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Why Aren't We Ever Satisfied?

Joined
Mar 9, 2009
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My '71 with it's 454" puts out over 400 hp and it'll go faster than I ever want to go so why am I adding MORE power? Why are we humans never satisfied? I was thinking about my recent purchase of larger valves and $1000 worth of valve and seat grinding machinery and asked myself "why on earth am I doing this when I don't need the additional power and will likely never use the additional power"?

Can any of you think of any logical reason why we are never satisfied with the power our C3's make?
 
A wise man once told me that curiosity is the cure for boredom but there is no cure for curiosity. ;)

Mac
 
A wise man once told me that curiosity is the cure for boredom but there is no cure for curiosity. ;)

Mac


A long time ago I heard a funny one..............."Wise Men Write Proverbs And Fools Quote Them".

I guess I'm doing this to keep myself occupied and to remind myself of the life I once had when I was younger (a LOT younger). To remind myself of the days when I made $1.25 an hour and spent it ALL on my car.
 
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until they speak
:chuckle
 
My '71 with it's 454" puts out over 400 hp and it'll go faster than I ever want to go so why am I adding MORE power? Why are we humans never satisfied? I was thinking about my recent purchase of larger valves and $1000 worth of valve and seat grinding machinery and asked myself "why on earth am I doing this when I don't need the additional power and will likely never use the additional power"?

Can any of you think of any logical reason why we are never satisfied with the power our C3's make?

When one gets done everything you wanted to do to a car, and there is nothing else to do, then it ceases to be a hobby in a strange way. I guess you can clean, and detail the heck out of it. That's what I'm doing right now. I guess with all the torque you make w/454 you can make a part time job out of replacing U joints.;)
 
I guess with all the torque you make w/454 you can make a part time job out of replacing U joints.;)

I learned to buy the ones without the grease fitting as a built 427 would crack them at the zerk. The ones without the grease fitting lasted longer; however, never enough to require grease.. :)
 
I learned to buy the ones without the grease fitting as a built 427 would crack them at the zerk. The ones without the grease fitting lasted longer; however, never enough to require grease.. :)

I didn't know the zerk was a weak spot.
 
I didn't know the zerk was a weak spot.

Sharp corners are stress risers. A u-joint has 3 corners and one with a drilled and tapped hole for a Zerk or Alemite fitting. The drilled hole and spot face have sharp corners.

In Class 8 or OTR truck V8 rods, the tap drill for the conn rod bolts has a radius in its corners to prevent a stress riser. Any sharp or small radius corner begs for a stress riser. Sharp corners crack.. :)
 
Higher Performance Valves

I think I'll call it quits once I get these higher performance valves installed and get the port and bowl grinding done. My only goal from the very beginning was to make my 365 hp 454" as powerful as I could make it (within reason) but still using the original iron heads. It really hauls the mail right now but when I get done it'll haul it a bit quicker. As this is my daily driver dependability is extremely important.
 
It's not the weak spot. The hole is the weak spot when a MASSIVE amount of torque is suddenly applied. For any drive train that doesn't see high shock loads a Zerk type u-joint is fine.

Sharp corners are where stress concentrates; the solution is increase the corner radii.

https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/shr...TYwLWNmNGQtNDZiNC1iZmI3LTJkMGZmZjFkNTRjYw.jpg

"However, when analyzed with a linear-elastic simulation, the stresses will continue to increase as the mesh is refined. This error can be resolved by applying a radius to the original part."

Apply a radius to removing the sharp corner.

http://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/US6393885B1/US06393885-20020528-D00000.png
"This invention relates to engine crankshaft machining for improving quality and fatigue life thereof and more particularly to new and improved work piece and back up roller constructions for deep rolling and strengthening the fillets of crank journals of crankshafts."

Often there isn't even room to package a larger radius; so other solutions are applied and this is one of them.. As the patent stated "strengthening the fillets of crank journals of crankshafts." It also means manufacturing does not need to dress the corner radius of the wheel which saves a lot of cycle time. There are more benefits also..

 
Time To Quit

Now that I have installed the larger high performance valves in my early 100.9 cc closed chamber oval port heads I think I'll quit modifying my 454" engine for more power. It'll accelerate so fast in 1st and 2nd gears it's almost terrifying so it's time to move on to something else. My engine has a really nice loping idle with its 236 degree duration camshaft so it sound great and runs even greater. I got my engine built just in time as winter is now setting in.
 

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Now that I have installed the larger high performance valves in my early 100.9 cc closed chamber oval port heads I think I'll quit modifying my 454" engine for more power. It'll accelerate so fast in 1st and 2nd gears it's almost terrifying so it's time to move on to something else. My engine has a really nice loping idle with its 236 degree duration camshaft so it sound great and runs even greater. I got my engine built just in time as winter is now setting in.



Saudi Arabia has a winter?
 

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