New Valve Lift Checking Method (Read 2,111 times)

[Cheque Book]

Dear Stockcar/Superstock Competitor,

NOTIFICATION OF NEW VALVE LIFT CHECKING METHOD

From 21 February 2009 the Directors of Speedway New Zealand have approved a new tool to check maximum valve lift in the Stockcar and Superstock classes. All competitors are being notified of this change, because there is a possibility that some vehicles may be unknowingly outside of the regulations. The relevant rules are as follows:-


Superstocks: Rule T12-1-21

Maximum inlet and exhaust valve lift 0.500in measured at valve

Stockcars: Rule T12-2-2(l)

Maximum Inlet and Exhaust valve lift: 0.500".

Attached for your information is an outline of the new procedure, and the penalties that apply for non-compliance with the engine rules. We urge you to read this documentation and ensure your vehicle complies with the regulations.

Please do not hesitate to contact the SNZ Office if you require any additional information or clarification regarding the above matter, and we wish you all the best for the remainder of the season.

Kind regards,
Tim Savell
Chief Executive Officer - Speedway New Zealand Inc
P O Box 38, New Plymouth 4340
Phone: [phone] or 0275 764 648


TECHNICAL NOTIFICATION
Stockcars & Superstocks - New Valve Lift Checking Method
Effective 21 February 2009
The maximum inlet and exhaust valve lift permitted in the
Stockcar/Superstock classes is 0.500in. With engines using hydraulic
lifters, it has traditionally been difficult to measure the valve lift with
the current tools available to SNZ officials.
From 21 February 2009 the Directors have approved for use a new
digital tool as pictured. The new measuring method will measure the
valve lift with the engine turning either powered by the starter motor
or with the engine running under its own power.
The valve lift measurement will be taken by measuring the travel of
the valve spring retainer. However the traditional dial indicator will be
replaced with a modern digital calliper. At a measurement of 0.001
inches it is accepted in engineering that a digital calliper is as accurate
as a dial indictor.
This method will require a small blade to be inserted between the
valve spring and the valve spring retainer. The digital calliper is
mounted to the cylinder head. The Calliper has a leg extension
mounted that will extend under the small blade. As the engine is
rotated the blade will draw the calliper open until the maximum valve
lift is reached.
The method will require that the engine be run from cold for a few minutes to assure that all components
are moving freely. The rocker cover is removed and the equipment mounted. The engine is slowly rotated
on the starter to assure that the valve to be measured is in the closed position. The digital calliper readout is
set at zero at this point. The starter motor is then engaged to rotate the engine until oil pressure loads the
lifter. The amount of valve lift is read off the screen as the valve lift increases. Engine operating temp is not
necessary or required to conduct this compliance test.
Should the engine be suspected of using non-compliant lifters the driver of the car in question will be
required to remove the lifters from the engine. The technical steward will cross-examine against some
known compliant OEM lifters.
Drivers are reminded that it is their responsibility to dismantle or provide a crew member to dismantle the
engine to the state required by the Technical Steward. Engines will not be dismantled in an open
atmosphere situation unless agreed by the driver, the location of the test will be determined by the
Technical Steward, taking the availability of a suitable shed into consideration.
SUMMARY
The new tool will be approved for use from 21 February 2009, and that the penalties for using an illegal
engine are clearly outlined in the regulations. There are competitors who may be flaunting the maximum
valve lift rule, either willingly or unwillingly, so it is also appropriate to remind all competitors about the
following pertinent rules:-
G11-3-3 Technical Exclusions: Any driver found to be using an illegal engine will be excluded from the
meeting and for a further 22 days (starting from the day/night in question) by the Steward, and the driver
will be placed on report to the Directors.
T1-5 Inspection by Request: Any driver or car owner may request for their own vehicle and equipment
to have technical tests done, i.e. motor, weight, fuel, etc. These tests may take place away from a meeting
and carry no penalties to the driver or owner. A fee may be charged for travel by the Technical Steward.

[MadMarty13B]

If they checked all Stockcars now 80-90 percent would have illegalities in their heads

[The Godfather]

Feb 5, 2009 17:23:01 GMT 12 MadMarty13B said:

If they checked all Stockcars now 80-90 percent would have illegalities in their heads

The cars or drivers??

[MadMarty13B]

LOL engine heads

[dirtydave66g]

i think it is good that we have been given advanced warning of this from tim. not that my motor is illegal or anything. things are moving foward foreshore

[torque]

after the north islands where there was rumoured to be about 12 engines that were checked and found to be over and SNZ turned a blind eye and said at the NZS it would be a different story.

