IMHO, yes and no. I think we all struggle with making our cars reliable and
reasonably fast. When you put a hot cam in a tractor motor (absolutely in
accordance with vintage spirit) you compromise the lifters. With the limited
selection of good lifters available and the problems everyone is having with
oil, a reasonable choice is to fit something that will last because it's made
of good stuff and is not sized for a tractor's gentle ramps. Vintage racing is
expensive enough without having your cams get toasted on a regular
basis--along with the often spectacular failure that oils the track (to Jack's
dismay).
The question is, are you upgrading your lifters so you can push the outside
edge of cam design (as NASCAR guys did) or are you trying to hold your stuff
together using Cam design knowledge that has been around since the fifties. I
think we'd be kidding ourselves to think we're acting like NASCAR engine
designers--we ain't that motivated (I was going to say SMART but some of you
guys are).
The choice of using a computer to do the boring has nothing to do with vintage
spirit. Any good machinist can do it with a hundred year old bridgeport. It
will just take forever to set it up and cost a fortune. Using a CAM mill to do
it is just a lot easier. The factory did it without CAM.
All this said, I haven't done any of this yet. But if I can't find more
Unobtanium ceramic lifters, I probably will. And I'll be using the same cams I
always do. they just won't break the motor.
-----Original Message-----
From: fot-bounces+billb=bnj.com@autox.team.net on behalf of JWoesvra@aol.com
Sent: Fri 1/4/2008 8:22 AM
To: spreiss@verizon.net; fot@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Fot] steroid use
In a message dated 1/4/2008 11:17:49 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
spreiss@verizon.net writes:
.............That was the start of the
> homogenization of Nascar which has resulted in McRace cars which have
> no appeal to a lot of car guys. Until that time, the race engines were
> dimensionally equal to the production piece.
> Also, be aware that more than one SCCA championship was won with
> oversize lifters which were not caught. They are checked now.............
I don't get it. Is the level of engine mods permitted in vintage racing more
aligned with NASCAR than SCCA at this point?
Or is this discussion of lifter substitution (GT40 no less) and
computerized
boring programs pertinent only to members' street cars?
Steve P.
My opinion on this is that it is way beyond the scope of enforcement in the
Vintage Community.
It is also way beyond what I would call "in the Spirit of Vintage Racing".
Jack Woehrle
SVRA Technical Director
**************Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape.
http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489
Fot mailing list
Fot@autox.team.net
http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/fot
_______________________________________________
http://www.team.net/donate.html
Fot mailing list
Fot@autox.team.net
http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/fot
|