I got asked recently, about how I was so sure that a certain combo a guy was putting together was not going to run correctly?I frequently see guys building engines or modifying their cars that don,t seem to have any understanding of basic theory or concepts or any idea why certain parts match or don,t match an application..
you need to step back and take a few deep breaths, if theres one thing Ive learned over 45 plus years building cars and engines,its that,the truth is that even if you give excellent advice on a well known , and frequently tested,drive train and engine combo, few people will follow your advice.
Ive built or helped build dozens of cars and well over a 150 engines and most of those engines are still running years later, but almost every time Im asked for advice or post a well known combo , I find that few of the guys asking follow thru and buy and install all the components listed, because theres a very strong tendency to either use what they currently have or buy parts their buddy can get at a (DEAL OR GREAT PRICE)
now thats understandable and most of us work on a budget,
but if asked whats the best or whats a decent combo, and I listed a certain,displacement, rotating assembly,roller cam, part number, compression, ratio,cylinder heads, head port work, intake,part number,port work, carb size,header brand and part number, rear gear ratio, converter stall , transmission mods etc. and if the guy asking goes out and buys a random assortment of parts he got at bargain prices that (ARE JUST ABOUT THE SAME THING AS LISTED) hes NOT going to get the same results.
I just grinned and said," been there, and done that 40 years ago!"
surely you don,t think I spent the last 45 years building and tuning engines and watching other guys build and tune their engines and building their cars ,without seeing and learning from the hundreds of both successful and hundreds of miserable failures, and even occasionally being the cause off a few major screw-ups along the way???
I doubt there many guys that have not failed to carefully checked clearances or install a cam that was to large of duration , or wiped a cam at some time in their early career, due to making mistakes, or guys that installed parts that didn,t work correctly with their engine combo, or got a deal on a part only to find it was junk later.
its a fact, no one in this hobby gets by without being involved in or even occasionally causing something to screw up,
the secret is in LEARNING FROM AND NOT REPEATING THOSE SCREW-UPS!
when your buddy's screw up you can learn from the experience without having to repeat or being the first guy to do something wrong, and you can avoid a great deal of mistakes by researching how things are supposed to work, why they work, and what are the common mistakes guys make.
you vastly increase your chance of being successful by duplicating a known successful combo of components, and by asking questions if you don,t understand why or how somethings done or why certain parts are used. you significantly DECREASE your odds of having a good combo if you randomly start slapping together parts you got a good price on
look, in almost all cases your hardly the first guy to think of doing something ,nor are you likely to be the first guy to screw it up!
the skill comes in , in most cases where you learn not to follow and repeat costly mistakes, by asking questions and not taking advice on your engine build ups without doing at least minimal research to see if the advice is valid.
we ALL screw up and to make matters worse theres plenty of incompetent morons working in machine shops and speed shops and guys who are very willing to sell defective used parts at great prices to guys who are basically clueless about what they are buying or how its supposed to work.
EXAMPLE, only a total moron would buy a used electronic ignition control box at a flea market or swap shop unless the price was so low he could accept the very likely chance that its useless and defective , which its likely to be, in at least 30% of the cases.
its unfortunate but there are guys that screw up parts and then dump them on the unwary, new guys to recoup at least some of their investment knowing full well they are selling useless junk.
I was at a machine shop several years ago and the machinist was talking to a guy , on a speaker phone while I was there,that had dropped off an engine block to be checked out, hot tanked , etc, the machinist was calling him to tell him the main lifter gallery was cracked, the guy told him to clean it anyway, and install new cam bearings and brass freeze plugs, as he would just put it up for sale after painting it.
I looked at the machinist and he looked at me and the machinist grinned and just told the guy he could come pick up the block just like he dropped it off, as the machinist wanted zero to do with the guy after that, but Im sure there would be dozens of machine shops, in this country, that would have cleaned and put in the bearings and freeze plugs, and charged the guy knowing the block was total junk, because they got to make some money doing so.
related info
viewtopic.php?f=87&t=4687&p=12679#p12679
viewtopic.php?f=87&t=4523&p=11968&hilit=started+hobby#p11968
viewtopic.php?f=50&t=5053&p=14313&hilit=finding+machine#p14313
viewtopic.php?f=44&t=3020&p=7962&hilit=finding+machine#p7962
viewtopic.php?f=52&t=181
viewtopic.php?f=27&t=26
viewtopic.php?f=27&t=81&p=104&hilit=extinguisher#p104
viewtopic.php?f=44&t=3547&p=13519&hilit=thinking+thru#p13519
viewtopic.php?f=52&t=389&p=11469&hilit=thinking+thru#p11469
viewtopic.php?f=51&t=125
you need to step back and take a few deep breaths, if theres one thing Ive learned over 45 plus years building cars and engines,its that,the truth is that even if you give excellent advice on a well known , and frequently tested,drive train and engine combo, few people will follow your advice.
