Michael Ware's Blog

With the advent of cost effective Asian cranks and connecting rods, most any and all new engine builds use an aftermarket H or I beam connecting rods. These rods are bushed on the wrist pin end for performance and durability. This in turn and require a piston that has a floating wrist pin design. What this means is the piston must have some sort or wrist pin retention system. The most commonly “wrist pin retention clip” used today is the “spiral lock”. The spiral lock is a thin clip that is shaped like a spring. The spiral lock is known for its excellent wrist pin retention ability. The problem is: no one can EVER GET THE DARN THINGS OUT!

So here are some pictures and tips on how to deal with spiral locks. In my 22+ years of building engines and installing (read: fighting, swearing, cut thumbs and fingers) spiral locks I have learned a few tricks I will share with you today. First we will talk about installing them. This is easier than removing them but I can still be tricky. To do this properly you MUST have a few tools. 1) Safety glasses 2) a small set of jewelry screwdrivers. You can pick up a set at the dollar store but I STRONGLY recommend getting a quality mini screwdriver from a tool provider. Matco, Snap On, Mac, or even Sears’s sells these and they will set you back $5-$10 a piece. These are not the typical “small” screw drivers that come in standard kits. These are mini screwdrivers for working on watches or clocks. TRUST ME, in the long run you will understand why these tools are a good investment.

The most important thing to remember about removing spiral locks is that it is very critical how you install them. What I mean by this is: how you locate and start the spiral lock will determine where the lock stops. Where the lock stops is the single most important part of removing them at a later date. It may not seem like a big deal now but trust me it will be. First you should gently pull apart the spiral lock so it looks like this.

This will allow you to easily “walk” the lock in to the groove. I always start my leading edge of a spiral lock at one of two places, 8 o’clock or 2 o’clock. I then use the mini screwdriver to push the lock down into the groove and “walk” the lock around the hole until the entire lock is installed.

I then make sure the lock is sitting flat and bottomed out against the inside edge of the lock groove.

Next repeat the same procedure but start on the opposite side of where you started before. Walk the lock around again making sure it is securely locked into place.

MAKE SURE the lock is flush all the way around. Sometimes the lock can be damaged or debris gets into the grove and the lock does not properly engaged. THIS WILL LEAD TO ENGINE FAILURE. It is very important to check all locks once they have been installed and once again a final time when the engine is being assembled. Here is a picture of a lock improperly installed.

Now comes the hard part: taking them out. The thing is, if you have installed then like I have told you to, taking them out will be easy. First: to remove the spiral locks you must use TWO mini screwdrivers. This is the “secret” to getting them out. You take the first screwdriver to raise the tip of the lock up from the groove.

You then take the second screwdriver and lift outwardly on the raised tip and TA DA, the lock comes out. This may seem simple but if you have ever fought with these for hours (yes hours) you will soon appreciate this technique. The reason why this works so well is the tip of the lock being at 3 or 9 o’clock. This proper placement of the locks during installation allows you to have your screwdriver in a very flexible position.

Here is what happens when you don’t have the tips @ 3&9. If you just wind the lock into place and it stops at lets say 12, here is what happens. Your ability to tip the screwdriver back to lift the tip out of the groove is limited by the piston.

Where as, if you have the locks at 3 & 9 you can tip the screw driver back further, making it easier to lift up with second screwdriver.

I hope this little tutorial helps you when you ever have to remove or install a set of “THE DREADED SPIRAL LOCKS” (dramatic music for effect) It is really not that big of a deal as long as you have the proper tools, a little practice AND that you initially install them and locate the locks for easy removal.

Currently we are working on a brand new prototype carburetor with Quick Fuel Carburetor’s. We had these carb’s on display on Tony Raffin’s Top Sportsman engine at the 2008 PRI Trade show this past December in the Land and Sea Dynamometer display. Quick Fuel has tooled up to make its own 4500 series (Dominator) main body. This is not a warmed over version of the existing 4500 main body. There are substantial changes to make this a “New and Improved” carb. The single biggest improvement of the new casting is its longer main venturi. This longer main venturi will create a greater signal to the booster venturi. This longer main venturi will also allow a greater flexibility in placing the booster venturi. The new Quick Fuel main body also has a .300 raised section at the opening of the venturi. This raised area helps straighten the air as it enters the main venturi. If you have ever flowed a cylinder head it is similar to having a radiused entry on an intake port when measuring head flow. In the center of the main body there is a rasied contoured area that should help equally distribute the air equally to all four venturi’s. The new Quick Fuel main body also features a completely adjustable external throttle linkage. Not only does this eliminate the potential of linkage coming loose and ending up IN your engine. The easily accessible linkage can be “tuned” for street driving or a more progressive application of power on a marginal race track. The new main body is also available in a large selection of main venturi and throttle blade sizes. What this means is Quick Fuel will be able to offer an “off the shelf” carb with a 2.25” throttle blade. Depending on Booster and main ventuir combination this means a 1500+cfm carb will be no problem. The new main body is a very high quality casting that is visually very sleek and has a real art deco feel to it.

