Andrews Apologetics

I was watching a TV show called “American Muscle Cars” which had an interesting interview about the correlation between more horsepower and better airflow.  They went on to say that the Muscle car era (60’s & 70’s) Detroit increased the engines HP ratings, and then used tricks like Ram Air / Forced Air which reminded me about what an engine really is:  An Air pump!  It must ingest and extract enough air to combine with the raw fuel, mix it up properly, to privide combustion which becomes power.  The more air one can compress into the chamber, the more usable oxegen there is to help make more combusion and therefore more power.  it then must extract the spent air/gas through the exhaust.

  Gale Banks was interviewed and gave some interesting stats.  I will try and remember them:

- every two strokes (out of four), the engine moves X amount of Cubic Inches (it’s displacement) of air. 

-Compression ratio is  the volume of air compressed to 1 unit of fuel.  e.g. (12.5:1  – air to fuel)

- Ram air/Turbo/ SuperCharger comment:  Forcing air (compressing) increases are 1lb compression yields 7% gain.  e.g. a supercharger would be set at 10 Lbs would yield a 70% performance gain.

-Cold intake:  For every 10 degrees reduction in intake temperature, air density increases and yields a 1% improvement in performance gain.  e.g. if you put a cold air intake vs. normal carb OEM /stock filter setup, you see a 10 – 20 HP increase.

 -Restrictions ie: the “brick wall”:  At some point, power will be restricted by either pre-detonation from octane ratings (or lack thereof) OR physical limitation (like engine block, heads, gaskets, rings, valves, etc).  If you run a high compression engine, with high octane, you have high horsepower, HOWEVER you better have strong parts, or you will hit the tolerances of the parts, and cause physical fatigue.   Reciprocally, you may have a physically strong engine, and run pump gas, but limit your horsepower, or even in these cases, must have high octane rated gas to prevent pre-detonation (pinging or engine knock) which will cause deposits, and premature parts (valves, etc) to warp or break.

 These are some of the things I learned on the show.  Makes sense!  I hope these helped you too!  Let me know!

Cheers!

Maybe it is me, but I have noticed for some years now, that small towns off the beaten path have some classic cars strewn about.  Just a few days ago I saw,  side by side,  a purple GTO (mid ’60s), and a blue RS Camero (late 60s) under a portico at a small garage.  Had I not been in a rush, I would have stopped in and checked them out.  They seemed like they would be daily drivers – clean, but showed a slight patina. 

In all my travels, I have noticed that farms, small towns, and what the “big city folks” call “Rual America” have all the interesting finds.  I suppose, that it would best rationalized that this was the era, and the locations that America had it’s grass roots fascination with muscle cars.

Now I just have to find lake Woebegone. 

Cheers!

Well, it is no suprise that I appreciate (deeply) the classic cars.  Something about the rumble of a basic engine where it used to be an art to tune by ear, sight, and yes, smell.  I would love to own one, but right now, it is an appreciation so far – that is inexpensive! 

My dream car?  Tough one.  I would love to own a 64-67 Pontiac Tempest / GTO type car.  Big block, street racer.  Just a thought.  More to follow!