You can buy a car off the showroom floor from General Motors, Ford, and Dodge that make a ton of horsepower via forced induction, but what if you want more? Well, one of the first things you’ll need to do is address the fuel system, and there’s a simple way to do that with a fuel pump voltage booster. We talk with Chris Johnson from JMS to learn more about fuel pump voltage boosters.

It’s almost criminal how easy it is to crank up the horsepower on a boosted modern muscle car with a pully change and a few other modifications. The problem is the OEM fuel system isn’t designed to handle the additional horsepower as it sits, but that’s where the fuel pump voltage booster comes in. A fuel pump voltage booster increases the amount of voltage provided to the fuel pump, therefore, allowing it to spin faster, and keep up with the increased demands of the fuel system.

Chris Johnson from JMS explains how one of these fuel pump voltage boosters works.

“These boosters, like our FuelMax unit, can increase the voltage from 14.4 volts up to 22 volts. The normal single or dual pump setup can increase fuel volume by over 50 percent with that voltage booster alone, without having to buy an entire fuel system. The majority of the uses are with the stock fuel pumps, so the owner doesn’t need to put a bigger pump in the car to achieve their horsepower goals.”

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A fuel pump voltage booster is actually a pretty simple modification to install on a boosted vehicle. You don’t have to cut the vehicle up or make any big changes to its structure. The fuel pump voltage booster system just needs to be wired into the OEM system and it’s triggered by a Hobbs switch when it sees boost.

“Spinning the pump harder isn’t an issue because it isn’t happening all the time. If you’re not in boost, the voltage booster isn’t going to be activated to spin the pump harder than it normally would. It only turns on when you program it to. The pump is also in fuel in the stock location inside the tank, so it’s being cooled by that fuel. It’s an on-demand system. It’s pedal activated and is regulated, so it activates almost like a secondary fuel pump,” Johnson explains.

JMS has worked hard to make the FuelMax a user-friendly unit.

“The FuelMax uses OE style connectors because nobody wants to take an expensive car and start cutting wires. The simplicity of taking it out of the box and plugging it in is a big advantage. The normal person at home could install this at home, they just need some basic skills. The FuelMax can also be mounted just about anywhere in the vehicle, so that adds a lot of convenience. These units are available for the Hellcat, Challenger, TRX truck, Mustang, and Camaro,” Johnson states.

You can pick up a plug-and-play FuelMax EZ for the GT350 and GT500 Mustangs. These units will support up to 1,000 horsepower with a single fuel pump, and up to 1,300 horsepower on a dual fuel pump system. These will work with either a 12-volt or 16-volt system too.

If you want to learn more about fuel pump voltage boosters and see what JMS has to offer you can visit the company’s website right here.

Idoubt many people have given much thought as to how and when the turbocharger was born. I won’t bore you with the details but know that it happened way back in the early 1900s. Once it was discovered how much additional power a turbo can provide, their applications for use continually grew.  You can imagine the number of design changes they have seen over the years, and they are still undergoing as time creeps along. Revisions typically mean improvements in one way or another. However, just like diesel engines, some designs have proven better than others.

We decided to shed some light on some common ways a turbo can fail and what can be done to prevent that failure. If you would like to protect an expensive and vital engine component then read on as Nate Brekken, co-owner of Strictly Diesel disassembles a pair of turbos for inspection.

Looking at how a turbo operates, they’re pretty simple. Exhaust pressure is used to spin the turbine wheel which causes the compressor wheel to spin at the same speed. The compressor wheel is used to pull air through the air filter and then into the compressor housing. The air is then compressed, sent through the intake manifold, and then into the engine. As you zoom in closer, things get much more complicated and sensitive.

They’re The Same, But Different

There are two main categories of turbos, and while sharing many of the same components, they have some major differences as well. The first and more traditional turbo design is referred to as a fixed vane or fixed geometry turbocharger. These were found in diesel engines before they were equipped with emissions equipment like EGR valves and coolers. This style of turbo does not suffer from soot buildup on the exhaust side since the only moving part is the turbine wheel. They do not have components like vane actuators or vane position sensors, unison rings, vanes, or vane cages. For that reason, many feel these are more reliable units.