Out of the 26 finalist 6 were radomly chosen and had compression tested and no engine was checked for valve lift. It was reported that 1,2,3nz were going to be checked after the meeting.

At the NZ modifieds in stratty all 20 finalists were supposely checked for compression and some cars weighed after the 1st race.

Should SNZ have some criteria at national events the all finalist be checked for compression, valve lift and 1st 2nd 3rd place getters be weighed after final heats.

Is the valve lift tool certified, does the blade have deflection, Has a solid lifter been substituted to back up the tool, i would assumed it has.

Now down to the overlifting, A cam grinder grinds a cam for OE rocker ratio to a theretical valve lift. As production rockers are mass produced there is slight differences in the ratio. Also rocker geometry plays a part in lift. Now since this rule is in place, this will increase the cost of all stocker engines as each valve will have to have a solid lifter installed and checked upon rebuild.

Now from a cam grinders point of view this gets very messy with having to change masters to grind different lobes to conform. At new masters will have to be produced depending of how much the lift is over.

At the end of the day it is the engine builders reponsibility to check the valve lift of an engine not to blame the cam grinder.

I personally think this is a widespread problem and the sensible think will be to document the engines at fault and bring the rule in for next season when the engines get freshened.

Will common sence prevail.

[Saloon29s]

Feb 6, 2009 8:21:50 GMT 12 torque said:

Now down to the overlifting, A cam grinder grinds a cam for OE rocker ratio to a theretical valve lift. As production rockers are mass produced there is slight differences in the ratio. Also rocker geometry plays a part in lift. Now since this rule is in place, this will increase the cost of all stocker engines as each valve will have to have a solid lifter installed and checked upon rebuild.

Shouldn't this have been done anyway? The rule is not new. Engines should always have been checked by the builder to make sure that they comply, not just now because SNZ are going to check them.

[wolsie]

this is something that should be done to all stock car motors easy to do when green sheeted.and should be compulsory for top placings at national titles along with weighing etc.The only ones that are likely to complain are the cheats.

[FantomFan]

Feb 6, 2009 8:21:50 GMT 12 torque said:

Should SNZ have some criteria at national events the all finalist be checked for compression, valve lift and 1st 2nd 3rd place getters be weighed after final heats.

Should at least have top 5 held for checking.

[Apples]

Feb 5, 2009 17:23:01 GMT 12 MadMarty13B said:

If they checked all Stockcars now 80-90 percent would have illegalities in their heads

and how would the mad one know this info? its a big call to be making when you dont even race, let alone in that class. and to say 80-90%, now thats fast lips

[The Godfather]

Feb 6, 2009 11:37:36 GMT 12 wolsie said:

The only ones that are likely to complain are the cheats.......

Yes I guess Tim put in the ''knowingly or not knowingly'' in the release but at the end of the day if your car is legal.....no problem, what have you got to fear.

[Abb0]

Feb 6, 2009 12:22:53 GMT 12 The Godfather said:

...but at the end of the day if your car is legal.....no problem, what have you got to fear.

Only fear itself

[nzf2stocks.]

My concern is that Tim is back on his OEM horse. There are NO regulations in the rules regarding what lifters you use, OEM or not. This subject has been thrashed out before and by SNZ rules the exterior of the engine must remain stock, the internals are free provided they meet the control factors. (compression ratio, engine size, valve lift etc.) The main problem is that a lot of internal engine parts don't have any form of identification on them. Rover lifters are unmarked, this rule therefore makes Rovers illegal as there is no proof that they are OEM. This is only one example, all brands of engines have parts in them that are unmarked.

[MadMarty13B]

Feb 6, 2009 12:14:58 GMT 12 Apples said:

Feb 5, 2009 17:23:01 GMT 12 MadMarty13B said:

If they checked all Stockcars now 80-90 percent would have illegalities in their heads

and how would the mad one know this info? its a big call to be making when you dont even race, let alone in that class. and to say 80-90%, now thats fast lips

when you talk to many drivers.....

[Abb0]

Feb 6, 2009 22:09:49 GMT 12 nzf2stocks. said:

My concern is that Tim is back on his OEM horse. There are NO regulations in the rules regarding what lifters you use, OEM or not.

