Camcraft Newsletter
April & May 2004
Editor: Charles Reichard
Dear
Customers,
Here we are at the end of the 1st
quarter and business is pretty darn good. So far we are ahead of our record
breaking 2003 year. This is in spite of Clarence being out for 6 weeks in Jan.
& Feb and part time since March 8th. He returned to full time
status on April 19th. Our heart felt thanks to those of you who
endured our less than stellar service during these times. While we are not quite
caught up, things are much closer to normal now.
Our daughter Victoria will
graduate from Elon University May 22nd. We will be away from about
the 20th to the 25th. Victoria will be grinding cams for
us during the summer from about June 15th until
she starts graduate school in August at the University of Maryland Baltimore
campus. That means Harriett and I may get a little vacation about the end of
June.
Mark Clarr won the first Modified race at Virginia Motor Speedway on opening night in a very dominant way. The power for his #7 car was provided by Keen’s Automotive in Smithfield, VA.
Opening night at Langley Speedway saw Andrew Wroten take the win in the Super Street class. His #22 Monte Carlo was powered by a H & H Machine engine
Keith Rocce used Pettit Racing Engines power to win on opening day at Waterford Speed Bowl in his #13 Limited Sportsman. Other racers using Pettit power were Ted Christopher #13 SK Modified who won on the 17th and Eric Bundt # 54 SK Modified who won on the 18th. On the 18th Pettit engines powered SK cars to 1st ,2nd, 3rd, and 5th place finishes.
Terri Williams picked up a win in her 01 Grand Stock car at South Boston Speedway in South Boston, VA on April 10th. Wheatley Racing Engines in Richmond, VA built her engine.
April
16 at Southampton Motor Speedway in Limited Late Model, Todd Vanguilder finished
first and Shawn Balluzzo was second. They are team-mates,
both
cars have engines by Keen’s Automotive in Smithfield, VA. Keen power dominated
again on the 24th at Langley Speedway in the Late Model
Sportsman twin 35 lap races. The first was won by Shawn Balluzo and the
second was won by Paul Lubno with Shawn Balluzzo close behind in second.
Don’t forget our new
.904 profiles. Aside from delivering outstanding power in Chrysler products,
they work well in Ford and Chevys as well. Classes that can use any lifter
diameter will benefit from using these profiles. Our .904 profiles have a little
less lift than some of our competitors for 2 reasons. The first is that most
flat tappet cams respond well to high rocker ratios, which puts additional
stress on the lobes. A bit lower lift increases the nose radius and that is good
for decreasing wear. The other is that we wanted to be able to maintain a good
nose radius with a small block Chevy size lobe. Using the same master, the
larger the lobe diameter, the larger the nose radius. This is why Fords have
much less wear problems than Chevrolet. It has nothing to do with lifter
diameter. The larger nose radius lobe is more resistant to wear, as there is
greater contact between the lobe and the lifter.
K15
vs. P55 Camshaft castings
There is much discussion over the quality of P55 vs K15 castings. The P55 material has slightly better wear characteristics but this slight advantage is offset by it being more brittle and more prone to breaking. The other disadvantage is the P55 lobes are narrower than the K15. Thus there is less contact area across the nose with the P55. Increased contact area = better wear characteristics.
There are several grades of proferal used in cam castings; Proferal, Proferal +, Proferal ++, and P55. Most HP cams are cast from Proferal ++, which is pretty close to P55. We feel the wider lobes and less tendency to break, more than offset the slightly better wear characteristics of the P55 material. Another factor is that P55 material is only poured twice a year, which means very high order quantities to have castings available year round.
We
appreciate your continued support!!
Yours truly,