The second design, which you’ll find on modern diesel engines, is referred to as a variable vane turbocharger (VVT) or a variable geometry turbocharger (VGT). These two are essentially the same thing and you’ll commonly hear them referred to as one or another. Both of them have either individual vanes or a vane cage inside of the exhaust housing that opens or closes to alter the exhaust housing’s Area over Radius (A/R) ratio. By creating a lower effective A/R ratio, the vanes help the turbo build boost sooner. By “opening up” the vanes, this creates a larger effective A/R ratio allowing for better top-end performance. They offer many other benefits and are almost a necessity with strict emission requirements. Two common examples of these include Garrett turbochargers that have vanes that open or close whereas Holset uses a cage that moves in and out.

Failure On The Exhaust Side

Through normal driving, soot will flow through the exhaust housing, and over time it can build up, leading to problems. Typically, this is seen in trucks that live a very easy life with little to no towing or hauling, and not a lot of heat being generated. Although this type of usage may net better fuel economy, the downside is problems are created in the vanes. If the vanes don’t see a full range of frequent movement or heat, then soot deposits can build up and block their range of motion and cause a turbo failure. In some cases, it can cause the vanes, unison ring, or cage to seize in one position. Your truck will recognize this very quickly and set a check engine light.

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The unison ring is shown on the far left. This is what moves all of the vanes simultaneously (right). The middle picture shows the pin which swivels to open or close the vanes and is controlled by the actuator.

Depending on the position they are stuck will cause either a lack of low-end or top-end power. When this happens, it might be possible to remove and clean the turbo, but depending on internal wear or its age and mileage, it may be best to have it replaced. More-than-normal soot build-up can however be caused by other things like boost leaks, exhaust leaks before the turbo, or tuning with a low focus on smoke control. The good news is, there are some ways to help prevent this. Keeping the vanes moving is the goal, which can be done by enjoying some spirited acceleration runs, using the turbo brake, and of course, making sure the engine is mechanically sound. Towing will help this situation as well since the vanes will be cycling back and forth.

Death By Fire

Since turbos use exhaust flow to function, they see a tremendous amount of heat. For those of you who monitor exhaust gas temperatures (EGTs) and tow heavy loads, you’ve seen firsthand how this number impacts your cooling system. EGTs can also impact your engine’s turbo, and this is frequently forgotten. High temperatures can result in damage to the turbine wheel and can be seen by an orange peel appearance or rippling on the fins of the turbine. Another indicator is when the metal has folded over and melted away. Melting metal off of the turbine wheel may seem like a stretch, but when metal is missing and there’s no evidence of contact inside the exhaust housing it’s pretty clear what happened.

Metal is a great conductor of heat, so it’s easy for it to transfer into the bearings. Turbochargers use a thrust bearing to limit how far the rotating assembly can move from side to side. The journal bearings allow the rotating assembly to spin, and these are generally brass bearings that ride on the center of the shaft. As heat makes its way in, signs of it can be seen by discolored metal components. You may see where brass material from the bearings has transferred onto the shaft, or created darker areas that can appear black and burnt or blue in color. If EGTs are too high for too long, this can begin to melt the bearings and plug the oiling holes built into them. If there’s no film of oil to keep them lubricated, the wheel may be difficult to spin by hand or it could seize and not spin at all.

This is why monitoring exhaust temperature is so important. Pyrometers allow you to see, in real-time, the heat being generated which can be an indicator of how hard you’re pushing the turbocharger. There are a lot of factors that cause high EGTs, but here are some tips. First, don’t lug the engine when towing heavy loads. Even though the engine may have the power to run with low boost pressure and move the load, low airflow means higher EGTs. Keeping the engine RPM up will raise boost, increasing airflow into the engine. This in turn decreases EGTs. This is not always enough, so you may find yourself having to slow down and downshift. Moving a loaded trailer shaped like a brick, with a headwind may prove too much to maintain speed with the rest of traffic. It’s best to make the engine and turbo work, just not past its efficiency range to the point of failure.