I don't see anywhere in the post that OEM are a requirement. The only mention of OEM is:
"The technical steward will cross-examine against some known compliant OEM lifters."
That's just what the suspect lifters are being measured against, not what has to be in the engine.

I can't see what the fuss is about. If the lift is measured and found to be excessive, then it's illegal.

[nrp165]

I don't see a problem.
I-like most others,surely,-have heard talk of hydraulic lifters being modified to read legal at low(cranking)speed-which then 'pump up' during normal operation to give increased lift.
May have been an 'urban myth'............but this shows an awareness by SNZ to address the perceived problem.
I never built an engine that pushed the limits that closely-there's too much chance of a measuring error causing disqualiification for a negligible gain in performance

Vic Neal
nrp Race Engines

[nzf2stocks.]

Feb 8, 2009 3:50:08 GMT 12 Abb0 said:

Feb 6, 2009 22:09:49 GMT 12 nzf2stocks. said:

My concern is that Tim is back on his OEM horse. There are NO regulations in the rules regarding what lifters you use, OEM or not.

I don't see anywhere in the post that OEM are a requirement. The only mention of OEM is:
"The technical steward will cross-examine against some known compliant OEM lifters."
That's just what the suspect lifters are being measured against, not what has to be in the engine.

I can't see what the fuss is about. If the lift is measured and found to be excessive, then it's illegal.

1, If there are no restrictions on the lifters that you can use why check them against "known compliant OEM lifters"?
2, To me this is just another attempt by some members of the SNZ executive to push their OEM barrow, even after a series of national meetings with the participants in this class voting overwhelmingly against changing to an OEM specification.
3, There ARE lifters, most commonly available from COME, that "pump up" at a given RPM, they are mostly used by offroad trucks so that they can keep some torque with very high lift cams. SNZ would be within their rights to declare these illegal as they would take your valve lift over the 500 mark at higher RPMs. The point is that they haven't. So therefore they are legal. I know of three, and have 2nd hand information concerning about a dozen, cars that are using these lifters. The testing that SNZ does will not prove that these lifters do anything illegal. They cannot be differentiated from normal OEM lifters except in an engineering laboratory as the differences in clearances inside the lifters is less than 1 thou.

How this mess can be sorted out is beyond me. The performance gains are not large and I believe there are bigger issues that need to be sorted out first.

[Abb0]

Feb 9, 2009 21:22:14 GMT 12 nzf2stocks. said:

Feb 8, 2009 3:50:08 GMT 12 Abb0 said:

I don't see anywhere in the post that OEM are a requirement. The only mention of OEM is:
"The technical steward will cross-examine against some known compliant OEM lifters."
That's just what the suspect lifters are being measured against, not what has to be in the engine.

I can't see what the fuss is about. If the lift is measured and found to be excessive, then it's illegal.

1, If there are no restrictions on the lifters that you can use why check them against "known compliant OEM lifters"?

But there are restrictions. The lift isn't allowed to be more than 0.500"

Feb 9, 2009 21:22:14 GMT 12 nzf2stocks. said:

2, To me this is just another attempt by some members of the SNZ executive to push their OEM barrow, even after a series of national meetings with the participants in this class voting overwhelmingly against changing to an OEM specification.

Can't really comment on this other than saying the rule doesn't appear (to me) to be pushing the OEM barrow.

Feb 9, 2009 21:22:14 GMT 12 nzf2stocks. said:

3, There ARE lifters, most commonly available from COME, that "pump up" at a given RPM, they are mostly used by offroad trucks so that they can keep some torque with very high lift cams. SNZ would be within their rights to declare these illegal as they would take your valve lift over the 500 mark at higher RPMs. The point is that they haven't. So therefore they are legal. I know of three, and have 2nd hand information concerning about a dozen, cars that are using these lifters. The testing that SNZ does will not prove that these lifters do anything illegal. They cannot be differentiated from normal OEM lifters except in an engineering laboratory as the differences in clearances inside the lifters is less than 1 thou.

Wasn't aware of this, not sure what to do about it.

Feb 9, 2009 21:22:14 GMT 12 nzf2stocks. said:

How this mess can be sorted out is beyond me. The performance gains are not large and I believe there are bigger issues that need to be sorted out first.

Agree

[nrp165]

You've hit the nail on the head there,Paul.
"keep some torque with high lift/duration cams"...........thereby getting you off the turns better,and not running out of grunt halfway down the straight.
Okay,the lifters themselves aren't illegal-but used with a cam profile that gives over .500" lift-at any time-they are.
Vic