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Messages - Barry_R

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1
I take it 3D printing is not a viable option for making the parts?  I'm aware that some very intricate parts like the one in this video can be made, but I have no knowledge of the costs involved.

So I did a small amount of searching.  Appears to be well beyond EXTREMELY cost prohibitive.  I'm still trying to wrap my head around how manufacturing facilities are justifying something like this (probably still too small for some of Jay's parts) versus having a part cast at a foundry.  Both options require final machining.

Aerospace and prototype have moved deep into this.  Low volume or first run stuff where speed of delivery outweighs costs, and/or where the full cost of tooling has to be amortized over a very few parts.

2
FE Technical Forum / Re: Those "new" summit fe HYD roller cams.
« on: April 14, 2026, 11:57:50 AM »
So it seems Brian Nutter is the guy designing the lobes.(cant find a ton about him)

Brian is a very sharp dude.  He has a lot of years in the industry - although little direct FE experience.
H put in a lot of time at Wiseco doing pistons before moving to Summit.

3
Vendor Classifieds / Re: FE Power intake adapter...a bit different
« on: April 10, 2026, 11:30:50 AM »
Given the casting situation I am debating whether I should hang on to it....likely won't ever get another one.

4
FE Technical Forum / Re: aluminum block mains
« on: April 01, 2026, 03:45:06 PM »
We can get further into the "weeds" on this stuff by adding in the impact of "hoop stress" from the bearing shells.
An installed bearing pair is essentially a press fit, which we observe as "crush" - the amount of bearing shell that sticks out of an unassembled housing bore.

At F-M our engineers (I am not an engineer) recognized the importance of increased press fit on performance bearings.  They saw greater dimensional integrity and enhanced heat transfer. To get that value, they increased the amount of crush.  When they increased the crush they had to change the type of backing steel used in the bearing shell because the standard material would buckle under the increased load.  That stronger steel and higher crush load will impact housing bore integrity.  Another reason to directly check bearing clearances as an assembly rather than simply stacking measurements.

5
FE Technical Forum / Re: aluminum block mains
« on: April 01, 2026, 12:42:28 PM »
We run our aluminum block stuff at around .002 clearance.
I would go tighter, but I get nervous about cold start and modest cost (Scat etc.) parts tolerances.

6
After reading about Jay's casting challenges - and knowing that I might not be able to ever get another one of these - I am just gonna hang onto this for a while.
Sorry....

7
Nice job.
We used to do those in quantity a few years ago. 
Even made a fixture to do them in a lathe (still have it somewhere...).
I think we sold a couple dozen sets and nobody else ever ordered them...

8
FE Technical Forum / Re: Rotating assembly question
« on: March 19, 2026, 07:37:20 AM »
I will agree with the other guys for the most part.
But I also want to play "devil's advocate" for a moment as well.

When doing balance calculations - what do folks doing the work add to the equation for "oil"?
I have seen values anywhere from "nothing" to "10 grams".
I can pretty much guarantee that the value chosen is - in the vast majority of cases - based on nothing beyond legacy, opinion, or wild guess.
The guys at Ford or NASCAR probably know exact values - the rest of us take the best guess we can with available information.

And many balance folks will promote the accuracy of their balance to 1/4 of a gram.
I had the pleasure of digging into the software of a reasonably new, reasonably nice, and reasonably expensive balancer.
We discovered that it had a +/-3 gram fudge factor built in that would happily print out "zero" on the display.

I am NOT telling anyone that a poor job is OK, nor that anybody is misleading them.
I am telling folks not to get too freaked out if balance stuff is not perfect if/when they check it themselves.
The process catches outliers and gross errors/issues.  It gets things close.
The minutia can remain minutia without ill effects.

9
FE Technical Forum / Re: hydraulic roller cam in a 390
« on: March 16, 2026, 05:56:08 AM »
I think the new FE hydraulic rollers are just that - very much new.
I doubt that anyone has a lot of experience with them yet.
I will probably try one out in the coming weeks since availability on other brands has been terrible.

10
Non-FE Discussion Forum / Re: Crankshafts
« on: March 16, 2026, 05:53:24 AM »
I have sold - and built - hundreds of FE engines with cast Scat cranks for over 20 years now. 
I have only had a few of them truly break. 
They were at or over the 700 HP level, or in continuous load applications - marine/road race.
Those guys - along with blower guys - simply require steel.  No option.
For everyone else it's insurance.

11
FE Technical Forum / Re: Modifying solid roller lifter
« on: February 17, 2026, 10:27:12 AM »
We have done them by hand with a die grinder (Dremel) and a very small cut off wheel, and have done them on a Bridgeport using a radiused cutter.  Basically going from "cave man" to "precise" with essentially the same results.  You just need a scratch to connect the oil feeds.  You could probably do it will a small hand file and some patience.  The issue is in very tight lifter to lifter bore clearance (.001-.002) combined with oil feed hole location (cam dependent).  It does not take much to correct that as far as oil flow is considered, and it's almost impossible for a careful man to screw it up.  Almost.....

12
FE Technical Forum / Re: Overheating 427
« on: February 11, 2026, 07:54:31 AM »
Thermostat makiing it worse might be the clue.  Points toward Jay's comment about coolant flow - water pump.
is this a "new build" or something that has been running for a long time?
I have seen engines that got hot very quickly on dyno when head gasket was installed backwards.

13
FE Technical Forum / Re: BBM Block
« on: February 06, 2026, 11:47:49 AM »
In what regard?

Same here...
Waiting for more detail before I can craft a response.

14
FE Technical Forum / Re: 3/8" pushrods
« on: February 04, 2026, 07:49:12 PM »
Kinda backing up Brett's comments.  On solid roller stuff I consider that .135 as a minimum, and prefer .165 wall if I can get it. 
Solid roller stuff needs to be as stiff as possible.  With lash on a solid roller I prefer not to have oil holes in the pushrod unless using the T&D race rockers where pushrod oiling is mandatory.

15
FE Technical Forum / Re: Cam Grind Suggestions
« on: January 31, 2026, 02:51:06 PM »
You can run any of the factory FE rockers with a hydraulic roller.  With hydraulic roller spring loads, I would run end stands and I prefer to run a solid spacer in between the rockers instead of springs. 

You’ll have to weigh the costs of the items that you’ll need to buy against buying a complete kit.

Agree 100% with this.  Although I really like roller tip rockers - they effectively uncouple the rocker from the valve tip - makes for better guide life.
First time I did a hydraulic roller with OE nonadjustable rockers it was for a budget conscious stroker, and I was kinda stunned at how well it ran.  Removing that swinging 7/16 bolt (AKA adjuster) from the rocking mass added an easy couple hundred RPM of smooth power to an already known and tested combination.

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