Archive for the ‘pistons’ Category

Historic piston use in the midget engine

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

pistonsDan Esslinger, President of Esslinger Engineering has been building Midget engines since 1990 - “So I guess we’re 20-ish years into this thing,” he says. In that time, Esslinger Engineering has gone through perhaps 30 iterations of pistons, “That’s been due to bore size change, different strokes, different rod lengths, valve locations, things of that ilk,” he says. “If you change one, it all changes.

“Typically we use JE three-ring pistons because they are local (less than an hour away from Esslinger’s shop) and they do an outstanding job. They work with us and turn stuff around in a hurry. We’ve found they make fewer mistakes than we do! Sometimes we ask for things we shouldn’t and they (the pistons) get stuck in engineering that way. JE generally gives us what we ask,” Esslinger says. Read more…

Securing piston life

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

pistonsGetting long life from a racing piston that is subjected to 8000 hp is not easy. Every trip down the 1000-foot dragstrip used by NHRA’s Full Throttle Drag Racing Series means a modicum of damage to an engine and, with the pistons, damage is a way of life.

John Stewart, tuner and crew chief for sophomore Top Fuel racer Shawn Langdon, has a great deal of experience in the sport, which makes him a perfect choice to take care of a newcomer like Langdon. Read more…

Longevity and performance

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

pistonsWhen Honda Performance Development (HPD) began plans to enter the Indy Racing League in 2003 with the Honda Indy V8, it built an engine that would have a service life of 600 miles, made to last from Carburetion Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway through the Indianapolis 500.

Much has changed since then, as HPD became sole engine supplier in the 2006 IndyCar Series season. Now the engines have a service life of 1400 race miles or 1600 absolute miles, as Roger Griffiths, Read more…

Piston strength wins races

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

pistonsThe colours may have changed from red to blue (Budweiser to Copart) at Kenny Bernstein Racing, but the objective never alters. The objective is to build bullet-proof engines that can go down the 1000-foot dragstrip quicker and faster than the car in the other lane.

For co-crew chiefs Rob Flynn, Mike Guger and Todd Smith (who came over from Don Prudhomme’s Snake Racing after that outfit closed operations at the end of the 2009 season), the objective is to fit the strongest piston available. Read more…

Piston challenges more prevalent on Cup open engine

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

pistonsToyota Racing Development’s MAHLE Motorsports pistons are somewhat similar to the 2618 material typically used in NASCAR Sprint Cup applications, according to Brad Green at MAHLE’s Fletcher, North Carolina American headquarters. As TRD continues to try and gain performance edges while having to deal with shrinking budgets - as everyone does these days - using exotic materials just isn’t the route to take.

Still, according to David Currier, TRD’s vice Read more…

PISTONS FOR OFFSHORE RACING

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

pistonsOne benefit to building a maximum 510-cubic inch big block Chevrolet engine for American Power Boat Association (APBA) offshore racing, is the cooling. Because cold water constantly throbs through the block and cylinder head, there is very little fall-off in performance and very little micro welding in the ring lands to deal with.

According to Stewart Van Dyne II and Stewart Van Dyne III (Tres) of Van Dyne Engineering in Huntington Beach, California, “We tend to like pistons with longer pins and thicker walled pins because they help Read more…

TOP FUEL PISTON SECRETS

Saturday, December 19th, 2009

pistonsWhen it comes to prepping pistons for their NHRA Top Fuel rail, Don Schumacher Racing’s Antron Brown-driven team relies on co-tuner Rob Wendland. This year, the team led the ‘regular season’ of 18 races and finished third in the point standings, 49 behind six-time consecutive champion (and teammate) Tony Schumacher.

Wendland said the team uses a variety of pistons, depending on the nature of the circuit. Their primary choice is a hard anodized JE piston, “Because they provide excellent customer service. Read more…

Avoiding piston micro-welding

Sunday, November 15th, 2009

pistonsKeeping a piston’s top ring land from experiencing critical wear is a problem that every engine builder experiences, particularly in the hard fought world of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition. Dr Andrew Randolph of Earnhardt Childress Racing (ECR) Engines has worked endlessly to remedy the problem.

“As rings get closer and closer to the top of the piston, they get so hot that the aluminium melts and adheres to the piston. Not long after that, the piston begins to fail.” What Randolph and ECR have done to circumvent this Read more…

IT’S ALL ABOUT CONSISTENCY

Monday, October 12th, 2009

pistonsFor John Force Racing co-crew chiefs Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli and Ron Douglas, the 2009 Funny Car season has been all about consistency. Include the selection of Venolia pistons in that mix because, as Antonelli points out, “In our current configuration, the pistons are relatively the same on all eight cylinders. They may vary from cylinder to cylinder, depending on the distribution of air coming out of the blower,” he allowed.

If the pair are getting driver Ashley Force-Hood down the track without hurting any parts, they can easily stay Read more…

Pushing For Victory

Sunday, September 13th, 2009

pistonsMark Smith’s PME Engines of Mooresville, North Carolina powers the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (CWTS) entries of Ron Hornaday Jr and Matt Crafton, currently first and second in points as the campaign hits its home stretch.

To keep things consistent, there’s not much out of the ordinary that he’s ready to do with his Bill Miller and Mahle pistons at this point in the game. “We do a lot of testing with different moly coatings on the rings and ring lands,” Read more…