50 replies to this topic

[Dan Tiley]

Anyone who has never been part of a trackside engine teardown will hopefully appreciate this video...

 

I was asked by the Machavern family to verify that they were compliant after Dillon won both races at the Sebring Majors just over a week ago amongst heavy scrutiny.  I thought this might be a great opportunity to put together a documentary of many of the things that the SCCA will likely be looking for when they perform their trackside teardowns.  Some of the items measured and documented on this video are:

• Compression Ratio (Whistler)
• Bore & Stroke
• Cam ID & Lift
• Piston Identification
• Spring, Valve & Shim Inspections
• Plunge & Relief Cut Measurement
• Short Turn Radius Debur Measurement
• Much more!  

Wherever possible, I tried to use the same (or similar) tools used by the SCCA to take the measurements. 

 

Bonus points for anyone who survives the entire hour without falling asleep!

 

Here's the link:

 

http://youtu.be/mJmKSKjFpeg

 

Sidenote:

I'm asking Jim in advance to please delete any non-constructive "cheater" comments.  We've put ALOT of effort into this video and are being completely transparent.  It is intended to be a learning and sharing opportunity for those who have never had a chance to see how technical compliance checks are made.  If you have any issues with this car (or any other), talk to the car owner or write a protest, but please don't muddy the waters on this thread.

[Keith Williamson]

Well Done, thanks for posting.

[Craig Berry]

Great video Dan. Did not watch every minute, but a lot of stuff over my head anyway. I will say that it is very hard for myself to tell HP from an in-car video. Drago and I were talking this morning about a few races over the last 2 years where we knew our cars were within a few 10ths of an HP, checked before and after the race, but one of us was so hooked up you would have sworn by watching the video there was a 5HP difference.
I will say it again, Congrats Dillon.

[Parity]

Watched the whole thing. Thank you Dan. Great job!

[Bench Racer]

Thanks Dan. love the 3x magnify mirror.

[B(Kuch)Kucera45]

Great video Dan, watched the whole thing as well.

The only question I have is ,where are the fender covers and rubber gloves ? Lol

[Mike Collins]

Watched it in its entirety and sent Dan comments every step of the way... Well Done!!!  Great example for the community at large.

[wheel]

Excellent piece.  Should be mandatory viewing for any tech inspector involved with the class.  Nicely done.

wheel

[Dan Tiley]

Thanks for all the kind words... I hope people get some useful info from the video.

 

Regarding the whistler.... the reason the valve cover needs to be off is that the very deep spark plug holes in the valve cover shroud the exit of whistle probe, which changes the frequency of the tone... kind of like a baritone horn vs. a trumpet (long brass tube vs short). The whistler just measures this sound frequency (lower tone for larger volume) and mathematically converts it to a number representing volume.  You type in the total displacement, so it can calculate the CR based on those numbers. 

[Jim Drago]

Dan

Very nicely done. I will watch it in its' entirety tonight. I skimmed through the video. Most have no clue how much time this must have taken you and how small and slight these things are that are being looked for by tech etc.

Anything that is remotely negative, I am going to kill. Nothing personal, this a constructive thread, so only constrictive posts will be permitted. We all know Dan is funny looking, but this is not the thread to point that out  

Jim 

[Tom Sager]

Dan

Very nicely done. I will watch it in its' entirety tonight. I skimmed through the video. Most have no clue how much time this must have taken you and how small and slight these things are that are being looked for by tech etc.

Anything that is remotely negative, I am going to kill. Nothing personal, this a constructive thread, so only constrictive posts will be permitted. We all know Dan is funny looking, but this is not the thread to point that out

Jim 

Jim, I think both you and I would trade appearances with Dan in a heartbeat.  Will also watch it all tonight.  From the looks of the first few minutes, this may be the best quality and most relevant video ever posted for our class and yeah, it's a lot of effort to put something like this together.    

