Toyota Racing Development (TRD) of Costa Mesa, California maintains a long-term relationship with pushrod manufacturer Trend Performance of Warren, Michigan. “We’ve worked with them on many other projects as well as the NASCAR Sprint Cup developments,” notes David Currier, vice president of engine engineering at TRD.
Although the service life of intake and exhaust pushrods is, conceivably, longer than the 700 miles that make up each Sprint Cup race Read more…
“Any time we need a 3/8-inch diameter pushrod with a 0.120 wall, we go to Manley Performance Products of Lakewood, New Jersey,” state Stewart Van Dyne II and Stewart Van Dyne III (Tres) of Van Dyne Engineering in Huntington Beach, California.
Pushrod sizing is important for the 830-horsepower, 510-cubic-inch big block Chevrolet (with spec heads and manifold) that the Van Dyne father-and-son combo prepare for the American Power Boat Association (APBA) Super Cat used by two-time World Read more…
Every part on a NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Top Fuel engine takes more abuse than in any other type of racing. It’s the nature of the beast. Even the pushrods can get hurt – although they might have the longest life span of any integral part in the valvetrain.
This particular Manton intake pushrod was installed for eliminations at the penultimate NHRA round (of 24) on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It was being used in the Don Schumacher Racing Matco Tools Top Fuel rail of Antron Brown, who finished third in the season-long Read more…
Up until about five years ago, the standard pushrod outside diameter for a USAC National midget engine was 5/16 inch, costing roughly $6 each. That has changed, according to Frank Honsowetz of Ed Pink Racing Engines (EPRE). Now, he uses one of two Trend 4130 chrome moly pushrod specifications, both with carbo-nitriding that infuses carbon into the material for a better bearing surface.
Honsowetz said the 166-cubic-inch Toyota four-cylinder engine they build for use in USAC’s National midget Read more…
Although Funny Car engines get torn down from top to bottom end between 1000-foot NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series passes, it’s easy to overlook pushrods “because they are that good,” according to 2008 series runner-up and 2009 Countdown to One participant Tim Wilkerson. He’s been using “nothing but Manton pushrods” in his engines for many years citing, “Terry’s got a good product and he’s quick to fix something if it’s wrong.”
The clearance difficulties inherent with a nitro-burning Read more…
When engaged in building Dodge Mopar engines for use in USAC’s National Midget series, Bob Wirth of Hayward, California relies on pushrods from Smith Bros of Bend, Oregon.
He works with the raised port (RP) head and relates, “The RP cylinder head layout is really hard on parts. The intake rocker is offset 3/4-inch and that exacerbates the stress at the adjuster and at the end of the pushrod, because you’ve got a rocking couple across the span of the rocker. This ‘ball on ball’ pushrod has an undercut on the ball Read more…
In our July RET-Monitor, we looked at Terry Manton’s projected use of a copper-hybrid pushrod adjuster tip to aid NHRA Pro Stock runners in the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. Manton Pushrods, of Lake Elsinore, California tested the initial product with Warren and Kurt Johnson, and then took the new pushrod unit to Joliet to see if anyone else was interested.
The upshot? Fourteen Pro Stock drivers – some fulltime, others who run the category on a part-time basis – are using the product to great affect. “Nobody has Read more…
According to Dr Andy Randolph, engine technical director at NASCAR championship contenders Earnhardt Childress Racing, the interesting period for pushrod development was a couple of years ago. “Many teams were looking into alternative materials for a stiffer, yet lighter solution, compared to the traditional chrome moly steel” that had been in use for many years.
Dr Randolph notes that the exotic materials solutions produced some beneficial effects, but to his mind, the cost-to-benefit trade-off just did not make the grade.
The Pro Stock contingent of National Hot Rod Association Full Throttle Drag Racing competitors has always had a problem with pushrods: they just can’t find a way to stop them from burning up, particularly at the cap.
For two years, Terry Manton of Manton Pushrods in Lake Elsinore, California has been working to find a solution to stop these burn-up difficulties. “It’s been two years worth of study and testing and nothing solved the problem until now. Those pushrod tips were just burning up continuously,” he said.
Despite the general movement of production engines toward smaller displacement, overhead-cam designs, single-cam-in-block-pushrod-rocker arm V8 engines are firmly rooted in several popular segments of the stateside motor sports world (NASCAR Cup, Truck, NHRA Top Fuel, Funny Car, etc.). In these (and other) areas of extreme racing, the engineering challenges to make a pushrod-rocker valve system operate reliably above 8000 rpm are severe. To make a pushrod valvetrain work at all at 10,000 rpm for five seconds is daunting; to make one work at 9000+ rpm for three hours is thought by some to be unbelievable. Yet the evidence is at the tracks nearly every weekend. Read more…
