Author Archives: RM@dmin

Tech Talk #41 – Security Clearance: Measuring Piston-to-Valve Clearance the Right Way

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

“Not everyone may agree with our technique, but I am convinced that it is the best way to achieve accurate results.”

With apologies to my sister the veterinarian, there is more than one way to skin a cat and more than one way to measure piston-to-valve clearance. I’m not an authority on cat skinning (nor do I want to be), but I do know about the importance of proper valve clearance in a racing engine. I see hundreds of engines come through our shop every year, and I’m alarmed by how many engines assembled by do-it-yourself builders have incorrect piston-to-valve clearance.

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Tech Talk #40 – Wet Flow Revelations: The Monsoon Inside Your Motor

By Darin Morgan, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines
DARIN MORGAN
, author of this issue’s Technically Speaking column, is in charge of cylinder head research and development at Reher-Morrison Racing Engines.

“We felt like blind men who had been given the gift of sight.”

If you expected to find David Reher’s column on this page, I hope you won’t be too disappointed to find my words here instead. I’m in charge of cylinder head development at Reher-Morrison Racing Engines, and David asked me to write about the extraordinary impact of wet flow testing on our R&D program. I’ve given presentations on our wet flow development at the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) trade show and the Advanced Engine Technology Conference. Since most National DRAGSTER readers can’t attend these events, David thought that Technically Speaking would be a good way to spread the news. He also promised that he’d be back on this page in a few weeks.

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Tech Talk #39 – Bolt-On Admonitions

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

“Building a racing engine is like painting a car – the preparation takes far longer than the final act.”

Walking through the aisles in a supermarket can teach you more about marketing in the 21st century than a business school textbook. It’s easy to see the hot buttons that the experts have determined will trigger a purchase decision for anything from breakfast cereal to dog food: “New!” “Improved!” “Natural!” “Low Fat!” “Low Sodium!” shout the packages. It takes a skeptical consumer to recognize the hype behind the words. Yes, a tin of lard is low sodium; that’s because it’s pure fat.

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Tech Talk #38 – The Truth About Tuning

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

I couldn’t tune a piano if my life depended on it, but I have tuned a few engines in my career. The process of tuning is fundamentally the same for racing engines and musical instruments. In both cases, you are making the final adjustments to a complex assembly of precision components. No one tunes a piano with a hammer, but sometimes I see racers take a sledgehammer approach to tuning engines.

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Tech Talk #37 – The Hidden Costs of Horsepower

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

I believe that an informed customer is a better customer. Whether I’m buying a laptop for my daughter to take to college or a new CNC machining center for our shop, I like to know as much as possible about the product before I sign on the dotted line. So in this spirit of full disclosure, I’m going to tell you something you need to know about racing engines: The more powerful the engine, the more maintenance it requires.

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Tech Talk #36 – Dry Sumps for Drag Racing

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

“A dry-sump oil system is one of the few products you can buy with confidence that it will improve performance.”

According to the informal David Reher telephone poll, interest in fast Sportsman classes is skyrocketing. If the sample of racers I talk to is representative of the sport as a whole, then Top Sportsman racing has a bright future. Interest in this particular style of fast doorslammer racing is spreading as quickly as a rumor on the Internet. The fact that Top Sportsman has been adopted by several NHRA divisions is a leading indicator of the class’ future growth.

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Tech Talk #35 – Warning: Racing May Be Hazardous to Your Wallet

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

Has the world really become a more dangerous place, or are we just more aware of the dangers of everyday life? If I buy a new appliance, a power tool or a treadmill, the owner’s manuals typically have dozens of pages of warnings, cautions, disclaimers and notices before I ever get to the instructions. There are enough stickers in my truck warning me about the possible dangers of air bags, roll-overs and exploding batteries to make me think that driving to work should qualify as hazardous duty. But ironically, the more we are assailed by warning signs, screaming yellow caution notices and clever icons depicting various ways that stick people can be killed and maimed, it seems the less attention we pay to them.

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Tech Talk #34 – Chips of the Old Block

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

A strong, dependable block is the cornerstone of every racing engine. It’s the foundation that supports all of your efforts to build horsepower. Yet as important as the block is in building a reliable and powerful motor, too many racers still insist on using a “good old block” as the starting point for a competition engine. In my opinion, that’s a major mistake. The truth is that there aren’t any good old blocks – at least when the subject is big-block Chevrolet V8s.

