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AUGUST NEWS Here we are again in the middle of another hot summer in the South. Our business is doing well thanks to our growing number of loyal customers. We are busy working on several new product designs we will be releasing over the next several months. One area of the business that we are staying very busy with is our engine builds. At the time we write this we have seven 944 turbo engines in various stages. One 3.0L engine project is completed and being crated for shipment, another completed engine is at our partner shop in OKC that is reinstalling it into the chassis along with other repairs they are doing for the customer. Another is a 3L engine that the short block the assembly is nearly complete. We just picked up a block after boring that is being turned into a 2.8L stroker. One block is out getting the cylinders Nikasil coated and will be back soon.Other blocks are simply waiting on machine time to finish them up. It gets difficult sometimes to manage several engines at one time. Each having different machine operations required, different build parts and unique aesthetic appearance such as polishing, painting or plating. We have been re-thinking and modifying our logistical processes along the way as this area of the business grows. These engines require many steps from tear down, to cleaning, to machining, to final assembly, not to mention parts procurement. All engine are documented along the way with many photos, build logs and specification sheets on pistons, cams, rods and heads etc. We record and know exactly what your ring gap was, the piston specifications, the cylinder head combustion chamber CC volume, cylinder bore size, valve lash (if solids), cylinder head flow and other areas of the engine. Pictures showing progress of the builds are available along the way to be e-mailed at the customer's request. A full build and specification package is available when completed if the customer wants and we keep it on file for future reference if needed. We do this for a couple of reasons. Over the years we have seen several people go back into an engine that they paid someone good money to build only to find things they paid for and thought they had, they didn't. Maybe the shops felt the customer would never go into the engine and ever know. An example would be paying for a stronger set of connecting rods and only to find out you still have stock rods in your motor. Or you paid for crankshaft work and it was bone stock. So by producing a full history of the engine build, and providing the customer documentation along the way, the customer can with confidence know what he has and Lindsey Racing can protect it's reputation. Should another shop need to tear into the engine later for a scheduled rebuild or further upgrades, they would know what they are working with and can order the correct parts such as rings and bearings, seals, etc. We have been in the car business long enough to know a simple phone call or lunch time break can distract you from what you were doing and where you're at on an assembly. So we have building/assembly logs that require signing off on every step of the engine build. This insures you don't overlook something like tightening that last connecting rod cap or to torque the front crank bolt after the flywheel is installed once you remove it from the engine stand and can finally lock the flywheel. So far our customers seem to greatly appreciate this above and beyond practice we take with their engines. It gives them confidence they are getting what they pay for, and the work is being done thoroughly and professionally to insure the best job available. Lindsey Racing will soon be offering several levels of 944Cup motors. Long block engines will be in stock for immediate shipment. Break your engine mid season with a race next weekend? Your solution will be available from Lindsey Racing. Stay tuned for details and engines! In addition to building a growing number of engines in house for customers, we now have over 50 solid lifter camshaft motors out there. We get asked quite often if we would just sell the components and the answer had been usually a NO. We have decided that since we have the process down pat, and have plenty of inventory of associated components such as lifters, lash caps, steel coated cam tower gaskets, that we would offer the package in "Kit" form. This kit will require machine work on the cylinder head which must be removed from the car. So if you're pulling your head, and thinking solids, give us a call and we can explain the details on the conversion. Many of you had the pleasure of doing business with Matthew the last two years. His last day with Lindsey Racing was June 26th. In case you were exchanging e-mails with him and they went un-answered, that would explain why. Matthew grew up in Belgium as his parents are missionaries from Oklahoma doing their work there. He returned to the States to get a college education here in Oklahoma. After he completed his degree, he spent the next two years with Lindsey Racing. He picked up many skills here which should help him in his future endeavors. Dealing with anything thrown at you can help build any person's confidence in their abilities, whatever they may be. Matt is returning to Belgium to pursue his original career plans and be closer to his family.
AUGUST & SEPTEMBER SPECIALSFor the months of August and September, we will be offering the following special pricing for our retail customers only. Specials may apply to one or both months. Other discounts and programs do not apply and cannot be combined. You must request the special pricing at time of ordering. The shopping cart does not recognize our specials and will NOT automatically give you the special pricing. You MUST either send us a follow up e-mail immediately after ordering through the shopping cart or International Order Form, or give us a telephone call and ask for your special pricing. If you order by phone, you MUST mention the special pricing at time of order. If you contact us after the order is shipped and request the special pricing, it will be too late to receive it.
Popping your pipes off? Lindsey Racing Hard Pipes are on sale for 10% off the month of August and September.
Our new and improved Adjustable Cam Gear is on sale for 10% for the months of August and September.
Our new Silicone Hose Kit for the stock hard pipes will keep your pipes from blowing off. Celebrate with getting 15% for the month of August!
Save big this summer on our 340 RWHP Kit. Everything needed to make 340 RWHP for your street or track car. Discounted 10% this August and September! You can upgrade this kit with bigger turbos, injectors and exhaust for a few dollars more!