Bearings Prefer Clean Oil

As mentioned above, bearings can fail due to heat. They can also fail due to a lack of lubrication or contamination. When a turbo fails and is disassembled, the bearings can paint a clear picture. If there is any foreign debris in the engine oil, it may plug the oil passages starving it of oil. This contamination could also make its way into the bearings and cause scarring or other wear marks. Excessive wear to the bearings can cause the rotating assembly to be out of balance or have excessive lateral or vertical movement. Eventually, it can be severe enough to allow one or both of the wheels to contact the housing.

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The wear on the thrust bearing to the left is evident by the rough edges and the gap between the two parts. This was allowing enough side-to-side movement for the turbine wheel to contact the exhaust housing. The journal bearings on the right have excessive scarring from contaminants in the engine oil. Also notice the fuzzy material on them, that’s from a red shop rag used to wipe them off. Remember that when using those to clean small components like these if they’ll be reused.

Good maintenance is the key to preventing turbo failure. Oil change interval recommendations vary from one person or manufacturer to the next. Unless you’re running a bypass filter or fine-mesh filter, we don’t recommend extended drain intervals. It’s personal preference and it’s your truck so do as you please, but oil changes every 5,000 miles are much less expensive than replacing an engine. Turbos aren’t cheap either. Another great piece of insurance is a magnet around the oil filter. Filtermag makes curved magnets that stick to the side of the filter and work very well at trapping metal and preventing it from circulating throughout the oiling system. Whatever you do, make it a point to keep clean oil in your engine to keep it and the turbo healthy.

Filters And Air Intakes

Just like needing clean oil, your turbo needs clean air — and lots of it. A few different problems exist around filters and air intakes. The obvious is poor air filtration. Any dust or debris that makes its way through the filter will contact the compressor wheel. This will have a sandblasting effect and over time it will wear away the outer edges of the wheel. Upgraded billet wheels have a softer metal than factory ones and can be more easily damaged. This can lead to an unbalanced assembly as well as reduce the air it pulls through the intake. Less air means reduced efficiency and circles back to increased EGTs. The next problem is air restriction most commonly seen by dirty and plugged air filters. Trucks with performance tuning that run a factory air filter can run into this as well. A restrictive filter can cause an overspeed situation taking it beyond its operating limits. This force can overcome the film of oil on the thrust bearing and cause the rotating assembly to be pulled far enough in a direction allowing it to contact the housing.

Aftermarket air intakes generally improve airflow over the stock setup, but make sure you choose one that uses a quality filter. Not all are created equal. When the right engineering has gone into a kit you’ll find ISO test results, intake temperatures drop, and CFM improvements compared to a stock intake. If you decide to run a larger-than-stock turbocharger then plan on ditching the factory intake to allow your turbo to breathe in a lot of clean air.

Overall, turbochargers can be very reliable units as long as they’re properly cared for. This can come in the form of changing your driving habits, being proactive with maintenance, using quality parts, and making sure you have the right setup for your use and your turbocharger. Remember that turbos don’t normally fail on their own so don’t shoot the messenger.

When was the last time you thought about the cooling system in your classic car, diesel truck, off-road rig, or late-model ride? As long as it’s cooling the engine, nobody really thinks much about it. But, no matter what type of vehicle you drive, all must operate between the boundaries of water boiling and freezing. Those two temperature extremes make knowing which antifreeze you should be using and its proper maintenance essential.

With colder months looming for many areas of the country, we thought it might be a good idea to take a good look at the antifreeze that you should have in the cooling system of your car. Having the proper type and a correct water-to-antifreeze ratio is paramount for keeping your cooling system operating at peak efficiency. To find everything we needed to know, about which antifreeze should be used when, we reached out to the professionals at Old World Industries, the makers of Peak antifreeze to clear up a few things and get some solid information.

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The wide choices of today’s differently colored antifreeze/coolants are color-indicated by automaker-specific formulations. The Asian and European manufacturers each have three different formulas for varied make and years of manufacture.

So Many Colors
Addressing the subject of antifreeze comes from the inevitable confusion when we walk into the friendly auto parts store and find multiple antifreeze containers with more than ten colored formulas for use with different Asian-, European-, and North American-manufactured vehicles.

