What does it mean to have your engine blueprinted?

[Hondaluva]

I think this is more of an auto term, but I was just wondering.

[250EXking]

Blueprinting an engine means hand building an engine with perfectly fit components using maximum recommended clearances, and minimum recommended volumes. These specifications should be determined using the engine manufacturer's tolerances for the engine being built.

All parts must be one hundred percent clean. The block should be boiled out making certain water jackets are perfectly clean. All bolt holes should be re-tapped, cleaned and oiled, as well as their mating bolts. Any surfaces being refinished should have all holes chamfered, and any casting burrs or irregularities should be ground away.

[ZSK]

There is also a crushtest for fitting parts like the rod cap to the rod. It's kinda like dental floss put inbetween the 2 parts and then they are torqued to factory specs. Loosened and then you measure the string with a scale. It gives you the space between parts after assembly. All in all I think a waste of money unless you got a nascar sized budget.

[Hondaluva]

Thanks, that all needed.

[JOEX]

I belive all the specs are documented as well. You will often the phrase 'balanced and blueprinted'.

My autoshop teacher back in high school, a Ford guy, would say his motor is 'balanced and bluepainted':p

[wilkin250r]

Everything has a tolerance, so you have something a little tight here, a little loose there, a little squeeze, a little wobble. Blueprinting takes out all those little imperfections to create a perfectly balanced, smooth running machine.

Originally posted by wilkin250r
Everything has a tolerance, so you have something a little tight here, a little loose there, a little squeeze, a little wobble. Blueprinting takes out all those little imperfections to create a perfectly balanced, smooth running machine.

sounds like the 416SS........:muscle:

[XANDADA]

All I know is that one of my buddies had this done to an old 5.0 mustang engine by a company in CA and that mofo came back a screamer..

[XANDADA]

quote:
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Originally posted by wilkin250r
so you have something a little tight here, a little loose there, a little squeeze, a little wobble. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Originally posted by Rico
sounds like the 416SS........:muscle:

sho does:devil:

[ghak99]

Originally posted by XANDADA
All I know is that one of my buddies had this done to an old 5.0 mustang engine by a company in CA and that mofo came back a screamer..


As in the case above, it will make a big difference! I am sorry, but this is in no way a waste of money if your are serious about winning. The big stroker motors of racing, 347, 383 small block 514, 622 big block are vibrating machines the way they are w/ stock parts used. When they are "balanced & blueprinted", they really come to life and reach their potential. Every rod and piston is weighed and matched, & every other part for each cylinder is weighed and matched to each other. Even the ports in the head are match to flow the exact cfm, with adjustments for tunnel lenght in the intake. Every torque spec and bearing clearence is measured and wrote down.

If you want to do it right, this is a must. Given there is a decent budget to work with and if you want to be competitive there usually is!

Sorry about my rambling but I had to let it go.

[SnellCRP]

Engine Blueprinting is a process of checking each mechanical aspect of an engine. All steel parts are Magnafluxed, main bearing bores perpendicular to cylinder deck, connecting rod checked for straightness and twist, valve seats concentric within .0002 of an inch, valve spring pressures equal,and camshaft degreed to crankshaft. (Proper valve-to-piston timing.)
these are just some of the common things done in the blueprinting process. I probably wouldn't be too concerned with having your atv engine blueprinted because it only has one piston and rod there isn't alot of potential for unbalance as if you were talking about a 4-12 cylinder engine. There is much more to be gained in balancing a multiple cylinder motor.