[Fot] who builds their own engines?

[Greg "Lunker" Hilyer]

Gotta' put in my 1.75 cents worth -yeh', I'm that cheap! I too BMO  
[build my own].  Kas of coarse has it dead on and Tony is pretty spot  
on too.
Being a car guy I don't do my own dental work and being a  
perfectionist it would take me 100 years to build my own house. On  
the other hand about the only thing I use a torque wrench for is the  
head because it's necessary and the lug nuts because it's convenient.
My cheapo approach doesn't really involve cutting corners. That's  
where the detail part comes in. As far as I can tell, getting it  
right the first time is the path to cheap. Knowing how I built it and  
what I expect of it dictates how I maintain it. For me, every other  
year tear-down has worked. Each of three times now I've been able to  
find concerns before they became problems.
One was a very stretched timing chain. Probably explained why I was  
getting astronomical revs but was also about one race from wearing a  
hole thru the cover or worse.
Another was finding a cracked crank before it came apart [see  
astronomical revs above]. I totally thank cryogenics for that find.-  
I'm cheap but DO want to get it right.
The third was thrust washers. Improperly installed [by me] or  
inferior material I'll never know, but it was caught in time.
On the other hand, there was a thread recently about Spridgets. A  
friend of mine [who I can pretty much keep up with or better] has  
been sending his engine back to Speedwell every other race for two  
seasons now and is now ready to go for every four races! If you can  
afford that, go for it.
I really only submit this so as not to discourage those those who are  
on the fence as far as BMO. If you THINK you can, with lots of  
patience and attention to detail you can! If you're pretty sure it's  
not your thing, don't. Only hitch is that those who do will always  
have at least a bit more satisfaction - as long as it works. Having  
said that I will do as best I can to avoid The Big One.
As far as the tally goes Bill, keep in mind that those who follow the  
BMO are probably also the most likely to talk about it. No offense to  
the others but there is a good amount of pride that goes along with BMO.

Greg "Lunker" Hilyer
TR4 #314
Albuquerque NM