[RicanStyleZX3]

Well what I would like to know is how the engine's power is lost over time, were, and use? I mean if you use the car a whole like, but take good care, why should you loose power? So if I loose some power do to high milage, and I put in a set of cams, will that put me the the "factory" power level because I already lost some power? I'm not a full blown gear-head and all I see is metal, mechanically engineered to work and produce power. I don't see where the lost comes... Thanks for any help

 

[Machine]

Hey

well there are many things that contribute to power loss to a high mileage engine. Piston rings wear causing compression loss, valve springs weaken, the heads of the valves themselves become wore, lobes on camshafts wear down causing the valves to not open all the way, bearings wear increasing tolerance ( space ) allowing parts to migrate and bump into one another, fuel injectors dont spray as well, electrical connections and wires become corroded and add resistance to the whole system causing decrease in efficiency, gaskets dont seal as well leading to leaks. whole-bunch-o-stuff causes motors to loose power output.

 

[OmniFocus]

One thing to remember is that engines do not ship from the factory making peak power. The bearing clearances are a little on the tight side of ideal. I'd say an engine will make its best power once thoroughly broken in... Like 30-70k miles... After that, the clearances will proceed to fall to the loose side.

Good care and feeding is critical of course... An example being my 1990 Omni... The cylinder bores, cam, cam journals, and crank bearings looked pretty much new at 117k

Just remember to use good oil, change it frequently, and ALWAYS let your engine water and oil get up to temp before you start getting on it. Try to keep the RPMs under 2k while warming. Things like that will ensure a long engine life.

[ 10-14-2002, 11:14 PM: Message edited by: OmniFocus ]