Originally Posted by
1QwkSport2.5r
Not everyone wants to spend $250+ for a high performance engine - especially if they already have a pile of engines. A couple hours with some hand files and a little finesse and you can have a low rpm slugger churning some decent rpm. I know a guy getting over 18,000+ on a 9x8 APC from an Italian Super Tigre .45 that was hand modified. Modifying buggy/RC truck engines is very common. It's amazing what just a little work on the crank can get you! At least 50% of the power boost-ability is in modifying the crankshaft alone.
Oh, and on the comment about the OS fan engine - their horrible liners peel if you don't handle them with the utmost of care. Not a good benchmark for "performance" or "quality".
I think the point being made here here is that there just is not much potential in that HB engine. You just can't get too crazy on opening the ports on a ringed engine without the ring getting caught on the port edge. A good reason why virtually all high performance engines are ABC, ABN or AAC.
Im not quite at the point of calling anyone a liar but a ST .45 spinning an APC 9x8 at 18K is simply not possible no matter what you do to it. I have to call BS on that claim. I used a Rossi .45 that not only had the factory VP mods done to it which mainly consisted of opening the ID of the crank, then fluting the passage out the back of the crank and then shot peeled, but I did some streamlining of the ports and opened up the exhaust port to 180 degrees and ran a Jett tuned muffler and 20% nitro. It spun an APC 9x7.5 at 17,200 on a good day.
Not saying it is not fun to mod up your own engines, just don't expect the same performance from a modded sport engine then what you would get from an engine that was designed from the ground up for high performance. That Pontiac Overhead cam straight 6 was an awesome engine but could only be taken so far and then reliability issues came up. Mickey Thompson showed us that.