Adding to stock engines

[Walter F.]

Does adding bigger or more carbs, hotter coils, larger cams, performance heads to stock engine blocks shorten engine life ?

[Michael J.]

Re: Adding to stock engines

IMO, not unless you drive it differently. If you drive the snot out of it to take advantage of all that performance upgrade, then yes it would.

[Jim T.]

Re: Adding to stock engines

What stock engine is the subject?

[Joe R.]

Re: Adding to stock engines

IMO, not unless you drive it differently. If you drive the snot out of it to take advantage of all that performance upgrade, then yes it would.

Michael,

That could be true if you are making a whole lotta pulls to the redline or especially beyond. If you stick with the tire size that came with the car (especially on C1 - C3 cars), the rest of the drive train doesn't suffer much extra because the tires just go up in smoke. I got that info from Clem Z.

Joe

[Michael J.]

Re: Adding to stock engines

Michael,

That could be true if you are making a whole lotta pulls to the redline or especially beyond. If you stick with the tire size that came with the car (especially on C1 - C3 cars), the rest of the drive train doesn't suffer much extra because the tires just go up in smoke. I got that info from Clem Z.

Joe

You could be right Joe, but I just remember a friend doing all that upgrade to his L36 '67 and taking it to the strip with the beefiest rear tires he could manage without flaring the rears (can't remember what size, but they were slicks), revving it up high, dropping the clutch, and immediately breaking the rear u-joint and the driveshaft was digging into the track under it. Not pretty.

[Joe R.]

Re: Adding to stock engines

You could be right Joe, but I just remember a friend doing all that upgrade to his L36 '67 and taking it to the strip with the beefiest rear tires he could manage without flaring the rears (can't remember what size, but they were slicks), revving it up high, dropping the clutch, and immediately breaking the rear u-joint and the driveshaft was digging into the track under it. Not pretty.

Hi Michael,

Good story!!! Ouch, not pretty indeed!!!!!

Joe

[Ed S.]

Re: Adding to stock engines

I think the best answer is, depends on how it is driven / operated. Repeated high revs will take a toll on internal engine components even if the starts are not extremely stressful (high rev & popping the clutch). But... in addition to being concerned about "how long will it last", there is another issue to consider. That is, how will it run at "normal" (legal & near legal speeds). If you load up a engine with increased compression, lots of breathing capacity (carbs or FI), lots of cam, hot spark - unless this entire conglomeration of speed goodies is managed by a computer your going to spend a lot of time tuning and cleaning spark plugs on Saturday mornings. The beauty of modern engines that produce 400+ hp and gobs of torque is that they almost every component is designed to be variable and they are all managed by a computer that optimizes performance - you can drive them like a Ford Pinto 6 days a week and they are happy and then run them like a Can Am racer on Saturday. So.... in response to Walter's question......it all depends.

[Duke W.]

Re: Adding to stock engines

In general, the answer is no, but it depends on driving habits. The following can cause accelerated wear.

1. Short trips that don't allow the engine to fully warm up.

2. Subjecting the engine to high load and revs before it is fully warmed up.

3. Poor quality air filters such as the OE polyurethane filters on some engines and K & N or similar aftermarket filters will cause accelerated bore wear. (Use a major brand cellulose filter except for judging where a foam filter element is OE.)

4. Lack of suitable oil/filter change maintenance.

5. Lack of suitable coolant change maintenance can cause corrosion, especially on aluminum components.

Of course, if you race the car and engage in abusive practices such as high rev clutch drops, power shifting, and exceeding the redline you are likely to break something, but I don't call that wear.

Duke

[Frank D.]

Re: Adding to stock engines

I wish I had a dollar for every Robby Racer on the Corvette Forum that put a bunch of hot rod parts in their stock motors and wound up with dogs.
Thousands of dollars later and they wish they'd never done it; and then want somebody that knows what their doing to diagnose and correct the mess, for free.

[Walter F.]

Re: Adding to stock engines

What about piston rings, bearings, piston heads ?. More fuel, bigger spark, more compression. Does a low factory horsepower 327 or 350 internal parts wear quicker and are they subject to more failure when more fuel. air and bigger spark are put to them. Does a high horsepower 327 or 350 have different pistons and rings then a low horsepower with the same cubic inch displacement?

[Ed S.]

