Question to the braintrust for motor building Options

[Mikey914]

Looking to make a larger motor (4) planning on a 2665, as I don;t really want to go over 103mm to make cooling easier.

The 80 crank is available for stock rods not the Chevy rods. It is my understanding that the Chevy option offers a significant upgrade to the strength. I'm tempted to do the stock.

My question is : should I wait an indeterminate time for the crank with the Chevy rod option? What am I really loosing here? or is this just a must for the larger motors?

My 1st engine build.

[Mikey914]

Thanks all,
This was the kind of feedback O was looking for. Definitely a few things to think on. We were looking at makung the biral cylinders here and had an idea for a twist on them that could improve cooling. I get that voids would be an issue. My idea was to utilize a process that we could replicate, and if the results were consistent, we would only have to to QC on a few in each batch.

The 78mm crank is a good point.

I think we can develop a pretty solid motor. The testing will be the most fun.

Mark

[Mark Henry]

Thanks all,
This was the kind of feedback O was looking for. Definitely a few things to think on. We were looking at makung the biral cylinders here and had an idea for a twist on them that could improve cooling. I get that voids would be an issue. My idea was to utilize a process that we could replicate, and if the results were consistent, we would only have to to QC on a few in each batch.

The 78mm crank is a good point.

I think we can develop a pretty solid motor. The testing will be the most fun.

Mark

My advice...don't. There's already too many players in that market.

Stick with your niche, if you need to expand cover the rubber/plastic (etc) parts for 356 and 911, venture into other cars, etc.

[NARP74]

Thanks all,
This was the kind of feedback O was looking for. Definitely a few things to think on. We were looking at making the biral cylinders here and had an idea for a twist on them that could improve cooling. I get that voids would be an issue. My idea was to utilize a process that we could replicate, and if the results were consistent, we would only have to to QC on a few in each batch.

The 78mm crank is a good point.

I think we can develop a pretty solid motor. The testing will be the most fun.

Mark

My advice...don't. There's already too many players in that market.

Stick with your niche, if you need to expand cover the rubber/plastic (etc) parts for 356 and 911, venture into other cars, etc.

New to the game here; so who are all of these players? I was just looking for them a while ago, needing a new or rebuilt engine. I found Raby, too expensive for me. I found some builders that went out of business. I found some builders scattered around the country but not convenient for shipping and expensive. I found a race shop several hours west of me, very expensive. I found one local builder that does a lot of VW stuff, he is booked out 6 to 9 months. And that has been the end of my work.

I am sure I have missed some. But from my perspective I would say go for it!

[barnfind9141972]

Thanks all,
This was the kind of feedback O was looking for. Definitely a few things to think on. We were looking at making the biral cylinders here and had an idea for a twist on them that could improve cooling. I get that voids would be an issue. My idea was to utilize a process that we could replicate, and if the results were consistent, we would only have to to QC on a few in each batch.

The 78mm crank is a good point.

I think we can develop a pretty solid motor. The testing will be the most fun.

Mark

My advice...don't. There's already too many players in that market.

Stick with your niche, if you need to expand cover the rubber/plastic (etc) parts for 356 and 911, venture into other cars, etc.

New to the game here; so who are all of these players? I was just looking for them a while ago, needing a new or rebuilt engine. I found Raby, too expensive for me. I found some builders that went out of business. I found some builders scattered around the country but not convenient for shipping and expensive. I found a race shop several hours west of me, very expensive. I found one local builder that does a lot of VW stuff, he is booked out 6 to 9 months. And that has been the end of my work.

I am sure I have missed some. But from my perspective I would say go for it!

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) Everyone claims there’s tons of people who can take these jobs on until you look for them and everyone is too busy, too expensive, or ready to retire. The cars aren’t going away but the people who help keep them on the road on the business side seem to be

[914_teener]

Thanks all,
This was the kind of feedback O was looking for. Definitely a few things to think on. We were looking at making the biral cylinders here and had an idea for a twist on them that could improve cooling. I get that voids would be an issue. My idea was to utilize a process that we could replicate, and if the results were consistent, we would only have to to QC on a few in each batch.

The 78mm crank is a good point.

I think we can develop a pretty solid motor. The testing will be the most fun.

Mark

My advice...don't. There's already too many players in that market.

Stick with your niche, if you need to expand cover the rubber/plastic (etc) parts for 356 and 911, venture into other cars, etc.

New to the game here; so who are all of these players? I was just looking for them a while ago, needing a new or rebuilt engine. I found Raby, too expensive for me. I found some builders that went out of business. I found some builders scattered around the country but not convenient for shipping and expensive. I found a race shop several hours west of me, very expensive. I found one local builder that does a lot of VW stuff, he is booked out 6 to 9 months. And that has been the end of my work.

I am sure I have missed some. But from my perspective I would say go for it!

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) Everyone claims there’s tons of people who can take these jobs on until you look for them and everyone is too busy, too expensive, or ready to retire. The cars aren’t going away but the people who help keep them on the road on the business side seem to be

I don't agree with Mark. I don't believe there are "too many people" .

What I believe is that things aren't like they were even 5 years ago. So to believe you can go down to your "local VW" shop and get a valve job for your 50 year old heads...have been gone for some time and since there is now a scarcity of people that are willing to take on that...the people that will, can't get paid what it is worth because it is "too expensive".

Try finding a really good used car now...strange times and they are a changing. I say go for it Mark...put something together....but good work and good engines have never been cheap.

That's the original purpose of this community to share experiences and experiment on your own and share them.....not as a social network to find who does work cheap.

Go for it.

[Superhawk996]

What I believe is that things aren't like they were even 5 years ago. So to believe you can go down to your "local VW" shop and get a valve job for your 50 year old heads...have been gone for some time and since there is now a scarcity of people that are willing to take on that...the people that will, can't get paid what it is worth because it is "too expensive".

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) Most "Automotive Technicians" are no longer mechanics and certainly not ones that have the tools or skill to do a valve job from scratch. Far too many are trained to simply depend on OBD dignostics and swap parts.

I know that is a unfair stereotype and there are still good mechanics out there. I don't mean to offend them. Even so, the "Techs" are generally better trained on how to diagnose and repair CAN related module and electrical problems than the historical mechanics so it really is a tradeoff that is a result of what they work on most and where they make their money.

For what it's worth, I thought Mark was referring more to the creation of big bore Biral cylinders and the associated manufacturing pitfalls of Biral vs. the tech that went into developing Nickies. Porsche didn't stay with Biral for long . . . there were good reasons for that.

[Mark Henry]

What I believe is that things aren't like they were even 5 years ago. So to believe you can go down to your "local VW" shop and get a valve job for your 50 year old heads...have been gone for some time and since there is now a scarcity of people that are willing to take on that...the people that will, can't get paid what it is worth because it is "too expensive".

For what it's worth, I thought Mark was referring more to the creation of big bore Biral cylinders and the associated manufacturing pitfalls of Biral vs. the tech that went into developing Nickies. Porsche didn't stay with Biral for long . . . there were good reasons for that.

Yes I was talking about the biral's, I remember well when Charles (LN) made a go of them and the cost was too great to make an acceptable product to their standards. They had the product and all the manufacturing bugs worked out and they still decided to stop making them.

As far as building engines go... well have at it, good luck.
You might have some success if you're building a single stock engine line, but once into performance every customer has different needs and wants and no single engine line will satisfy every customer. I've personally never had much luck selling turnkey engines built on spec. other than stock engines.