AUGUST CUSTOMER CAR OF THE MONTHBrian Swope's 2.5L '89 Turbo SBrian recently completed (are they ever really done?) this blue beast. Does the color seem familiar to you? Think Subaru. Brian lurks the streets of Oklahoma City and competes in Auto-X events when it's not at rest in his garage.
ENGINE MODS:
Lindsey Racing Built 2.5L CHASSIS MODS:
Lindsey Racing Front Sway Bar Stiffeners
SEPTEMBER CUSTOMER CAR OF THE MONTHEric Andkjar's 3.0L 944 Turbo we nicknamed "Orange Krush"Part 1 of a 2 part feature. Part 2 next issue! Part 2 takes it from here to on the track! This car is not the first P car project Eric has been involved with, he built and raced a 912 body car with a 3.2 liter Carrera motor. The need for more speed prompted him to purchase a rolling chassis from a well know racer in the north east to begin his latest project. All of the work in this "ground up" build was performed by Eric and was done in his garage shop. He proceeded to completely strip the body to the metal, top, bottom, inside and out. Every inch of paint and undercoating was removed from the body. He then reworked the roll cage to allow more leg room in getting in and out of the car as well as additional stiffening members to the cage. Eric was intrigued by the Kokeln GTR bumper design. As you can see he went to great length and trouble to design a completely new front end to the car. Eric works with Cad Cam and solid works in his business so after he measured and digitized the entire front body section of the car he designed the frame work to support the 996 twin radiator and a massive custom made Lindsey Racing intercooler which measured the same size as the stock radiator only it is 3.5" thick. Below the radiator sits a 930S oil cooler. The body of the car consists of many GT Racing fiberglass fenders and quarter panels, header panel, racing dash. The rear suspension is a Kokeln design using Ohlins full coil over double adjustable shocks. Front suspension is Turbo S spindles with Lindsey Racing Chrome Moly Control Arms with Ohlins Double Adjustable Struts. Inside the bright orange beauty engine bay is a fully prepped 3.0L dry sump Lindsey Racing track motor. Next months issue will focus on the preparation that went into the engine. We could go on praising Eric's work on this beautiful car for page after page, the best thing you can do is simply look at the photos. They speak volumes as to the quality of design and workmanship he put into his car. Eric is clearly a craftsman and we give 'a big thumbs up' to his latest P car project.
ENGINE MODS:
Lindsey Racing Built Dry Sumped 3.0L CHASSIS MODS:
Ohlins Triple Adjustable Suspension Kit BRAKE MODS:
Lindsey Racing Big Brake Kit SHOP TALKOne of the most recent additions to our Machine Work and Engine Services we can perform on your 2.5L engine is what we call our "Windage Port". This can be described as a port or opening at the base of the cylinders. One opening is between the base of cylinders number 1 and 2, and the other is between cylinders 3 and 4.
This wasn't an idea we came up with, but rather Porsche did. You can see it on the '89 2.7L and 3.0L 944S2 and 968 blocks from the factory. What we did was try to understand why they may have added this port to those later years blocks. You would think it was an improvement in either performance or reliability, or both! We refer to it as Cylinder Pumping. We have noticed that there is a much lower, almost non existent, incidence of rod bearing failure on these 104mm bore blocks. Have you ever heard of a bearing failure on a 968 or 944S2? We don't recall hearing about one. Even one that has been turbo charged and seeing higher bearing loads. Seeing how both the 2.5L and 3.0L engines use the same bearings, oil pump, block oiling passage ways, crank (except stroke length), pick up tube and more, what's the difference? Well... one big difference is the windage port. On a conventional V8, V6 or opposed cylinder engine like a 911's Flat 6, when one cylinder is on the down stroke, the cylinder opposite or across from it is on the up stroke. So the air trapped below the piston moves from one cylinder to the other easily. The volume of air there simply shifts or exchanges from one cylinder to the next like passing a ball back and forth between your hands. On the Inline 4 cylinder engine, like the 944's, the cylinders are not opposed. The air beneath the piston doesn't have the same nice easy ability to move from one cylinder to it's adjacent cylinder. The air is somewhat compressed and has to work around the crankshaft throws and engine girdle to get to the next cylinder. Since the oil pan practically touches the girdle, there is almost no room for this to easily happen. This backwards compressing of the air is not productive and can rob horsepower. That's why drawing a vacuum on the block can increase horsepower such as with a well engineered dry sump system. Now imagine oil coming off the crankshaft from the main and rod bearings and falling to the pan from front to rear as this is happening. Lots of oil to the tune of several gallons a minute. The oil from cylinder number 1 is falling into the front of the oil pan. It needs to make it to the back of the oil pan where the oil pump pickup is. When the piston from cylinder number 2 comes down, the air from behind that piston is squeezed or forced forward towards cylinder number 1 since that piston is going up. This oil is traveling in the opposite direction of the pick up tube. Oil coming from the front half of the crankshaft, cylinders 1 and 2, is being pushed back and forth and would have a hard time moving down the pan towards the oil pickup. This oil and air mix is being whipped up by this back and forth motion and you have a rotating crankshaft adding to the problem as well. We don't feel this problem is as important on the back two cylinders because of the deep sump portion of the oil pan, but the crankshaft is still in the way and keeping this cylinder pumping from happening as easily as possible. So like Porsche, we do two ports. The ports are above the crankshaft and the shifting or trading of air from one cylinder to the next can happen with less disturbance. Is this the answer to connecting rod bearing failure? Time will tell on this one. Porsche felt sure there was good reason to do it. You can bet it wasn't to increase problems or reduce performance. We simply tooled up to be able to machine this port on the 2.5L blocks that never had it. Since first offering it in June, almost everybody who's block we are working with opts for this modification to be added once describing it to them. This modification can be performed on any 2.5L 944 or 944 Turbo block for a charge of $325.00. For those of you following the progress on our Dry Sump System , it's moving along very well. We anticipate having all the specialty components completed by the end of August with the possible exception of the Power Steering pulleys. It should be officially released by the time the next Horsepower Talk is released and we will talk more about it then. Here are a few pictures of some of the components that are completed.