[High Chair]

Thanks Dan! Very informative. Regardless of what people say about Dillion's car one thing is for sure; you know your stuff.

 

JT

[bmarshall1]

I just watched the whole video, very informative process of showing the testing procedures. Thank you for taking the time to produce this.

 

By the way, just how tall is your technician? He does not look like he would fit in a Miata =)

[pat slattery]

Nice job Dan

[38bfast]

Thank you Dan for taking all the time.

[Waterboy]

Seems like the guy holding the tool to check the debur better have pretty steady hands? Does that tool rest against anything so it can't move while measuring?

[SaulSpeedwell]

I think "SM Engine Builder" is one of the most difficult and unrewarding jobs in the world!  As a guy who did everything but shoot paint and build motors, I was very happy to have "Pro" engine builders in this class that I could respect and trust, and I have a ton of respect for all those who are trying to "do it right". 

 

But .. what the heck happened to "The Tiley Beard"???? Looking like you haven't shaved in two days is NOT the same as making a bold and trendy statement by maintaining a constant 4 day growth, Dan!!! 

[FTodaro]

Dan I got through it, nice job.

 

I have some questions for the Tech people who would be making the decision at the track about what to tech and how.

 

When it comes to measuring stroke and cam lift, at the track would you really check each cylinder stroke and each cam lobe lift. No one would de stroke less than all the cylinders or run a modified cam with some but not all lobes modified. my point do you really need to check all in those instances.

 

On the cam lift, with a + or - of .003 is it ever possible that high mileage motors could fail that spec/

 

When you see the size of some of these tolerances and the small margins of what could be just human error in the machining process, its easy to see how you can get some innocent failures.

 

educational for sure.

 

Thanks.

[Dan Tiley]

Dan I got through it, nice job.

 

I have some questions for the Tech people who would be making the decision at the track about what to tech and how.

 

When it comes to measuring stroke and cam lift, at the track would you really check each cylinder stroke and each cam lobe lift. No one would de stroke less than all the cylinders or run a modified cam with some but not all lobes modified. my point do you really need to check all in those instances.

 

On the cam lift, with a + or - of .003 is it ever possible that high mileage motors could fail that spec/

 

When you see the size of some of these tolerances and the small margins of what could be just human error in the machining process, its easy to see how you can get some innocent failures.

 

educational for sure.

 

Thanks.

 Hey Frank,

 

Glad to hear you made it through!  My wife watched it tonight and even she dozed off twice

 

Regarding cam wear, I don't see any significant difference between high mileage cams and new cams out of the box.  The cam lobes are individually induction hardened, making them so hard on the surface you cannot cut them even with a end mill, thus they must be ground.  The exception would be an engine that ran with an oiling issue, but that damage is typically obvious and inconsistent, so you'd toss the cams anyway.  The cams lobes will actually all measure within .001" of each other on a cam doctor, unlike the .002" or .003" span I saw with the dial indicator.  I doubt tech would ever disqualify anyone for measuring over (or under) with a dial indicator, but a cam that shows .010" higher lift than spec on the dial will surely lead to another test in the Principal's office. 

 

As far as how tech chooses which or how many cylinders, lobes, valves, etc to check, I've never seen them check all of them in the shed.  Problem is, I have no idea which they're going to check, so I just verified them all.   An old Richard Petty "back in the day" story was how NASCAR always checked one or two bores of the left bank of cylinders.  Guess what the right bank all measured?

 

MB - my apologies for the untamed "Tiley Beard".  One thing leads to another and the next thing you know, I'll be coming to work with my shirt untucked!  I can tell you one thing.... all the excitement in SM lately has been turning the "Tiley Beard" grey!

[john mueller]

Dan, very well done.  I will be sending this out to all NASA regions for the folks in Tech to review.  Keeping SCCA and NASA in lock step in tech is my new mantra for the few next years.  This goes a long way of those areas of the county that haven't done much tech in the past.  Thank you.