Diamond Pistons has introduced an ambitious new formula—a notable step forward in piston performance—the Diamond double-coat.
By combining hard-coat anodizing with a moly-skirt coating, Diamond’s double-coat pistons will benefit all engines but is particularly useful in power-adder applications.
Features:
• Provides a thermal barrier and increases both corrosion-resistance and wear-resistance
• Deters piston rings from micro welding themselves to the ring grooves and it creates an excellent adhesion surface
• Resists high cylinder temperatures and pressures and frees-up a little more power; baked-on molybdenum dry-film lubricant skirt coating adds an anti-friction anti-scuffing surface
• Increases machined clearances of about .002-inch on the piston diameter and also on the width and depth of the ring grooves to compensate for the additional build-up from the anodizing process
• Includes submerging in a detergent-acid bath, followed by two rinses before the anodizing process and three rinses after
• Adds five light coats of the moly dry-film lubricant and baked in an oven for an hour.
Diamond, who has been developing and testing their double-coat procedures for over two years, conducts all their coating processes inhouse.
The turn-around time for the Diamond double-coat process is about two days and the cost is $50 per piston. Single coatings, either anodizing or moly-skirt, are still available.
Most everyone would like to have a new roller cam for their engines, but let’s face it, we don’t all have that kind of cash. A hydraulic or mechanical flat tappet is still a good alternative and can give years of trouble free service. By now, most guys in the hobby have heard of the reduced zinc content in most motor oil. This isn’t really that big of a deal. There are several additives out there that work well, and quite a few oils developed for older cars with more zinc in them. Let’s talk about a couple of keys to success in getting your camshaft broken in and happy.
It is critical for the lifters to spin freely in their bores. I ship lifters in a box with individual sleeves on them to avoid any nicks during shipment, as do most of the good suppliers . The key to successful cam break in is all in the prep work. Before I wash a block for final assembly, I use an old lifter to make sure it moves freely in all of the bores. (Both up and down as well as rotation) I also scrub them liberally with a brush during cleaning. Make sure that you have enough clearance when assembling the heads both retainer to guide as well as coil bind on the spring. This is important. A bind anywhere in the valvetrain is certain to cause trouble. Also make sure to check piston to valve clearance. It is smart to remove inner springs on mechanical cams. Lots of people don’t, but its an easy thing to do to insure the long life of your cam.
Inspect the lifters to make sure they don’t have any nicks or surface imperfections. Apply lube liberally to the cam lobes and the bottoms of the lifters only. I like to use either Gibbs assembly grease or ARP moly paste. Use oil on the sides of the lifters and journals of the cam. I use Brad Penn break-in oil on all of my engines. Joe Gibbs has a similar product as does Comp Cams now. When starting the engine the first time, you want a quick, clean start up. Bring the engine up to 2000-2500 RPM immediately and vary it in that range for 20 minutes. If it gets hot, shut it down. Just don’t let it go back to idle. It is wise to use a carburator that you know works well. I am a big fan of changing the oil right away to get rid of any contaminants and assembly lubes that may be floating around in the engine. After that, change your oil regularly with a good, high zinc content oil like the Brad Penn, or a good quality oil with an additive.
Wiping a cam has very little to do with the profile itself. Just like a good paint job, it’s all in the details during the prep work.
We have two products on sale this weekend, starting Friday 3/19/2010:
1) Brad Penn oil. By using the coupon code “bpoil” recieve an extra 5$ off per case. Now is the time to stock up on oil for the season! This offer only applies to full case quantities, and must be purchased online Coupon will be valid starting at 12:01 AM on Friday, and ends Sunday at 11:59PM. Brad Penn Products
2) Rollmaster Timing Sets: Use the coupon “rollmaster” and recieve an additional $10 off on the best timing sets available. Coupon will be valid from 12:01 AM on Friday, through 11:59 PM on Sunday. Online orders only. Rollmaster
Thinking about stepping up the connecting rods in your engine this year? If so, this weekend is a great opportunity to do so! Just place your online order, and enter “oliver’ in the coupon code and recieve an additional $34 off our already low prices on Oliver Billet Rods. Available online only. Offer valid only on Oliver Billet Connecting Rods. Click here to see our Oliver Rods.
