Minidragbike
Member
I won the competition, but fell short of what I wanted to make.
This was my first time ever sending a engine out to another state to be dyno tested. What I later found out was that Brads dyno throws out low numbers. I only knew this "AFTER" other people tested their own engines and I got the news back.
Originally I already had bigger more powerful engines, but they have billet heads on them. So the rule for the challenge was "NO BILLET HEADS" which kinda ****ed me off because I'm the only guy that had a billet head and it made me feel like the rule was just for me only.
Anyway I went to my storage already had a short block from years back. The goal was to copy cat my BLUEDEVIL engine. Which makes 38hp on a local dyno. If I can copy cat this combo I knew it was unbeatable. The short block is pretty regular, 3 inch bore and ARC stroker crank. But the billet head flows 142cfm, so the trick was to make a "CAST" head flow as good as my billet. It took me about 2-3 months to finish this head, and I sent it to Brad to be flow tested. Magically the head flowed 146cfm, slightly better than my billet head.
So I then copied my BLUEDEVIL engine by getting the same cam, gas port, and extra ring groove the piston, same carburetor from Competion Carbs and even same exhaust tube diameters and length.
I started it up and it sound great, until I throttled it. It "BLEW UP" or at least I thought it did. So I called Brad and told him I'm not gonna make the challenge because I'm having issues. So I started looking for a hole in the block and didn't see any. Looking closely I seen the head wasn't bolted on, so I push the head down and had compression again. I found out the head blew away from the block, stripping out all the 4 head bolt threads. So I took the short block to the machine shop and retreaded the block to 3/8" course threads. Torque the head on 25 pounds and fired it up.
It sound good, so I hit the throttle a few times and the head stayed on the block. Put it in a crate and shipped it to Brad. Brad put it on his dyno and it was smoking and shaking. So he called me concerned that my engine may blow up. He told me the bad news and I told him don't worry. It's to late now, so run it as it. If it BLOWS IT BLOWS. Brad then offered to fix it, but he said if I fix it, then I would be disqualified. I said NO just run it. So he did. It ran badly, only getting 28.99hp. He then called me and told me that the good news is that the engine didn't blow up. But the bad news is that it only got 28.99hp. He then said, if it would have been 100% he thinks it could get 32-33hp on his dyno. I told him, don't worry about it I will fix it later, and this engine is to small for me anyway.
2 days later Barry hit me up and asked how did I do, and I told him not good. My engine ran crazy bad, because in my mind I was down 10hp from what it should be. Barry says I'm taking 3 engines, a stocker, a 3 inch stock stroke, and a 3 inch stroker. He then told me that he just dyno tested all his engines and the stocker made 12.5hp, the 3 inch made 36hp, and the 3 inch stroker made 38hp. So I said yeah you should win because 38hp is what I figured I had at first, but my engine didn't run good.
So another day passed and Barry hit me up ****ed off. I was like what happened? He says something is wrong with Brads dyno, my engines made 12hp, 27hp, and 28.7hp. When he told me this, I thought it was a joke he was playing on me. So I said "YEAH RIGHT?" he said, NO I'M SERIOUS his dyno is throwing out low numbers. I then said, well that kinda makes me feel better than. Because if your engine dyno tested a 38hp 2 days before you took it to Brads, and then you got 28.7hp. Then means my engine running badly would make at least 38hp on your dyno. So I did copy cat the combo correctly.
And the whole time I thought Barry was just joking with me. Then a month passed and Brad declared me the winner. So, now that I have had some extra time on my hands and found out what was wrong with my engine. I'm going to send Brad another 3 inch stroker to be tested, same combo but with a better cast head. The problem with my old engine was the head FLOWED TO MUCH for the cast material. First the head blew off from the block, then after I repaired that the head was bowing/flexing and letting oil into the combustion chamber. At the time I didn't know the limits of the stock casting until I went to far with it.
