[dfsmith]

I'd like to get some info on the different engines maybe from guys that do them themselves with knowledge of building. What are all the differnt engine types and is there a base engine family where these came from? In other words can you get an old cast iron block (chevy,ford,mopar, toyota) and build your own with aluminum head, off the shelf cam, pistons, crank,rods. Are they stroked with a different crank and punched out. Just some info because the research i have done it seems like this NSA stuff nobody says anything lol. I'm new entering the Midgets and just trying to gather as much knowledge as possible.

[DAD]

[quote=dfsmith;356686]I'd like to get some info on the different engines maybe from guys that do them themselves with knowledge of building. What are all the differnt engine types and is there a base engine family where these came from? In other words can you get an old cast iron block (chevy,ford,mopar, toyota) and build your own with aluminum head, off the shelf cam, pistons, crank,rods. Are they stroked with a different crank and punched out. Just some info because the research i have done it seems like this NSA stuff nobody says anything lol. I'm new entering the Midgets and just trying to gather as much knowledge as possible.[/


Go up to Montpelier and walk and talk around the pits.

Honest Dad himself

[DAD]

Originally Posted by dfsmith I'd like to get some info on the different engines maybe from guys that do them themselves with knowledge of building. What are all the differnt engine types and is there a base engine family where these came from? In other words can you get an old cast iron block (chevy,ford,mopar, toyota) and build your own with aluminum head, off the shelf cam, pistons, crank,rods. Are they stroked with a different crank and punched out. Just some info because the research i have done it seems like this NSA stuff nobody says anything lol. I'm new entering the Midgets and just trying to gather as much knowledge as possible.

Boy are you about to get an education. Starting out up at Montpelier wouldn't be to bad. Most other groups will probably a require that you put a morgage on your house. Look over the classified adds in Iow or Midget madness to get a better Idea of what is out there.

Midgets are not a real good starting point, rather they should be your goal.

Honest Dad himself

[badcoupe]

The midget motors for the most part are dedicated setups with nothing factory about them. The exceptions being the VW's (primarily an indoor motor) The ecotech that zeromotorsports does and the focus motors that run their own series essentially. Your toyota chev esslinger are all purpose built blocks some of the chevys run a v8 head some of the fords ran one roush yates cup cylinder head I believe the yotas run a nascar head on those but I'm not positive. I used to have a motor that was a rodeck block with a single brownfield AFR small block chevy head on it.

[dfsmith]

Ok so what you guys are saying most part everything is special purpose built? Now like I said I'm newbie to this form of racing but I have done some a bit of racing in karts and still do, you may laugh but karting is high end fast and can get expensive. Now you guys are saying all the blocks are purpose built esslinger, gaerte, fontana, toyota. Ok so like a Gaerte they didn't have a foundry to cast these blocks they had Rodeck cast them which seems like there not around anymore. Nor does Gaerte make the Head,rods,lifters,pistons,crank. So what I'm trying to figure out is are the aluminum alloy blocks casted yet. And if they take a ford head or a chevy head isn't there a stock block out there that accepts this head. And as for the chevy tech engine is this one special cast block also? I'm trying to see if you can get off the shelf performance engine parts. And as for asking questions at the track well I tried that and understandbly most guys don't do there engines so they just say we run this or that and send it to the engine shop. And there racing so its the last thing they want to do is talk to a newbie answering his stupid questions lol and there probaly thinking omg this guys in for an experience. Oh and what happened to the what I think its called is the chevy hawk engine basically what I understand an LS1 or 5 cut in half I've done google search and all I come up with is a 2008 article on it and that tony stewarts team was going to run it or something like that. You guys are great and thanks if you can help out a naive amatuer like myself, but you have to start somewhere lol

Denny

[darnall]

You can start with a ford 2300cc pinto/ranger steel block and an esslinger catalog and go to town building a stock block midget engine... you could basically build an esslinger ST identical to the way esslinger sells them with the exception of the stock block... or you could buy one of their other aluminum heads, a good rotating assembly, a used injector, a good ovaltrack wetsump oilpan, an elctromotive ignition, and one of the millions of cam options they have and have a decent, solid, reliable starter engine that would still out perform the ecotech package...

I should now mention that I have a ford 2300cc injector and a $400 oilpan for a 2300cc ford that i want to sell.....cheap...I actually have an entire engine, minus ignition, that i need to get rid of, but all the internals are very very mild... nowhere near what it could be with the addition of some parts out of esslingers catalog.

[darnall]

The ecotech is a stock engine with injection and ignition added...comes out of a chevy cobalt among other things.

The chevy hawk engine was still very purpose built for midget racing, and was yet another $25,000 package.

The pontiac was a very popular midget engine for many years...it was an aluminum engine, but you can build a stock block version of it pretty inexpensively...basically start with a 2500cc S-10 pickup engine from the late 80s...used heads & injectors are pretty easy to find to go that direction, and there is a company in Kansas City that sells damn near everything you would need internally to make a fresh high performance engine out of one of these.

The chevy 2 was another popular midget package many years ago...I have been told that there are some brodix aluminum heads that will bolt on to one of these blocks, but I have no idea which ones or if that is true at all.

[darnall]

And don't be offended or think the guys you talked to are trying to give you the cold shoulder.... I would venture to guess that 80% of midget owners actually have no idea what their engine was based off of and have even less idea about what OEM stuff can be used to build something similar. It isn't their fault...it's just that a very very small percentage of people in midgets actually do anything to their motors other than oil changes...with so much money tied up in owning the damn thing the last thing they want to do is learn how to rebuild them thru trial and error...sending it back to the builder is actually a pretty cheap insurance policy compared to how much damage you can do by making a mistake yourself.

[dfsmith]

Darnal, I agree and that's what I was meaning about the other racers they were not rude or anything they just have there stuff going on I know how it gets at race day. I am getting an education by you guys and I appreciate the help and the ideas.

[TQ29m]

You probably couldn't have picked a more difficult series engine to ask about, and unless you stay in the lower end of midget racing, there is nothing more expensive, or hard to find a place to race without a lot of traveling. Montpelier, here in Indiana, has been trying to make the class affordable, by allowing almost anything to run, but it's still a challange. Just as a talking point, what made you pick this particular type of racing, it is without a doubt, not a good choice for a beginner, there are a lot of other, Midget size car classes, that are a whole lot cheaper to run, than a full Midget, maybe not any easier to find reliable answers about, but somewhat. BTW, where are you located, that is also a big factor in choice. Bob