Looking for more Horsepower, try this...

[Dock Holiday]

I have a buddy and a customer that helped develop a process called micro finishing many years ago. He relocated to North Carolina about 10 years ago and started a company called ARRC which stands for Automotive Racing Research Corporation.

Originally he was working only with the Nascar teams, but more recently has done work for Indy car teams and has done some marine engine work.

His process is to take a cam, crank and other internal engine components and put a "PERFECT" finish on them.

In one Indy car engine they saw an 8% increase in horsepower after he did their engine components.

We sell him all his Norton abrasives he uses and also many of the drive components for the equipment he operates and I have found him to not only be extremely knowledgeable about this process, but a real nice guy that shoots straight and is easy to talk with.

If any of you are interested in learning more, please give him a call. I plan to use his services when the time comes to rebuild the 500's.

ARRC
2646 Davie Avenue
Statesville, NC 28625

Gaylord Groenke

1-888-535-0272
Cell 704-657-9015
Fax 704-978-1103

Tell him Mark or "Dock Holiday" sent you. He can explain this much better than I can, but there is horsepower there that we are all loosing with the finish on stock parts.

[Turbojack]

I wonder if the rpm the nascar & indy motors turn where the process makes a bigger difference. 8% is a big HP improvement. I wonder what % would be only turning 5600-5800 rpm?

[mcollinstn]

At 9000 rpm, parasitic losses from wet-film friction (plain bearings, pistons on cylinder walls, flat tappet lifters on camshafts, valveguides, crank windage), dry friction (piston rings on cylinder walls), and aerodynamic friction (crank throws generating air turbulence, pumping losses from air on the bottom side of pistons), and accessory drives (alternators, water pumps, oil pumps, ps pumps, fuel pumps, etc) all add up and increase in exponential fashion with rpm.

I've not seen the curves to be able to pinpoint the rpm at which the exotic technologies start showing a decent improvement, but I'm sure it is well over 5000.

Exotic coatings and surface finishes can indeed reduce the parasitic losses and some coatings can act as heat barriers on combustion parts that allow operation into previously dangerous conditions. It's just generally assumed that these technologies are not cost effective for a 5000 rpm 1 hp/inch motor.

Areas that may raise an eyebrow on our boat motors are: valve spring coatings to dampen harmonics and transfer heat from rapid cycling. Piston coatings for supercharged applications. Maybe there are others?

As far as microfinishing cylinder bores, I feel that a motor that gets run hard, stored for a few weeks, then run hard again - works better with a good x-hatch in the bores to keep the rings "honest".

Microfinishing bearings and rotating journals may be helpful but I'd think that a good premium synthetic lube would give acceptable, if not similar, benefits.

Just throwing out thoughts here.

[fred]

ARRC is one of our licensed businesses who do Microfinishing, I am a assembly superintendent at the main plant where the microfinishing machines are built, Impco Machine Tools in Lansing Mi. we build these for GM, Ford, Chrysler, Cat, Mercury Marine, John Deere, and other company's all over the world, Microfinishing doesn't only reduce friction with it's shine on a part. it improves the geometry ( roundness, flatness), to learn more about it please take a look at our web page; www.impco.com Thanks, Fred