Traditionally one improves engine performance by making things bigger: Bigger camshaft duration, bigger cylinder heads, bigger intakes, of course bigger carbs. All of these bigger components kill air speed and “signal” to the carb. You can improve “signal” with a number or parts like sheer plates, stepped boosters and intake modifications. Unfortunately all of these “cures” for a weak signal are curing the symptom not the problem. A carb with a longer main venturi will make a greater signal for the booster venturi similar to how a collector extension helps create greater exhaust signal.

We recently tested some of these carbs on a 645” Predator engine with 15.5 compression, .895 lifter roller, sheet metal tunnel ram w/2x4 1150 Quick Fuel Marvinator’s (we’re not sure if that is the name, we just call them that) and a wet sump oil system. Initial testing was very positive, we would make small changes (.002-.003) in either the high speed or intermediate air bleed and see significant power changes. Normally big intakes, cams, carbs will tend to have a weak cylinder or generally not be very responsive to small changes. The new Quick Fuel Marvinator’s responded very well and actually pulled too much fuel at higher engine speeds. The engine would maintain a very flat 12.9-13.2 A/F ratio right up until 6600 RPM’s. At that point the engine would flat line and go to 12.0. It would maintain this 12.0 A/F ratio and not make anymore power. The engine made 1272 HP @ 6700 and 1006 torque @ 6300. We conferred and agreed that the reason the engine went “fat” was not a cam or intake issue but that there was too much fuel coming thru the booster that we could not tune out with air bleeds. A lest efficient booster (shape and size of holes in the actually booster) should cure our “fat” condition.

We had a great time with Marvin and Derrick from Quick Fuel during their time at our shop while testing. Their insight and knowledge was immeasurable and greatly appreciated. They are sending us some different boosters and a set of 1250’s to try ASAP. I’ll let you know how it all turns out once we get it finished.

Mike @ MM

For as long as I can remember, Mopar’s have been known for poor fitting camshafts. I even remember seeing a price sheet in the mid 80’s from a machine shop in Detroit that serviced the Big 3 specifying an additional charge for installing Mopar cam bearings. It even became standard procedure at Muscle Motors to test fit a cam before washing the block for final assembly. The standard solution has always been, “just carve on the bearings to make it fit”. While this mindset works it always bothered me. If it happens to you when you get your block back from your local  machine shop and want to put it together, you do what you need to do.

My problem solving nature never accepted the “just carve on them” solution (cure the problem, not the symptom!). I mean they make rod and main bearings within a few ten thousandths, why aren’t the cam bearings just as consistent (PS, they do make cam bearings just as consistent). So in a moment of clarity, I thought, if the bearings are being made correctly maybe I should check the block. I then started measuring the actual bearing bores in the block. This specification, by the way, is in every bearing book in every machine shop on the planet. What I discovered made everything I had struggled with for years make sense. Of the first 10 bocks I measured, not one of them was within spec on ANY bearing bore! Most were ½ to 1 thousands tight!!! To this day I have yet to measure a stock block that doesn’t need at least 2 or 3 housings opened up. The worst example was about 5 years ago when I measured a factory block that the #2 cam bearing was .003 tight!!!

Now the main reason most machine shops don’t measure this dimension is that even if they found something wrong, most shops don’t have the proper equipment to properly hone the cam bearing bores in the block! Due to stock blocks ALWAYS having some level of cam bearing fitment issues, our standard procedure at Muscle Motors is to hone ALL stock block cam bearing bores. This ensures if you get just a machined block or a short block from Muscle Motors, your cam will fit every time with no problem.

If you are having a block machined (at a shop of your choice) PLEASE insist that the shop measures (and corrects) the cam bearing bores BEFORE they install the cam bearings. This will save you time, effort, stress and the need to “carve on them to make ‘em fit……………….

Mike @ MM