Re: Adding to stock engines

Others may expand or qualify my comment but what you need to understand is that virtually every aspect of the technology that goes into an engine has changed drastically in 30 or 40 years. The metallurgy alone has seen amazing advances. Alloys in today's pistons, rods, rings, etc did not even exist years ago. Today's materials are more stable (they don't expand or contract as much) and are much stronger. Tolerances are another issue, compared to engines built in the 60s & 70s, a mass produced engine today is like a blueprinted racing engine of yesteryear. If you want more power buy a modern crate engine and save the original block. It will be less expensive, more reliable, more drive-able and will probably produce more power. And the when you go to sell the car you can advertise that you have the original matching numbers engine.

[Joe R.]

Re: Adding to stock engines

In general, the answer is no, but it depends on driving habits. The following can cause accelerated wear.

3. Poor quality air filters such as the OE polyurethane filters on some engines and K & N or similar aftermarket filters will cause accelerated bore wear. (Use a major brand cellulose filter except for judging where a foam filter element is OE.)

Duke

Duke,

Thanks for the tip on the sorry K & N filter. I better get that thing out of there as my 96 Driver has over 280,000 miles and from what you said it's about to wear thru the cylinder wall.

JR

[Frank D.]

Re: Adding to stock engines

3. Poor quality air filters such as the OE polyurethane filters on some engines and K & N or similar aftermarket filters will cause accelerated bore wear. (Use a major brand cellulose filter except for judging where a foam filter element is OE.)


Duke

I don't want to hijack this thread but can somebody post a link to more info on the air cleaner topic ?
This is new territory for me; I've never heard about damage vis a vis foam air cleaner element (which has been on every lawn mower I've ever owned)!
That was I've been running in y 63 and the previous owner before me.

[Duke W.]

Re: Adding to stock engines

K & N filters and similar non-cellulose filters don't pass the SAE particle filtration tests that all OEMs use. Some years ago Hot Rod magazine did an extensive filter test by testing them on both a flow bench and on a dyno-mounted engine.

K & N makes unsubstantiated claims of "increased power" that this test proved to be totally bogus. I don't think the article is on the Web anymore, but you can try a search. (Since K & N is a big advertiser, maybe they encouraged the publisher to remove it.)

All the filters tested were of the common 14" diameter, 3" height that are used on a lot of OE air cleaners. The K & N did not produce the highest flow or highest power on the engine, but all were actually pretty close.

So these types of filters don't filter as well as an OE type filter, and they don't make any more power. What are you buying for fifty bucks of more?

The other issue is "reusable". Washing an air filter is a pain in the a..., and there's no way to know if you got rid of all the sub-20 micron particles. Washing and reinstalling an air filter makes about as much sense as washing and reinstalling an oil filter, and who in their right mind would do that?

You can buy a lifetime supply of high quality, name brand OE-type cellulose air filters for the price of one K & N. Install a new one and throw away the old one them every 15-30K mile, which is a sub-five-minute job on most cars.

Don't drink the Kool-Aid!

Duke

[Mark E.]

Re: Adding to stock engines

In general, the answer is no, but it depends on driving habits. The following can cause accelerated wear.

1. Short trips that don't allow the engine to fully warm up.

2. Subjecting the engine to high load and revs before it is fully warmed up.

3. Poor quality air filters such as the OE polyurethane filters on some engines and K & N or similar aftermarket filters will cause accelerated bore wear. (Use a major brand cellulose filter except for judging where a foam filter element is OE.)

4. Lack of suitable oil/filter change maintenance.

5. Lack of suitable coolant change maintenance can cause corrosion, especially on aluminum components.

Of course, if you race the car and engage in abusive practices such as high rev clutch drops, power shifting, and exceeding the redline you are likely to break something, but I don't call that wear.

Duke

Good list. I would add overheating as a top reason for premature engine death. Over the years, I've had several non-car savvy friends ruin their engine because they either didn't notice it was running hot ("There's a temparature gauge?"), or noticed but continued "for just a few miles" to get home or to the shop. Expensive decision.

With all of the advanced driver aids in modern cars, you'd think an audible alert would be added that said something like "Hey dummy, turn off your engine now or prepare to buy a new one." My wife's newer car doesn't even have a red zone on the temp gauge. And with no numbers, it's vague about what level on the gauge is too hot. The chances of her noticing an overheating problem before major damage is nil. I'm not picking on her- I think most drivers have the same level of awareness of the ignored and poorly designed temperature gauge.