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Tech Talk #33 – Racing Through the Years with the All-Star Drag Racing Team

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

In the drama of drag racing, drivers are the stars and engine builders are the extras. I understand why the Best Actor at the Academy Awards gets his picture on the front page while the camera operator gets a mention in the final paragraph. After all, no one interviews the winning engine after a final round; it’s the drivers who get (and deserve) the glory.

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Tech Talk #32 – The Quest for the Combination

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

When I first discussed writing the Speed Reading column with the staff at National DRAGSTER several years ago, we agreed that I would focus on engine technology for sportsman racers. At the risk of pushing the editorial envelope, this month I’d like to expand my assigned topic with some thoughts on how chassis and car setups affect quarter-mile performance.

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Tech Talk #31 – To Good To Be True

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

The 21st century has been called the Information Age, but I’m beginning to wonder whether it might be more accurate to call it the Infomercial Age. The advent of long-format television commercials has blurred the distinctions between advertising and reporting. If the production is slick enough, it’s difficult to discern the difference between a sales pitch and a documentary.

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Tech Talk #30 – Reserved Seats

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

It’s the nature of racers to work on things – even parts that may be better left alone. Ingenuity and experimentation have produced power levels that were once thought to be impossible. As a lifelong tinkerer, I confess that I find it hard to resist the urge to mess with mechanical components. Nevertheless, I strongly urge you to resist the temptation to service the valve seats in competition cylinder heads.

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Tech Talk #29 – Security Clearance

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

“Almost without exception, engine problems are the result of insufficient clearances.”

We are often told to think big if we want to achieve success, but today I want you to think small. In fact, I want you to think about clearances in a racing engine that are smaller than one thousandth of an inch. These minuscule measurements can mean the difference between long life and sudden death for a racing engine.

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Tech Talk #28 – Why Longer Lifters Live Longers

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

The road to high technology is often a two-way street. People who are involved in motorsports maintain that racing improves the breed, from the invention of the rearview mirror by Ray Harroun, the first Indianapolis 500 winner, to the disc brakes and low-profile tires that are commonplace on cars today. But the improvements that are made on everyday automobiles and trucks can pay dividends for racers, too. The extended lifter bosses in the sixth-generation (Gen VI) big-block Chevrolet V8 are an example of production engine technology that has benefited hardcore drag racers.

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Tech Talk #27 – The True Cost of Racing

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

According to the calendar on my office wall, this is my last column of the year for National DRAGSTER. It’s true: Time does fly, whether or not you’re having fun.

Ten months ago, Bruce Allen and I were preparing our new Pro Stock Grand Am for its maiden run. Now both the car and the crew are showing the effects of a long season that seemed to pass in a blur. Fortunately, 2001 has been a rewarding year for the Reher-Morrison team, and I’m already making plans for next season.

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Tech Talk #26 – Preventive Medicine for Motors

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

If a generation is roughly 25 years, I calculate that our sport is about to see its third generation of racers pull into the staging lanes. As NHRA celebrates its Golden Anniversary season, I’m grateful for the improvements in the quality of parts that the first two generations of racers have produced.

When I started racing years ago on dusty Southwestern drag strips, we expected to break parts. My friends didn’t ask me on Monday morning, “Did you win?” Rather, they wanted to know, “What did you break?” The station wagon rearends, junkyard 4-speeds and oddball parts that were the staples of our so-called racing program were the strongest pieces we could pull out Texas salvage yards – but they still couldn’t withstand the unreasonable demands of a bunch of neophyte drag racers.

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Tech Talk #25 – Chilling Out: How to Keep Cool Through a Long, Hot Summer

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

What’s wrong with this picture? I am walking through the staging lanes at high noon on a sweltering summer day. All around me people are wearing shorts and T-shirts, with wet shop rags wrapped around their foreheads to keep the heat at bay. Super Comp drivers sit in their dragsters with umbrellas strategically placed to ward off the sun, while electric fans circulate the heat inside a dozen Super Gassers like convection ovens. As I head toward the starting line, I hear engines running on all sides as racers warm up their engines.

Wait a minute! It’s hot enough to cook an omelet on the starting line, so why are drivers warming up their engines?

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Tech Talk #24 – Panning for Power

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

There seems to be some confusion about the true purpose of the lubrication system in a racing engine. The primary purpose of the oiling system is to lubricate the engine – period. It is emphatically *not* the place to look for horsepower in a bracket racing motor with a wet-sump oil pan.

Think of a sportsman drag racing engine as an endurance motor. It may only run at maximum power for a few seconds at a time, but those runs add up over a long season of racing. If you are a serious sportsman racer, you need an engine that can make 300 to 400 passes without looking at the bottom end. From my perspective, that’s the equivalent of running a 500-mile Winston Cup event or a 24-hour endurance race.