The above picture is of the oil pump with built in air/oil separator and Oil Pump/Alternator Bracket.
The above picture is of the oil feed plate.
The above picture is of the crankshaft drive mandril with drive gear for the oil pump. Plenty of oil pans are in stock. If you're wanting to go DRY SUMP, you could start assembling your system now. Toss on the small bits and pieces as they are available. Our new version of our A/C Delete Bracket accepts both the factory alternator or the small 7# Bosch Racing Alternator we now carry. This is the same alternator we built into our new dry sump oiling system. We felt it made sense to offer it to those not running a dry sump but those who just want to cut another 7 or 8 pounds from their cars. After all, who needs 110 amps anyway? The bracket looks much like our previous bracket at first glance. Although we have never had a reported failure, we widened the webbing slightly to strengthen the part. The receiver tongue at the base of the bracket is narrower than it's predecessor. That was a requirement because the Racing Alternator has a narrower spacing on the pair of mounting ears.
Because of the narrower tongue, when using the stock alternator you will need to use the spacers provided with the new bracket. The main identifying feature to tell the two apart is the previous bracket has "LINDSEY RACING" machined into the face, and the new bracket has just the word "LINDSEY". If you want to use this new Alternator and you have one of our previous brackets, we can instruct you on where to machine down the tongue to accept it. In order to use our A/C Delete Bracket on your 944, 951 or 968, there will be a few steps that need to be performed. First you will be required to drill the two holes out on the two mounting ears on the alternator from 8mm to 10mm. We have found that it's very easy to drill the ear that is all aluminum. The other ear has a steel spacer in it. It's much easier to tap the spacer out and hold it with some vice grips when drilling so it doesn't rotate. If left in the alternator, it will rotate. Next is the alternator pulley. The alternator comes equipped with a V belt pulley which needs to be switched. It's required that you remove the pulley from your old alternator for use on this new one. But it's not that simple. You will be required to have the center recessed area machined to thin it down to allow the shaft nut to have full thread engagement. A small lathe would be the key for that job. All the hardware required to make the switch comes included with the Racing Alternator Kit. We now have a Silicone Hose Kit for the stock hard pipes on your 944 Turbo. The missing link was a hose connecting the turbocharger to the hard pipe leading to the intercooler. The factory hose (black hose in picture) has a 45 degree bend in it and reduces down from 2.25" on the hard pipe to 2" at the turbo. That's what this hose also does. Only this new hose (blue hose in picture) doesn't get smaller right out of the turbo like the factory hose. Plus the radius of the bend is larger and smoother. Those combined equals increased flow with less pressure drop. Our kit includes this hose as well as the intercooler connections and the hose connecting the 2nd hard pipe to the throttle body.
They are currently available in Blue and Black. We are talking with the manufacturer about producing the new hose in red for those looking for that color scheme. If you would like a red set, let us know and that will help us persuade the manufacturer to produce it. To kick off the release of this kit, you probably noticed they are on special this issue. For those following our THP Pipes, the latest design has been officially released. It's modular design is quite different than it's previous extruded version.
NEW PAGES, PRODUCTS & DRAWINGS @ LINDSEYRACING.COMWe are continually doing things to improve and grow www.lindseyracing.com, adding new pages of product as well as new and exciting information to current pages. Since the site is always growing, we thought it would be beneficial to share some of the "CHANGES" with you in this new section of our newsletter. Otherwise, who knows how long it may take to discover them.
Engine Rebuild Kit 944, 994S, 942 New Product FINAL THOUGHTS R.I.P. Ken Johnson One of our local Porsche community members has moved on to a much higher place. Ken owned a beautiful Guards Red '89 Turbo 944 (pictured above) for a great many years. He kept meticulous records and history of the car. He showed the car at club events and did some track time at Hallett. Ken sold the car to Dave and replaced it with another Porsche, a beautiful blue Boxster S which he enjoyed. Although moving on to a Boxster, Ken always wanted to know what was going on with the 951 after the sale. Ken was actively involved with the local Porsche club, including President, and regularly held a board member or officer position. Ken was also co-chair for the 1996 National Porsche Parade held in Oklahoma. Our deepest condolences to his family and friends. Until next issue, we wish you many safe and quick laps. - The Lindsey Racing Crew |
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