And the Lo206 makes even more sense -- at least that's what several customers of ours have said.
The clone is a blueprinted engine at this point....You are paying an engine builder to tweak everything he can withing the rules.
Although we are strong supporters of ARC and their billet products, the current method of teching springs is ridiculous (in my opinion.) Ambient air temperature, heat cycling, metalurgy variances, etc etc are all over the place, then we take a dead weight (expensive stone age technology) to determine if a competitor is legal? Every engine builder worth their wages already owns a quality spring tester (Intercomp, Longacre, etc.) yet that is not the standard used in the tech barn, so we each have to purchase the dead weight system. At what point do the rules change again to accommodate a particular spring and results in additional costs to update (already happened.) What if the current spring tech gets dropped entirely? Talk about "dead weight!" At least you can use your digital spring tester for other engines, clutch springs, etc. I know, I know -- some will say that there are variances among different manufacturers and even among different digital spring testers from the same manufacturer....Isn't that the case with all measurement tools? Yet no one complains about the accuracy of using a dial caliper, dial indicator, or no-go gauge in the tech barn.
I certainly don't have all the answers to this whole spring dilemma. If it were up to me, I'd make it stock appearing springs (just like the flatheads) and tech wire diameter and length. Those "trick" springs cost no more than the current 10.8 "trick" springs everyone's crying about now with the clones! Once you open up the springs on the clones, you'll need to add the billet rod (ARC makes a fine one) and then allow the racers an oversized piston. That's about the only difference from the flatheads at this point. And if you consider the pricing -- (especially considering the initial cost of the engine alone) the flatheads and animals are priced about the same as the clone!
Wow, what web we weave.
Totally agree with the OP.
Thanks,
Brian Carlson