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Tech Talk #23 – Subtitle: The Age of Specialization

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

“I am convinced that the two most misunderstood words in engine building are ‘bolt on’.”

According to my sister, a veterinarian, all dogs are descended from a common ancestor. Every member of canis familiaris, also known as the domestic dog, can trace its roots to grey wolves that walked the earth 14,000 years ago. This means that Duke, the chocolate Labrador retriever who rules the Reher household, belongs to a family that also includes yappy miniature poodles, towering Great Danes, and every mutt at the Humane Society.

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Tech Talk #22 – The Importance of Gas Ports

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

As Reher-Morrison Racing Engines has evolved over the years, I have seen the differences between Pro Stock and high-horsepower sportsman engines become less discernible. Once upon a time, there was a common belief that some parts were just too exotic for sportsman-type engines. When my friends and I built small-blocks in the back room of an auto parts store in 1972, we thought that roller cams and custom pistons were wildly sophisticated. Now, of course, such components are commonplace in every eliminator.

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Tech Talk #21 – Dry Sump Oiling: How to Tame the Hurricane in your Engine

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

Economists and stock market analysts look to leading indicators to divine the future, but I have discovered a more accurate way to predict what will happen. I simply listen to my customers. The trend is clearly toward bigger, more powerful engines for all types of sportsman racing.

I can say categorically that interest in bigger engines is expanding (pardon the pun). While a 502 or 522-cubic-inch engine was once considered a big-inch powerplant, I now frequently field calls from racers asking about 615 and 632-cubic-inch motors. With the introduction of a new generation of Pro Stock-style CNC-ported cylinder heads, horsepower levels are climbing faster than the cost of electricity in California.

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Tech Talk #20 – No Replacement for Displacement

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

It’s often said that the only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys. Forty years ago, I earmarked the profits from my newspaper route to buy a new bicycle; today I can hardly wait to pick up my new 2001 Pro Stock Grand Am. I tell my accountant (and my wife) that a new race car is really an investment, a tool to promote our business and to keep Reher-Morrison Racing Engines on the leading edge of engine development. But just between you and me, I wouldn’t be gearing up for 24 weekends on the road next year if I didn’t enjoy racing.

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Tech Talk #19 – The Butterfly Effect

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

I come from a family of teachers, so I suppose it was inevitable that I would end up standing in front of a classroom. My father lectured on economics, but my specialty is racing engines. I thought I knew that subject well – until my students asked questions that I couldn’t answer!

This year we’ve hosted a series of Reher-Morrison Racing Engine Schools at our shop in Arlington, Texas. It’s rare to have a weekend when Bruce Allen and I aren’t racing or testing our Pro Stock Firebird, but I’ve found myself looking forward to the classroom sessions. A recent group of students who came for a two-day class was really into internal combustion, and their enthusiasm renewed my interest in parts and pieces that I’ve worked with for years.

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Tech Talk #18 – The Golden Age of Engine Building

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

There is a rule of thumb in the computer industry that speed and memory double every six months – at half the price. Alongside today’s Pentium processors and mega-gigabyte hard drives, the personal computers and that were state-of-the-art a few years ago now seem like steam-powered antiques.

The PC revolution has had a huge impact on drag racing – and not just in data acquisition systems and weather correction programs. The development of powerful mini-computers has dramatically cut the cost of horsepower by making sophisticated CNC (Computer Numeric Control) machining readily available. The result: Racers get more bang for their bucks than ever before.

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Tech Talk #17 – The Tiger Woods Syndrome

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

I am neither a golfer nor a golfing fan, but even I have heard about Tiger Woods. It seems there isn’t a national magazine, television news program, or newspaper that hasn’t featured golf’s latest multimillionaire. Woods’ success on the links has brought even greater success on his business ledger, with personal endorsements for everything from credit cards to sport shirts.

I know that buying a set of Tiger Woods golf clubs will not make me as good a golfer as he is. I have no illusions that owning a Mark McGwire baseball bat or a Michael Jordan basketball will make me a sports superhero. Unfortunately, some racers don’t understand that buying the parts used by successful drivers does not guarantee a place in the winner’s circle.

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Tech Talk #16 – Flow Bench Fallacies

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

Our era is often referred to as the Information Age, but not all of the available information is necessarily useful. I am beginning to think that flow benches should be labeled with a government warning: “Caution! Excessive reliance on flow numbers may be harmful to your engine!”