I had documented all these steps by taking pictures and video. New engine is being documented as wel.
This was my first time ever sending a engine out to another state to be dyno tested. What I later found out was that Brads dyno throws out low numbers. I only knew this "AFTER" other people tested their own engines and I got the news back.
Originally I already had bigger more powerful engines, but they have billet heads on them. So the rule for the challenge was "NO BILLET HEADS" which kinda ****ed me off because I'm the only guy that had a billet head and it made me feel like the rule was just for me only.
Anyway I went to my storage already had a short block from years back. The goal was to copy cat my BLUEDEVIL engine. Which makes 38hp on a local dyno. If I can copy cat this combo I knew it was unbeatable. The short block is pretty regular, 3 inch bore and ARC stroker crank. But the billet head flows 142cfm, so the trick was to make a "CAST" head flow as good as my billet. It took me about 2-3 months to finish this head, and I sent it to Brad to be flow tested. Magically the head flowed 146cfm, slightly better than my billet head.
So I then copied my BLUEDEVIL engine by getting the same cam, gas port, and extra ring groove the piston, same carburetor from Competion Carbs and even same exhaust tube diameters and length.
I started it up and it sound great, until I throttled it. It "BLEW UP" or at least I thought it did. So I called Brad and told him I'm not gonna make the challenge because I'm having issues. So I started looking for a hole in the block and didn't see any. Looking closely I seen the head wasn't bolted on, so I push the head down and had compression again. I found out the head blew away from the block, stripping out all the 4 head bolt threads. So I took the short block to the machine shop and retreaded the block to 3/8" course threads. Torque the head on 25 pounds and fired it up.
It sound good, so I hit the throttle a few times and the head stayed on the block. Put it in a crate and shipped it to Brad. Brad put it on his dyno and it was smoking and shaking. So he called me concerned that my engine may blow up. He told me the bad news and I told him don't worry. It's to late now, so run it as it. If it BLOWS IT BLOWS. Brad then offered to fix it, but he said if I fix it, then I would be disqualified. I said NO just run it. So he did. It ran badly, only getting 28.99hp. He then called me and told me that the good news is that the engine didn't blow up. But the bad news is that it only got 28.99hp. He then said, if it would have been 100% he thinks it could get 32-33hp on his dyno. I told him, don't worry about it I will fix it later, and this engine is to small for me anyway.
2 days later Barry hit me up and asked how did I do, and I told him not good. My engine ran crazy bad, because in my mind I was down 10hp from what it should be. Barry says I'm taking 3 engines, a stocker, a 3 inch stock stroke, and a 3 inch stroker. He then told me that he just dyno tested all his engines and the stocker made 12.5hp, the 3 inch made 36hp, and the 3 inch stroker made 38hp. So I said yeah you should win because 38hp is what I figured I had at first, but my engine didn't run good.
So another day passed and Barry hit me up ****ed off. I was like what happened? He says something is wrong with Brads dyno, my engines made 12hp, 27hp, and 28.7hp. When he told me this, I thought it was a joke he was playing on me. So I said "YEAH RIGHT?" he said, NO I'M SERIOUS his dyno is throwing out low numbers. I then said, well that kinda makes me feel better than. Because if your engine dyno tested a 38hp 2 days before you took it to Brads, and then you got 28.7hp. Then means my engine running badly would make at least 38hp on your dyno. So I did copy cat the combo correctly.
And the whole time I thought Barry was just joking with me. Then a month passed and Brad declared me the winner. So, now that I have had some extra time on my hands and found out what was wrong with my engine. I'm going to send Brad another 3 inch stroker to be tested, same combo but with a better cast head. The problem with my old engine was the head FLOWED TO MUCH for the cast material. First the head blew off from the block, then after I repaired that the head was bowing/flexing and letting oil into the combustion chamber. At the time I didn't know the limits of the stock casting until I went to far with it.
I had documented all these steps by taking pictures and video. New engine is being documented as wel.
