The GM Gen-4 Small Block pushrod V8 engine family (aka LS-X) is growing in popularity and in application as a racing engine as well as a high performance powerplant for roadgoing cars. The basic LS design contains several significant improvements over the ubiquitous Gen-1 engine, and there is a growing abundance of high-quality aftermarket components which add even more features to the design.
One of the newest and most impressive of those components is the aluminium LS engine block announced by the RHS division of the Comp Performance Group at the 2008 PRI Show. This block was designed from the outset to include as many desirable high-performance features as possible. Read more…
Recently, RET has covered valve spring design and measurement extensively, but it is almost impossible to discuss valve spring design without mentioning the desmodromic system which is used nowadays exclusively by Ducati.
There is a conventional wisdom that has developed around intake valve configuration: cylinder heads equipped with ports inclined at narrow valve angle to the valve stem should have conical, or ‘tuliped’ back faces, and ports that have significant bend at the intake valve should have shallow back angles i.e. the classic ‘nail head’ shape present in so many large pushrod engines. While this is true much of the time, there are exceptions, and frequently the desired point of improvement in the power curve can be as much a factor in the decision as the port configuration. 
The piston rings in an engine serve to act as a seal to prevent the escape of fresh inlet charge and combustion products into the crankcase, and also to prevent an excess of crankcase oil from reaching the combustion chamber. As such they are an important component to consider in engine design. Poorly performing rings can lead to poor engine performance and increased oil consumption.
NASCAR is moving toward parts commonality in nearly every facet of its competition. Currently, discussions are underway to produce an oil pump system that is common to all three of NASCAR’s national series: Sprint Cup, Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series.
In NHRA professional drag racing, main and con rod crankshaft journal bearings are among the items that can make or break a run. It stands to reason that when a team finds something that works well for them, they are inclined to leave well enough alone.
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. 
Trelleborg Sealing Solutions, a leading multi-national manufacturer of gaskets and seals, has published research into the interaction of sealing compounds with biofuels which will cause fuel system designers to rethink material selection for sealing gaskets and o-rings.
The piston lives at the interface of two hostile environments. One dominated by extreme temperature and pressure, and the other by inertia, kinetic energy and friction.
A leading race engine manufacturer ran into fastener problems recently when out of the blue they suffered two separate incidents of flywheel bolt failure, each on a different specification of engine, during the same test. One failure had occurred on a standard specification engine and the other on one which had been given an increase in torque of 30%.