Ive built or helped build dozens of cars and well over a 150 engines and most of those engines are still running years later, but almost every time Im asked for advice or post a well known combo , I find that few of the guys asking follow thru and buy and install all the components listed, because theres a very strong tendency to either use what they currently have or buy parts their buddy can get at a (DEAL OR GREAT PRICE)
now thats understandable and most of us work on a budget,
but if asked whats the best or whats a decent combo, and I listed a certain,displacement, rotating assembly,roller cam, part number, compression, ratio,cylinder heads, head port work, intake,part number,port work, carb size,header brand and part number, rear gear ratio, converter stall , transmission mods etc. and if the guy asking goes out and buys a random assortment of parts he got at bargain prices that (ARE JUST ABOUT THE SAME THING AS LISTED) hes NOT going to get the same results.
I just grinned and said," been there, and done that 40 years ago!"
surely you don,t think I spent the last 45 years building and tuning engines and watching other guys build and tune their engines and building their cars ,without seeing and learning from the hundreds of both successful and hundreds of miserable failures, and even occasionally being the cause off a few major screw-ups along the way???
I doubt there many guys that have not failed to carefully checked clearances or install a cam that was to large of duration , or wiped a cam at some time in their early career, due to making mistakes, or guys that installed parts that didn,t work correctly with their engine combo, or got a deal on a part only to find it was junk later.
its a fact, no one in this hobby gets by without being involved in or even occasionally causing something to screw up,
the secret is in LEARNING FROM AND NOT REPEATING THOSE SCREW-UPS!
when your buddy's screw up you can learn from the experience without having to repeat or being the first guy to do something wrong, and you can avoid a great deal of mistakes by researching how things are supposed to work, why they work, and what are the common mistakes guys make.
you vastly increase your chance of being successful by duplicating a known successful combo of components, and by asking questions if you don,t understand why or how somethings done or why certain parts are used. you significantly DECREASE your odds of having a good combo if you randomly start slapping together parts you got a good price on
look, in almost all cases your hardly the first guy to think of doing something ,nor are you likely to be the first guy to screw it up!
the skill comes in , in most cases where you learn not to follow and repeat costly mistakes, by asking questions and not taking advice on your engine build ups without doing at least minimal research to see if the advice is valid.
we ALL screw up and to make matters worse theres plenty of incompetent morons working in machine shops and speed shops and guys who are very willing to sell defective used parts at great prices to guys who are basically clueless about what they are buying or how its supposed to work.
EXAMPLE, only a total moron would buy a used electronic ignition control box at a flea market or swap shop unless the price was so low he could accept the very likely chance that its useless and defective , which its likely to be, in at least 30% of the cases.
its unfortunate but there are guys that screw up parts and then dump them on the unwary, new guys to recoup at least some of their investment knowing full well they are selling useless junk.
I was at a machine shop several years ago and the machinist was talking to a guy , on a speaker phone while I was there,that had dropped off an engine block to be checked out, hot tanked , etc, the machinist was calling him to tell him the main lifter gallery was cracked, the guy told him to clean it anyway, and install new cam bearings and brass freeze plugs, as he would just put it up for sale after painting it.
I looked at the machinist and he looked at me and the machinist grinned and just told the guy he could come pick up the block just like he dropped it off, as the machinist wanted zero to do with the guy after that, but Im sure there would be dozens of machine shops, in this country, that would have cleaned and put in the bearings and freeze plugs, and charged the guy knowing the block was total junk, because they got to make some money doing so.
related info
viewtopic.php?f=87&t=4687&p=12679#p12679
viewtopic.php?f=87&t=4523&p=11968&hilit=started+hobby#p11968
viewtopic.php?f=50&t=5053&p=14313&hilit=finding+machine#p14313
viewtopic.php?f=44&t=3020&p=7962&hilit=finding+machine#p7962
viewtopic.php?f=52&t=181
viewtopic.php?f=27&t=26
viewtopic.php?f=27&t=81&p=104&hilit=extinguisher#p104
viewtopic.php?f=44&t=3547&p=13519&hilit=thinking+thru#p13519
viewtopic.php?f=52&t=389&p=11469&hilit=thinking+thru#p11469
viewtopic.php?f=51&t=125