I’m kidding, of course. Used wisely, a flow bench can be a useful tool in engine development, just like a timing light or a dynamometer. Unfortunately, some racers believe that a flow bench is the ultimate answer machine.

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Tech Talk #15 – False Engine Economy

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

Recycling is unquestionably good for the health of planet Earth, but it is risky when you are building a race engine. My environmentally conscious teenage daughter has impressed on me the importance of recycling soft drink cans and newspapers for the good of future generations. The motivation to reuse race engine parts is usually financial, not ecological. I think it’s just bad business to reuse engine parts that are mismatched, outdated, or just plain worn out in the hope of saving a few dollars. Usually it turns out to be more expensive in the long run, and the results are seldom what you expected.

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Tech Talk #14 – Enjoy The Journey

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

What drives a person to want to race? There are certainly less stressful, less expensive, and less tiring ways to spend a weekend. While some people are content to channel surf or grow roses, I’ll wager that the readers of National DRAGSTER have a different idea about the best way to occupy their time.

People race for a variety of reasons. For some, racing is a business – a fortunate few are actually paid to drive race cars, or they earn a living from the sport as a parts manufacturer, engine builder, mechanic, or some related occupation. Others participate because they relish the challenge of competition or the rush of driving a fast car. Racing can be therapeutic, too – a welcome escape from the daily grind of deadlines and minor aggravations.

So if racing fills so many needs, why do I encounter such unhappy people at the races?

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Tech Talk #13 – Spring Cleaning: Sweeping out the Cobwebs

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

The signs of spring are unmistakable: flowers are blooming, basketballs are bouncing in the playoffs, and race car exhausts are booming. Racers are shaking off their winter doldrums, and race cars are coming out of hibernation in unheated garages and shops. But before you rev up for the new season, it’s essential to clean the cobwebs out of both your brain cells and your race car.

Racers have a tendency to focus on high-tech equipment, but this is the time of year to pay attention to the basics. Even the most sophisticated computers operate on a very simple binary system: they reduce the universe to ones and zeroes, to “Off” and “On.” A computer can tell you the driveshaft rpm at every millisecond during a run, but it can’t tell you why your engine is popping and banging at the top of low gear. That’s something you’re going to have to figure out using your analog human brain.

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Tech Talk #12 – Leaping to Conclusions

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

At the 1968 Summer Olympics, gold medal winner Bob Beamon soared 29 feet in the long jump – a leap nearly 3 feet longer than the previous record. Beamon excelled in jumping across a sand pit – but if jumping to conclusions were an Olympic event, I have no doubt that a drag racer would win the gold.

Jumping to conclusions is an occupational hazard in racing. We want our cars to run faster, more consistently, and more successfully. The pressure to perform is intense, and often we allow our emotions to overrule our common sense.

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Tech Talk #11- Keeping up with the Joneses

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

Although the title of this column is “Technically Speaking,” I’m going to stray from my usual nuts-and-bolts topics for this final column of the year. I’d like to comment on the only subject that concerns racers more than horsepower: money.

My fellow back-page columnist Ken Owen can certainly write with authority about the evil produced by the love of money. Our parents told us that money can’t buy happiness, and the Beatles sang to us that money can’t buy love. I’m going to add another item to the list of things that money can’t buy: success in racing.

I know that deep pockets are better than empty pockets. But I also know that without desire and determination, money is like gold plating – flash without substance.

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Tech Talk #10 – By The Book

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

You won’t see my name alongside Stephen King and Tom Clancy on the list of best-selling authors, and my book is not likely to be reviewed by the New York Times. Nevertheless I’m very proud to have joined the ranks of professional writers. When the first bound copies of the two-volume Reher-Morrison Engine Assembly handbooks arrived at the shop, I felt the same sense of accomplishment that I get when we fire a new engine on the dyno for the first time.

I really can’t take credit as the sole author of this work. Like the Encyclopedia Brittanica and the Bible, the 433-page Engine Assembly books were a collaborative effort, albeit on a much smaller scale.

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Tech Talk #9 – The Big Bang

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

I haven’t checked the Environmental Protection Agency’s list of endangered species recently, but I’m willing to bet that the small-block V8 is on the list. While the small-block is still the engine of choice in oval track racing and several NHRA sportsman eliminators – notably Stock, Super Stock, Competition, and Pro Stock Truck – the big-block V8 has simply taken over the heads-up eliminators and fast brackets.

