Tag: Tech Stories

Valvetrain Tech: If Light Weight And Low Reciprocating Mass Matter So Much, Do Stiffer Valve Springs Cost Horsepower?

Jun 26, 20211320 Engine Tech, 1320 Tech Story, Apex Engine Tech, Apex Tech Stories, Apex Video, ENGINE, ENGINES, TECH, Tech Stories, Videos, XL Engine Tech, XL Tech Stories

Valvetrain Tech: If Light Weight And Low Reciprocating Mass Matter So Much, Do Stiffer Valve Springs Cost Horsepower?

Roller rockers, roller lifters, beehive valve springs, lightweight valves, lightweight locks and retainers, and the list goes on. These are all things designed to aid in controlling valvetrain at high rpm and under extreme power levels, and they do this by reducing the load required to move and control these components. So it would make sense that lighter valve springs would also be good for that. After all, anyone that has built an engine before knows that spinning the engine over by hand is very easy when it is just a short block and gets harder as you add components. If you have an engine with no spark plugs in it, and no rocker arms, then it is still really easy to spin by hand. But when you also have to turn the valvetrain, it becomes much more difficult.

So if you had an engine that didn’t “require” heavier valve springs, because it wasn’t going to be run at high rpm or didn’t have a camshaft that needed the extra valve control that heavy springs provide, would it make more horsepower with lighter weight springs that the others? Logic says yes. Or at least it seems like it does. But what does the dyno say?

Luckily for us, Richard Holdener knows because he’s done this very test and here it is so you can see for yourself.

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Compression Testing Junkyard Engines, In The Junkyard. Know What You Are Getting Before You Buy, Because This Engine Is Junk!

May 23, 2021ENGINE, ENGINES, FUNNY STUFF, TECH, Tech Stories, Videos

Compression Testing Junkyard Engines, In The Junkyard. Know What You Are Getting Before You Buy, Because This Engine Is Junk!

Here’s another junkyard video from Richard Holdener, the king of junkyard horsepower, and one that teaches you how to choose the right engine at the junkyard. This one hits close to home as Richard needs one too replace the Ameri-Barra that he strapped to the dyno but that has no compression in some of the cylinders. Sometimes you end up with a loser when you grab an engine from the wrecking yard. It’s just part of the deal. Hell, with as many engines as Richard has pulled from the yard there is no way he can be too made about getting one that sucks. The odds are usually in his favor, but not with the Atlas 4200, aka Ameri-Barra engine in the video below.

We’re putting these two videos together so you can feel Richard’s pain during the testing of the first engine so you can understand his motivation to do some testing when trying to find another one. Oh and did we forget to mention how many head bolts broke while trying to get them out of this engine? Yeah, it isn’t pretty, but you are going to want to watch because you just have to laugh. After all, if you don’t laugh then you will cry and nobody wants to see a grown man cry.

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Candy Paint Job Tech: Here’s How To Do Amazing Candy Panel Paint. The Serape Mexican Blanket Paint Job.

Apr 10, 2021MISC, OTHER, TECH, Tech Stories, Videos

Candy Paint Job Tech: Here’s How To Do Amazing Candy Panel Paint. The Serape Mexican Blanket Paint Job.

Custom panel paint, candies, flake, and the like are often found on custom motorcycles, lowriders, and customs, and regardless of whether it is your favorite or not, and regardless of the color and style, everyone stares and appreciates what must have went into painting something like that. The truth about paint jobs like that is the time and effort that goes into them is mostly in the layout and masking of the thing. With so many layers and colors and graphics involved it can often take a hundred times longer to mask it than it takes to spray it. But there is a lot of skill that goes into spraying candies, pearls, and heavy flake. But how exactly does it really happen?

Well lucky for you, Time Warp Custom Paint is going to show us. This is a tutorial if you will and one that you can use to inspire you to get out and paint something yourself. Now I have to think that with a few spray cans and some time you could practice certain elements of this before you ever got into the good stuff, but regardless I think this could be something fun and it makes me want to try it out. I wonder if doing something like this on an old hood would be cool for the inside of the shop. Hmmmmm

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Speed Secrets: Does Size Really Matter? How Much? Dyno Testing A 5.3 vs 6.0 Stock, Modified, And Stroked To See How Much Cubes Really Matter

Jan 21, 2021ENGINE, ENGINES, Tech Stories, Videos

Speed Secrets: Does Size Really Matter? How Much? Dyno Testing A 5.3 vs 6.0 Stock, Modified, And Stroked To See How Much Cubes Really Matter

Bigger is always better right?  Well maybe not. Or maybe so. Hmmm, is the jury out? Maybe. In todays horsepower video Richard pits a 5.3 vs a 6.0 to see which one is best stock, modified and then when equipped with a stroker kit. Will the stroked 5.3, at 383 cubic inches be as good as the 408 made from the 6.0? I can tell you that I have been around for tests of both combinations and they are impressive. I love a stroked 5.3 combo, and have made well over 1,000 horsepower with one with a little street cam and some boost. And all without doing anything that would be considered radical or too crazy for a street car. But does that make it better than the 6.0 is in this battle? Watch and see.

Here is the video description from Richard.

JUNKYARD LS COMPARISON-5.3L & 6.0L-STOCK. MOD & STROKER! HOW MUCH POWER DOES A STOCK 5.3L OR 6.0L MAKE? WHAT ABOUT WITH A FEW MODS LIKE PORTED HEADS, CAMS AND INTAKE? WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU STROKE AND POKE A 5.3L OUT TO 383 CUBIC INCHES? HOW ABOUT WHEN YOU DO THE SAME TO A 6.0L AND PRODUCE A 408 STROKER? HOW MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE DOES THE ADDED CUBIC INCHES REALLY MAKE? IS BIGGER REALLY THAT MUCH BETTER?

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The Mistubishi Lancer Evolution Is Coming Back, Kind Of: New Evo Set To Be Electric Crossover