Hey, everyone is aware that flamboro has the crate engine program in place. I had never really had a problem with the rule sets between the two engines as i figured they were even however, in this years january meeting for the L.M drivers a few drivers claimed the crate engines were putting out around 430 h.p and that the built engines were just making it to the 400 h.p range. I didn't really think much of it as rumors about these engines tend to be over shadowed by the spec sheet from chev. Just the last weekend i was told by a driver that he had his engine on the dyno and a crate engine was put on after and said the crate was making almost 35 more h.p than his built engine. Now everyone know the engines are dyoned at 5800 rpm and make 400 h.p although, at flamboro the rules allow you to run at 6300 rpm so this is where i belive they are getting the extra h.p. A lot of people will say they are just fast because a lot of the fast cars are running a crate engine which may be true but i think that the rules need to changed a bit to make it little more even out there. Maybe a better set of heads for the built engines or intake, or for to for the crates to have a 5800 rpm chip. there are many possibilities, what does everyone else think.

The crate engine will create some of the best racing Flamboro has seen. If your behind with built engine, sell it. It will cost as much to get the extra horsepower as it will to buy a 604 crate. It will cost more to freshen the built in the off season then it will to buy a crate. Change the oil every 3 or 4 races, pull up a chair and watch the builts get torn down in tech, run it 3 years, change the valve springs, run it for 3 more years, sell it for 3 grand to a neighbor.

Sounds like the way to go to me.

Hey, everyone is aware that flamboro has the crate engine program in place. I had never really had a problem with the rule sets between the two engines as i figured they were even however, in this years january meeting for the L.M drivers a few drivers claimed the crate engines were putting out around 430 h.p and that the built engines were just making it to the 400 h.p range. I didn't really think much of it as rumors about these engines tend to be over shadowed by the spec sheet from chev. Just the last weekend i was told by a driver that he had his engine on the dyno and a crate engine was put on after and said the crate was making almost 35 more h.p than his built engine. Now everyone know the engines are dyoned at 5800 rpm and make 400 h.p although, at flamboro the rules allow you to run at 6300 rpm so this is where i belive they are getting the extra h.p. A lot of people will say they are just fast because a lot of the fast cars are running a crate engine which may be true but i think that the rules need to changed a bit to make it little more even out there. Maybe a better set of heads for the built engines or intake, or for to for the crates to have a 5800 rpm chip. there are many possibilities, what does everyone else think.

The crate engine will create some of the best racing Flamboro has seen. If your behind with built engine, sell it. It will cost as much to get the extra horsepower as it will to buy a 604 crate. It will cost more to freshen the built in the off season then it will to buy a crate. Change the oil every 3 or 4 races, pull up a chair and watch the builts get torn down in tech, run it 3 years, change the valve springs, run it for 3 more years, sell it for 3 grand to a neighbor.

Sounds like the way to go to me.

Agreed, a better set of heads for the builts would get you half the cost of a crate, and 5800 RPM for that motor is unrealisitic, it doesn't make any more power at 6300, it just gets the car off of the corner. I know when the Delaware chassis dyno testing was done the motors were really close, with a dodge built making the most power, but i'm not sure how flamboro motor rules compare to Delaware.

A lot of people will say they are just fast because a lot of the fast cars are running a crate engine which may be true...

Building on that statement...

Not everyone running a crate is going to be running up front.  But, I don't think it's a coincidence that crate engines power so many front runners in various divisions/tracks.

Why?  I'll present one answer that is commonly overshadowed by the horsepower debate.

Running a crate allows teams to focus almost entirely on getting through the corners.  The motor is what it is - sealed.  Leave it alone - change the oil and that's it.  You're seeing crate powered cars running up front because the focus on set-up pays off.  In short track racing, getting off the corner is key.  How do you do that?  Get through the corner well.  Spend your weekly prep and practice efforts working on fine-tuning the set-up, rather than tweaking the motor, and you're much better off in my opinion.

...and god bless the crate for making racing "affordable".

i have found that the crate engine has a little better low end torque that also helps you get off the corner better. watch a vehicle that has a built engine & see when he can get back on the throttle as compared to a crate. you will see that most drivers can acelerate a lot sooner with a crate than a built.