Talking to my buddy Jeff Porasik today (the other half
of 'hopper and 'chopper racing, pea gravel and
dandelion removal our specialty). Jeff is starting to
contemplate his next race motor. The one he has now is
based on a 1967 block I gave him 4 years ago after he
broke a wrist pin and and scored a cylinder. The motor
is .030 over, 13:1 compression ratio, dyno'd at a very
honest 90 rear wheel horsepower (probably 110-115
flywheel). The motor spends most of its time between
6500 and 7500 RPM. Jeff's run 4 or 5 multi-day events
a year for the past 3+ seasons on that motor, probably
over 3000 race miles on it. He has NEVER missed a
session due to an engine problem. It is the dreaded
"thin flanged" block. He has all 3 mains strapped, but
otherwise nothing terribly fancy on the bottom end. So
much, in my opinion, for the thin flanged blocks being
crap. He's changed rod bearings twice as part of the
winter routine, that's it. I've yet to hear of anyone
who actually had a problem with thin flange blocks on
the street, and Jeff's race history certainly presents
a helluva data point (it also says a lot about the
prep his mentor Don "Professor Whoopie" Shelton does
on the car).
Now back to the politics, religion, and immigration.
Ron
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