine that is “happy” is efficient, runs smoothly and generally serves the intended cycle with very little or no reduction in overall performance. If that same high profile customer were to take his Enders engine to the previous engine builder for a “freshen or rebuild” he would immediately see a loss of performance. After the rebuild it would be noticeable to him on the racetrack and visually obvious when the routine maintenance was performed.
So what makes an engine “happy”?
It certainly begins with the selection of components for an engine. In many cases the components are designed in house and are proprietary. In this day and age it is actually ridiculous to see gobs of epoxy in a cylinder head or intake manifold. There is absolutely no repeatability in a product that has been built this way, not to mention the incredible waste of time. Yet customers continue to bring the latest and greatest from other builders loaded with epoxy. And why do you suppose they’ve brought their engine to us? Plain and simple, the engine isn’t performing to the standards necessary to be competitive.
By designing an intake manifold that matches our cylinder head design and being able to work out other details with software programs that analyze part combinations and establish trends, we are able to provide racing engines that are consistent and innovative.
Sounds pretty straight forward right? So you might ask why other highly respected engine builders haven’t taken this route.
1. They don’t want to pay to play. (There is significant upfront expense in terms of time and money to develop proprietary designs)
2. They don’t use a computer. (Another surprise in this day and age)
3. They are attached to the “old” way of doing business.
They say the highest form of flattery is being copied. Interestingly enough a new customer recently brought a brand new dirt big block engine to us that didn’t run. The driver hated it and the owner was up in arms. From all appearances it could have been an Enders engine. It had a lightweight oil pan similar to our design and it had a similar crankshaft and rod package similar to the engines we build. If you sat these engines side by side you might mistake one for the other, however, that is where the similarities ended. The copy didn’t work because similar is not the same. At Enders all of our components compliment each other. It’s a clean, neat tidy package that has been literally designed as a package.
After component choice the next most important aspect of the engine is in the machining processes and details. And, there are many details. In our shop those details begin with the procedures that take place the moment a new engine is to be built or an existing engine arrives at the shop for a rebuild. Process and specification sheets are kept on every aspect of the engine. This ensures that no matter who is assigned to a particular job in the shop the critical dimensions will be consistently the same rebuild after rebuild. This eliminates the need to rely on someone’s memory. Additionally, the procedures help to eliminate errors. Each technician must sign off on every dimension and every process. This forces good habits, a sense of accountability and a strong team atmosphere.
Beyond the procedures that the shop has established to retain consistency, there are techniques that have been employed with very specific results in mind. Those results being increased horsepower with reliability. Needless to say passing on specifics here would be “giving away the store”. The bottom line is that there are bits and pieces, here and there, that all stacked up make a superior package.
So, if an Enders engine ends up at someone else’s shop for a rebuild it’s like taking apart a complicated jigsaw puzzle. And, once apart, it is very difficult to put the pieces back the way they were. Therefore the reduction in performance increases as time goes by and the engine is no longer “happy”.
|