There is a reason why the Rat motor reigns as the king of the quarter-mile: the big-block Chevy is durable, heavy-duty, and the best bargain in motor racing.

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Tech Talk #8 – Compression Session

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

“Under extreme pressure and temperature, the cylinder charge virtually explodes in the chamber.”

Back in drag racing’s Dark Ages when Reher-Morrison Racing Engines was building 287ci small-blocks by the dozens for Modified Eliminator, I used to wish that we could build engines without fighting for every point of compression. That desire now falls under the heading, “Be careful what you wish for.” Now that we are building scores of big-block Chevrolets with nearly twice the displacement of those vestpocket small-blocks, it’s very easy to end up with too much compression!

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Tech Talk #7 – Dyno Dividends

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

“Dynamometers have dramatically expanded the pool of knowledge in drag racing – and knowledge is power in our sport.”

In my view of the world, three discoveries changed the course of human development: fire, which ultimately led to the invention of internal combustion; the wheel, which evolved into the drag racing slick; and the engine dynamometer, which has been the great equalizer in drag racing.

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Tech Talk #6 – Head Games

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

“If we had Pro Stock cylinder heads fifteen years ago that were as good as the heads you can buy off the shelf today, we’d have killed ’em.”

I am truly astounded by the choices in competition cylinder heads that are available today. When I started my racing career 27 years ago, the only source for cylinder heads was a junkyard. Now racers can buy heads that are better than anything we raced in Pro Stock not too many years ago.

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Tech Talk #5 – Reher’s Rules: How to Keep Your Engine Alive

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

“Reliability is more important than horsepower when you have to pay your own engine repair bills.”

You don’t have to be a cardiologist like my fellow back-page columnist Dr. Torstveit to appreciate the importance of blood in the human body. I’ve watched enough episodes of “ER” and “Chicago Hope” to know that even a momentary interruption in the flow of blood to the brain can cause permanent damage.

At the risk of repeating a cliché, I’ll state categorically that oil is the lifeblood of an engine. The consequences of erratic oil delivery in a racing engine can be just as traumatic as the medical emergencies on television shows – but instead of comas and strokes, the likely results are broken connecting rods and catastrophic engine failures.

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Tech Talk #4 – Listen To Your Engine

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

“A race car deserves the same respect as an airplane”

Racing engines are like dogs and babies: They communicate in ways that not everyone can understand. When Duke, my Labrador retriever, is thirsty or wants to go outside, he doesn’t need to send me a memo or speak to me in perfect English. We communicate in nonverbal ways, and he has trained me how to interpret his actions and expressions. I have also learned that if I ignore what Duke is telling me, it’s very likely that I’ll end up with a mess on the kitchen floor to clean up.

A racing engine will also tell you when it is in distress. There are early warning signs that indicate when something is wrong. If you learn how to listen to your engine and interpret its messages, you can save a ton of money. And if you chose to ignore what your engine is saying, you will probably end up with a mess in the bottom of the oil pan to clean up.

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Tech Talk #3 – The Spring’s the Thing

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

“We learned some shocking truths about valvetrains.”

In the last two months, I have discovered a new kind of power: the power of the press. I’ve worked with mills, lathes, and hones for thirty years, so it was a real challenge for me to sit down at a word processor and begin my second career as a writer. I genuinely appreciate the comments and compliments I have received since I joined the ranks of National DRAGSTER’s back-page columnists.

My sense of humor is no match for Bob Frey’s, and I can’t offer any insights into the human condition like Rev. Owen and Dr. Torstveit. I do know a little about building engines, however, and that is going to be my subject. I promise that I won’t deluge you with theory and analysis; my intention is to offer practical advice and real-world recommendations based on my own experience.

I don’t make any claim that my word is gospel – I’ll leave that to the good reverend. Other engine builders may not agree with my opinions about particular parts and procedures, but I know what works for us at Reher-Morrison Racing Engines.

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Tech Talk #2 – Reher’s Rule: RPM Determines Reliability

DavidTechArticlesBy David Reher, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines

“Dead valvesprings, like dead canaries, are a sure sign of trouble ahead.”

This is the time of the year when a racer’s thoughts turn to next year. The brief break between seasons provides a welcome opportunity to spend some time thinking rather than wrenching. In that spirit, I’d like to suggest that the decisions you make in December will have an enormous impact on your chances of winning races next summer.

The most important thing a racer can do right now is to develop a plan. Without question, the most common mistake in racing is to buy parts impulsively without having a clear vision of where you want to end up. The result is often a pile of mismatched pieces that will never work together properly.

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