When someone talks about a "steel" engine, what they mean is that a lot of
the internal engine bits that normally break have been changed from the
stock cast or forged bits to billet steel bits. Aside from costing alot,
they can either improve the life of the engine dramatically, or improve the
power potential dramatically (choose one, based on how high you rev the
engine). Normally, a steel MGB engine would have steel billet main caps,
steel billet crank, possibly aftermarket forged (not billet) rods. Billet
means that the part was machined directly from a large chunk of material,
not from a forged or cast blank.
Normally, the main caps on an MGB are cast, and not all that strong.
Replacing them with steel is a very good addition to a race motor.
Strapping them (machining the stock caps so that a steel bar can be added
over the stock cap) is the middle ground. The crank on a stock MGB is
forged, of middlin' good steel. When brand new, it's probably pretty good.
The problem is that there are few brand new MGB cranks around these days.
All other things being equal, a forger crank is stronger than a billet
crank. The billet crank tends to win out now because there are few new
forged cranks, the billet can be of better steel than the stock forged crank
was, a new billet crank, while more expensive than a new stock forged crank,
is usually cheaper than a new aftermarket forged crank made of equal quality
steel, and so on. Also, going to a billet crank lets you easily play with
stroke (illegal in VARAC) and bearing size (legal, as long as you don't
increase the number of bearings).
Huffaker is the name of an engine builder. Huffaker build what are normally
regarded as close to the ultimate race engines (along with perhaps a half
dozen other builders about the US and Canada), and also builds chassis bits
for british sports cars.
What I'd ask is: is this a local rebuild of a Huffaker engine, or is
huffaker doing the rebuild? Is the head a Huffaker head? What specific
bits in the engine are steel billet, etc? How old are they (even a steel
billet crank has a life cycle, after which it is a nice end table leg, or
shop door stop). Is there, or will there be, a dyno sheet for the engine?
Is the engine a full tilt SCCA engine (pretty wild) or will it be practical
for a vintage racer?
Bottom line is that the guy is saying that he's putting a quality engine in
the car. Your job is to determine if it used to be a quality engine, or if
it still is:)
All this is fine with VARAC as long as the stroke is stock, and the bore is
less than .065" over stock.
Brian
At 08:38 AM 5/28/99 -0400, you wrote:
>Question [again] from The Friday Novice Corner:
>I recently enquired after a '67 TVR 1800S [MGB engine] which has spent most
>of its life driven infrequently by the original owner on Eastern tracks, but
>only in schools/track days. It mostly needs a fire system and fuel cell. The
>current owner is now installing a "fresh steel Huffacker race engine".
>Questons are:
>What is a "fresh steel Huffacker race engine"?
>Should I aspire to one?
>Is it vintage legal [VARAC - Brian pls.]?
>Many Thanks
>Gavin Ivory
>Toronto, TVR Taimar 5000
>
>
Brian Evans
Director, Global Sales
UUNET, An MCI WorldCom Company
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