If you race it…
we build a rod for it.
Oliver American made billet rods made from E4340AQ designed by engineers, racers and engine builders using the latest design tools and manufacturing technology to create a new benchmark in quality, availability and service.
Oliver rods are available in the proper offset to fit most commonly used applications and are widely used in NASCAR, Nextel Cup, Busch Grand National cars and Craftsman Trucks. NHRA and IHRA drag racing, World of Outlaws sprint cars and late models, pavement late models and super modifieds. Oliver rods are also used in truck and tractor pulling, offshore powerboat racing, drag boats and world speed record vehicles, Including our World Record holding land speed Mod Motor in Steve Benyo’s 2003 Cobra.
Competition Components is pleased to announce the availability of Innovators West’s new vibration dampers for 5.7 and 6.1 HEMI applications. Currently, all models are available in overdrive configurations to get additional boost in supercharger applications. We have used Innovators West dampers for years and have always been pleased with their quality. Even in extreme horsepower applications, bearings come out of these engines in great shape, the true measure of how well a damper does it’s job.
Competition Components is pleased to announce the addition of CNC Ported Edelbrock heads for small block mopar applications. We have taken the solid foundation of Edelbrock’s Small Block Mopar head castings and put together a premium hardware package for hydraulic, mechanical flat tappet and Hydraulic roller applications.
Edelbrock Performer RPM castings (Made in USA)
Full CNC Porting of runners and chambers
2.055/1.600 stainless steel valves with undercut stems
Web site updated to show the latest offering from CP Pistons, their new Bullet line : Bullet Pistons by CP
CP Pistons new Bullet product line
They are a great value! They run a little bit more than some of the other economy line pistons, but they have really done a great job of incorporating the latest in piston design into these slugs, and the come with rings and pins!
The first year we run the car naturally aspirated because of the delays with K1 crank and rods. It run decently with the Scott Brown (Competition Components) cammed 528 pump gas wedge; 10.64/130 mph.
For the next summer we got the turbo engine built; 7.1″ K1 rods, 3.75″ stroke K1 crank, Ross dished pistons (51cc, 8.6:1), Scott Brown cam with around 260 degrees at .050″ and almost 0.7″ lift with 1.6 ratio Erson rockers. The Indy intake was converted to EFI by adding injector bungs Instead of welding they are press fit and glued; seems to work, Wilson elbow and 95mm throttle body. Heads are Indy 440-1, homeported with 2.25″ intake valves, valvesprings are Isky gold stripe. Oiling is with a regular Melling hv pump and external static single line pick up. Self made 8 quart pan since nothing is available aftermarket for this body. Headers are black iron, 2″ to 1 7/8 to 1 3/4 an 4-2 models because of the twin entry turbos. Exhaust is 4″ with bullet mufflers. The turbos are realatively small, Garrett hybrids with 68mm compressor and 88mm turbine, 1.22 A/R. They spool very quickly and the car can be raced without any tricks to get the boost up. Twin 60mm HKS wste gates and local Pates racing pop off valves. The injectors are 160 lbs, ignition is done with a hall sensor, four 6mm bolts are threaded 90 degrees apart to the self made aluminum lower pulley, distributor is used for distributing the spark and with 7 peaks removed from the reluctor also acts as a cam sensor. MSD 7 AL2. Engine management is Autronic SM4. Cooling is handled by a big griffin radiator and Craig Davies EWP water system with variable speed external pump and a temp controller, the cooling is reversed and water is also put in from between the siamesed center exhaust ports. Intercooler is locally built air/air, typical intake temp at 18 psi is around 130-140F
