I ran my new motor build up on the dyno today - and it not only survived,
it actually ran good! I run a Martin three valve Ford engine, which is the
only one I'm aware of running anywhere these days, so it's a bit of an odd
ball and presents some challenges from time to time.
There is something special about starting any motor for the first time -
they just sound so good when you get them running in at about 2000 rpm, and
the timing set so they run smooth...
I have got to tell you, tho, when you build about one motor a year like I
do, and you put that jewel on a dyno and do the first power pull - I just
about cried! There is something so wonderfully cruel about seeing your
pride and joy run up to 7500 rpm for the first time, and see the headers
glow bright red (running a touch lean at high rpms, mutters the expert).
Just for the record, we picked up about 35 hp from last year - new cam,
and 12.7:1 compression instead of 10.5:1 - and we ran cleanly up to 7200
rpm, which is as high as we tried and about 200 rpm over the power
peak. Last time we had valve spring problems and the power fell off at
6000 rpm, so the new valve springs worked out well. The motor is a Martin
three valve Ford, and I did a lot of research on motors with similar type
combustion chambers to decide that we needed to try a lot of ignition
advance. Ended up with 44 degrees BTDC total, which is a lot but made the
motor run happily. Now I'll start building the spare engine, and hopefully
run more than three times in 2000! Overall we picked up 10 Hp from my best
guess on tune-up to where we ended up, so dyno tuning is pretty cheap
horsepower.
Cheers, all, and have a great New Year!
Brian
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