The myriad of choices is cause for frantic research to learn if one of these various colors of coolant could contain magic pixies that will increase the cooling effectiveness of the ride in question. That is why we reached out to the brain trust of Brian Bohlander and John Turney of Old World Industries.

“With various alloys of metal used in new engines and cooling systems, multiple manufacturer-specified antifreeze formulas now exist,” says Old World’s Chief Technology Officer, John Turney. “These different antifreeze/coolant compositions also are designed to keep specific engines corrosion-free and be more friendly to new seals and gasket technology.”

With that, the bottom line is that, no, there is no purple or orange version of OEM formulations that is a magic elixir for performance engine applications. But your most effective choice is matching coolant specified for factory engines with iron/iron, aluminum/iron, or all aluminum blocks and heads.

The Antifreeze/Coolant Timeline
Inorganic Acid Technology (IAT) is your typical green antifreeze that has been used for years. This formulation contains silicates and phosphates, and this IAT composition effectively prevents rust in the coolant passages when the engine block and head(s) are cast iron. Think classic and heavy-duty applications (diesel).

“In recent times, more aluminum heads, blocks, and rubber seals make up engine components,” says Bohlander. “With that, Organic Acid Technology (OAT) antifreeze was developed to reduce heavy scale deposits within the aluminum coolant passages, phasing away the previously used IAT antifreeze.”

Turney continues, “But, these silicate and phosphate components in the older IAT antifreeze design offer the benefit of covering all surfaces quickly for better heat transfer. This benefit is one of the reasons why you’re seeing manufacturers returning to IAT compounds at varying compositions.”

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Electrolysis is an enemy of mixing aluminum and iron engine parts, note the damage to the aluminum intake surface (left). A zinc anode (right) is shown inserted into a thermostat housing. Since electricity follows the path of least resistance, the electrolysis reacts with the anode and not coolant passages.

Antifreeze needs dictate that many coolants are silicate-free, phosphate-free, or a compound of multiple chemicals. The compound formulations of antifreeze are called Hybrid Organic Acid Technology (HOAT.)

Performance Engines And HOAT Technology
Aluminum heads and intakes are the building blocks of a high-performance engine. If that sounds like your engine, you’ll want to know the best antifreeze/coolant you should use with an aluminum and iron combination performance engine.

 

“A mixed-metal cooling system, such as iron block and aluminum heads, tends to be more challenging. Different metals, when combined galvanically or electrically, can promote corrosion simply because the dissimilar metals can cause electrons to flow.” – John Turney, OWI

The best answer for an engine with a hybrid of metallurgy comes from the previously mentioned hybrid (HOAT) antifreeze. One such hybrid antifreeze/coolant is Peak’s All Vehicle 10x Technology product. This big blue Peak bottle (with no specific color coding) offers compatibility for use with any color or type of antifreeze/coolant currently in your car’s system. In other words, it can be mixed with other formulations of coolant.

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Coolant circulation flow can be too fast or slow. Water pumps with huge flow rates can circulate so quickly that coolant does not have time to absorb the engine’s heat or allow the radiator to exchange heat away. Holley/Frostbite electric pumps flow at 35-gallon-per-minute, a rate many engine builders recommend. Moroso Performance also offers coolant restrictor plates with three orifice options to use in place of a thermostat to regulate flow speeds.

“Now, PEAK offers all of the antifreeze formulas (colors) specifically as a direct match for your factory antifreeze,” mentions Bohlander. “But the 10x formula is designed for use in all North American, Asian, and European cars and trucks, regardless of make, model, or year. This formulation is safe for use with countless iron/iron, iron/aluminum, or all aluminum engines. This type-O antifreeze (referring to type-O blood which is compatible with all other human blood) may be a good choice for performance aluminum/iron engines.”

Another motivating factor with specialized formulas is the conditions of tap water in different locations around the world. Turney told us that hard water and/or other minerals reduce a coolant’s effectiveness. Plus, it promotes scale and electrolysis in the cooling system. It is good practice to use prediluted antifreeze, which uses distilled water, or else always blend your concentrate with distilled water.