The transmission is a JW Ultraglide with seven disc clutch and wide band, 1.80 straight gears. Originally rated for 1800 hp and worked flawlessly. The converter is PTC 10″ with ateel stator that has also worked like charm. We had it tightened last summer since when adding boost we run out of stall speed. One example of the innovative thnking is the trans fluid; we have been fine adjusting the stall speed with SAE 80 wet brake fluid, and currently have about 70% of SAE 80 and the rest ATF. The stall speed is 6200 with full boost, currently about 18-20 psi. 4″ cro mo drive shaft with 1350 joints. Rear is Strange S 60 wit 4.10 gears, spool and 40 spline solid axles. Wheels are weld all over front brakes are HD B-body Wilwoods fitted in to the C-body spindles (-50 lbs), fornt tires regular street Hankooks and rears M/T ET Streets 18.5″/33″. Four link with a wishbone in the rear from a quartermax kit and Strange double adjustable shocks. Front suspension and steering are Stock, extra heavy duty torsion bars (1.18″ vs 0.98″ stock) and Koni shocks. Front and rear bumpers, hood and doors are fiberglass and side & rear glasses lexan. The chassis is SFI 25.5 cerified which created a major problem since it has got a maximum weight of 3600 lbs. After all the work we are currently under it and with the smaller fuel cell we can now even hopefully add wheelie bars and a rear sway bar. We currently leave the line at about 10 psi and the best 60 ft so far has been 1.26. Shift at around 7100, 1/8 mile 5.100 at 143 mph and the quarter mile 7.89/174+, against the 7500 rew limiter about 0.5 seconds. We have still about 5 psi of boost left in the current turbos, and the launch propably could be made better. Haven’t also used the many properties of the Autronic, controlling boost etc. I think we can still cut a couple of tenths without parts changes, but we’ll see.
Tony Russo’s Dart is kind of plain. Sleeper isn’t really the word. Maybe subdued is. It’s most definitely clean. The attention to detail is great too. It’s just not flashy. Tony likes to make his statement at the track. This car has evolved over the years from a 440 powered bracket car to a nitrous assisted stormer. He is still hard at work making improvements, we wonder what he has in store….
The Engine:
499 CID = 4.375 bore x 4.150 stroke
9375 box stock dominator
Indy Intake ported by Competition Components
Nitrous system, Edelbrock and Nos components, installed by Tony Russo
Heads 440-1’s ported by Competition Components
Scott Brown roller cam
T & D Rockers
Smith Bros pushrods
Pistons Ross flattops
Rods GRP alum
Crank Callies
Oil pan, home made Tony Russo
Milodon single line, fixed pickup
2″ ProParts headers
4″ Exh, Hooker Aero Max mufflers
The Car:
1973 Dodge Dart
Front suspension – Stock, 318 T bars
Front shocks AFCO
S & W Roll cage
2 X 2 Box frame connectors
S & W ladder bar kit
Rear shocks Strange
Trans Rossler Turbo 400 ATI 10″ blown/fuel converter
S & W 9″ Rear, Strange center and axles 3.70 gears
Race weight with driver 3.550
Currently registered and inspected and street driven in NY
Sheldon Brewer’s Dart has it all. Literally! That’s why it weighs in at a hefty 3705 lbs with him in it. Things like the full exhaust with power cutouts, cd player, and other creature comforts add considerably to the Dart’s race weight. That’s a lot more than most race cars.
But with it’s pump gas 496, it runs consistantly in the 10.40’s. That’s pretty quick for a street car! And the engine isn’t some tricked out tempramental race piece either. Sheldon’s 496 is just a well put together pump gas combo. The 496 has a 4.150 stroke 4340 Crank, 6.760 4340 H-beam rods, and a custom Ross Piston that calculates out to 10.7 to 1. Cylinder heads are ported Edelbrocks with the springs, locks and retainers swapped out to accomodate the custom flat tappet cam. The cam is 263/273 @ .050, and has pretty good street manners. An Edelbrock Victor manifold and a Quick Fuel 1050 (4150 based) carb round out the top end. This engine dyno’d at 654HP and 653lb/ft of torque. Dyno Results here.
A quick online trip to Wallace Racing’s HP/ET calculator, show’s that Sheldon’s car should run in the high 10.38 @ 129, which is pretty close to what it actually runs, so it looks like the HP numbers from the dyno and the real world all work out. (So much for those that say we test on a happy dyno.)
The rest of Sheldon’s driveline consists of a 9.5″ PTC converter spec’d out to match the custom camshaft, and 4.10 gears drive the Mickey Thompson DragRadials.
