I saw the last 3/4 of a Toyota sponsored program about their new race motors
designed to NASCAR specs. It was fascinating.
They assigned a group that had designed winning CART, IRL and
competitive F-1 motors
the task of designing a 358 CID push rod (what's that??) OHV motor.
Nothing about the
design had to be "like" anything ever built before. It just had to meet
NASCAR specs.
Length, width and height are flexible - the engine bay in a race car
fits the motor, not
the other way around. The casting spends a lot of time on a five (5)
axis CNC machine
because the casting appears to have a great deal of extra material
everywhere.
The bore centers looked very large to me. Wet liners, 2" thick deck,
main webs a bit thinner
than the Great Wall of China, the only "as cast" surface I saw was the
water jacket area inside
the cylinders. The basic block looks rigid enough to handle 2,000 HP.
They didn't show much of the head -- Hmmm.. I think that's where the
real challenge is for the
Toyota engineers. Building a strong block is easy and meaningless if
valves keep falling into
the cylinder.
I'm sure some of the super-retro-design aspects of the engine package
required them to hire
experienced NASCAR people. Pushrod valve train, distributor and
carburetor knowledge
could only come from NASCAR people.
I failed to write the name of the program down. (rat's).
The Craftsman Truck D-Derby on Friday was disappointing. I hate to see
race cars get torn up
even if it's a scheduled part of the entertainment. Anyone for Roller Ball?
Bryan 58 and partly cloudy in Placerville where we get 40" of rain
a year (78 in 1980)
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