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Enders engines power into Late Model racing series

John Wight, the owner of the Gypsum Express racing team, approached Kevin Enders in the spring with a request: Could Kevin and the Enders Racing Engines team build him a late model engine for a new World of Outlaws Late Model race series? Gypsum Express has enjoyed a great deal of success in the DIRT Modified series and John and the team wanted to explore the Late Model series.

Always up for a new challenge, Kevin said yes and went to work designing an engine that would challenge the established late-model engines racing in the series. The engine was designed and built under the deadline, which allowed the Gypsum Express team to practice with the new engine prior to its first race on June 20.

How competitive was the Enders’ late model engine? Driver Billy Decker set the fastest time by 3/10 of a second during the time trials at the Orange County Fair Speedway. He went on to place fifth in that evening’s 50-lap main event. It was quite an accomplishment for Billy, Gyspum Express, and the Enders Racing Engines team.

And it was no fluke. The Enders engine performed well for Billy at Fulton Speedway the following evening.

Competition in this new late model series is fierce. When Boundless Motor Sports introduced the series, it hired the top 12 late model drivers and increased the purses. Boundless has also added a WOOLMS race to the Super DIRT Week lineup with a $30,000 winning purse. Decker and the Gypsum Express team plan to compete in the Late Model race Super DIRT Week at the New York State Fairgrounds.

Kevin says a Late Model engine is very different from a Big block modified engine.  The late model engine uses an aluminum block vs. a cast iron block.  It is a small block engine vs. a big block engine.  There were many more cylinder head choices which offer a variety of directions in terms of design.

For Kevin the late model was a very interesting project and enjoyable to design.  It was no more difficult to design. He did say however that it was more difficult to decide which parts to use because there were so many options.

His design began with choosing the RPM range.  This is determined by looking at the driving style of the driver and track sizes where the late model would compete.  Once the RPM range was established he then looked at the bore and stroke ratio along with rod length.  The next part of the design was the camshaft choice.  Choosing the appropriate cam design is very important.  Rather than doing a “phone poll” to decide which cam to use, Kevin’s knowledge of camshaft design enabled him to choose a camshaft that perfectly complimented his other component choices.  Next were the cylinder heads and intake manifold. 

The cylinder head and intake manifold choices are very specific to the driveability and RPM goals established for the engine.  

All parts are then qualified through a series of tests and measured.  For example, the cylinder heads are verified through testing on the flow bench where air flow is measured.  The camshaft is qualified through cam checking software.  Small imperfections like base circle run out can have a negative impact on the total package.  So this is an important part of the process here at Enders. (There are several more procedures here, I doubt you need more info.)

The engine then goes through a meticulous assembly process and then goes to the dyno cell for testing.

Our dynamometer has more than 10,000 test runs with all types of engines.  This is a large data base of quality information.

Performance levels were verified and the team picked up the engine.

Why it’s a team failure, not an engine failure

By Kevin Enders

Let’s be candid: There are customers that no matter what we give them they will break it. We call them “anvil breakers” because they could break an anvil if we gave it to them.  

Every year we have one to two teams that have to continually pull their wallet out until they figure out that their engines require proper attention. These teams go from engine builder to engine builder and consistently break engines everywhere they go. And they always have the same excuse: It’s the engine builder’s fault. 

In virtually all cases, the failure of the engine can be attributed to something that was done to the engine by the team or the driver. In our experience, we have found these to be the top seven reasons why engines break.

 1.  Engine Bearing Loss

Scenario: Engine loses rod bearings after fifth outing for no apparent reason.

Causes of failure: Cold starts. Engine was not properly warmed up every time. Damage occurs to the engine each time it is started without being properly warmed up. Eventually the engine loses a bearing. Even on hot summer nights the oil has to be warmed and the engine brought to temperature before high RPMs. We have seen several drivers that sit in the pit area, start the engine and over-rev the engine before it is up to temperature. This is asking for trouble. Another common cause is debris in the oiling system. The team decided to switch engines in the car and didn’t get the debris out of the oiling system or got debris in the engine during installation.

 2.  Improper Timing

Scenario:  Engine raced well last week. This week, it ran two laps and broke. What happened?

Causes of failure: Adjustable Dial Timing Light. This customer will break his engine again and again until he purchases a timing light without the adjustable dial. It’s much too easy to make mistakes setting the timing.  Another cause is never checking the timing once installed. This customer assumed that the timing didn’t need to be checked after a rebuild. The timing must be checked when the engine is installed and periodically checked throughout the race cycle.

 3.  Race Track Tuning

Scenario:  Customer decides to “help” the engine by doing last minute tuning at the track and the engine burns down.

Causes of failure: Changing jets in carburetor. Making tuning changes like this at the track are not recommended. The engines are tuned on the dyno and are set in a safe operating range. The gains realized through this type of tuning are minimal and usually lead to expensive repairs. The same thing occurs with changing the timing. It’s not necessary to change from the recommended setting.

 4.  Replacing Single Parts Rather Than the Whole Set

Scenario:  Customer breaks a rocker arm in the previous outing and changes one rocker arm. During the next race another rocker arm breaks, the engine drops a valve and now instead of just replacing some parts we have an expensive repair and considerable damage.

Cause of failure: Usually when a single part, like a rocker arm, fails it means that it is time to replace the whole set. The part failed because of fatigue. Why destroy the whole engine when the parts could have been replaced?

 5. Bad Maintenance Program

Scenario:  Every freak thing that could possibly happen with an engine has happened to this customer. He thinks he has “bad luck” or worse we, as an engine builder, don’t provide him with the same product as everyone else.

Causes of failure: Inexperience. These engines are technically advanced and it’s a must to have someone on the race team who is trained in race engine maintenance. Small mistakes add up to expensive repairs. Too busy for maintenance is another cause. We find this with teams that have inadequate help for the number of races. They will wash the car, put on a new nerf bar and skip the engine maintenance. After several races with no maintenance, they begin having engine trouble.

 6.  Too Little Oil

Scenario: All of my other engines have always taken 11 quarts of oil. I didn’t know that we needed to put 13 quarts in this one.

Cause of failure: Oil is the life blood of the engine. Its job is to reduce friction and lubricate the engine. Without enough oil present in the engine, the engine will have a bearing failure sooner or later.

 7.  Over Gearing Engine

Scenario: There are several drivers that like the feel of the torque of the engine.   If the engine has a smooth power curve they sometimes mistake that for an engine that is underpowered. To crutch the engine (in their mind) they will add “gear.”

Cause of failure: Over gearing the engine makes the engine labor much harder and shortens up the life significantly. Drivers who insist on more gear generally are “anvil breakers.” Also, in most cases, over gearing the engine moves the peak power out of range and the engine then becomes “flat.” The additional stress usually causes parts to break in the engine leading to catastrophic damage.

 Kevin Enders is the President of Enders Racing Engines, Inc. in Phoenix, NY. He has been building and designing for over 20 years.  He is a member of the Society of

Automotive Engineers.  Kevin works with the top DIRT Modified teams in the

Northeast. He can be reached at 315-695-4491.