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Peak’s 10x antifreeze is available in 50/50 prediluted or as a concentrate. The enthusiasts who blend their own need to be aware of possible tap water concerns. Hard water and some minerals found in this source can lower your coolant’s effectiveness. Always using distilled water with a concentrate removes any threat of contamination.

Universal antifreeze offers two-fold advantages. First, as explained by Turney, “PEAK’s 10x antifreeze additives are free of 2-EHA, silicate, nitrite, borate, and amines. The 2-EHA refers to 2-ethyl hexanoic acid that is extremely harsh on silicone gaskets and cooling system components.”

We mention the 2-EHA additive because though it was used in older coolants from years ago, you can still find it in many discount brands of antifreeze/coolants. This acidic compound can damage today’s gaskets, water pump seals, and even aftermarket aluminum radiators.

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Test strips can monitor your antifreeze chemical balance. These strips by WIX filters dip into your coolant, then compare the color chart with their chemical reaction. They indicate nitrite level, freeze point, and pH level. Our toolbox also has a refractometer. This precision device costs well under 20-bucks and measures the freezing point of either propylene or ethylene glycol-based antifreeze.

The second advantage of Peak’s 10x is its tough organic additives that ward off the negative effects of both scale deposits (aluminum) and corrosion (iron). A multi-use formula can be beneficial to keep all coolant passages clean and heat transfer as efficient as possible.

Coolant Meets Metal
For a coolant to be most effective, the cohesion between the surface of the engine’s metal cooling passages and the actual antifreeze/coolant is necessary. The coolant will then absorb more heat from the engine and expel that heat in a radiator with clean passages.

A major intent of antifreeze chemistry is to keep your cooling passages clean. The “10x” in Peak’s all-makes antifreeze represents the ten times more scale and corrosion-fighting inhibitors within the formula. This provides for a more pristine coolant passage, better contact with the coolant, and more effective heat transfer.

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This boiling water shows the formation of air bubbles against the surface of the metal. These bubbles and high-temp steam pockets prevent your coolant from drawing heat from your block and heads. The rust in this block’s coolant passages also lowers the contact efficiency of the coolant. The effect is comparable to the bubbles.

“This is also why a cooling system flush can be more important than many give credit,” comments Turney. “A good engine flush cleaner has neither low nor high pH to do the job correctly. A good cleaner flushes the internal cooling passages with a process called chelation. Chelation is a bonding of ions and molecules to metal ions.” Flushing your cooling system at five-year intervals will help keep your cooling system clean and working at its optimum potential.

If you need to add or change the coolant in your ride, don’t let deciding which antifreeze on the rack at your favorite store confuse you. The new hybrid coolants can ward off corrosion with all specific manufacturers’ metals yet be forgiving to gaskets and seals. And finally, hybrid coolants match a hybrid of metals in your hot rod engine.

Fuel filters for high-performance or all-out racing have a greater duty than many consider. We’ve seen scores of racers using a strainer-style filter within a funnel at the track and calling that “good enough.” Today’s fuel pumps, electronic injectors, carburetors, sensors, and more continue to tighten their tolerances to achieve a better fuel feed to meet higher horsepower demands, and fuel filters need to step up their game to protect these components.

Flow Criteria for Filters

The overall flow of a fuel system is only as good as the combination of components and how they either feed or circulate your fuel supply. We outfitted the Project Rover Camaro with a pair of Fuelab in-line filters for our E85-fueled, electronic fuel injection system. Brian Paitz, President at Fuelab, provided some insight into the proper filtration of a racing or extreme performance fuel system.

“The one thing that I can’t stress enough when you’re setting up a fuel system is that you look at it as an entire system,” Paitz begins. “It goes beyond just a pump, it goes beyond the regulator — it also has a lot to do with your filters.”

Filter Sizing and Location

The success of feeding your engine for its peak fuel demands will depend greatly on two critical locations in your filtration: filtering the fuel before and after the fuel pump is the most effective layout.  These two filtering points ensure your fuel system is optimized for flow — yet protected.

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Fuelab offers a variety of filter choices in paper/cellulose, fiberglass, and stainless steel mesh filter media that best apply to your filter size and fuel type. While in their shop, they showed two scored fuel pump plates alongside originals that demonstrated the result of not using proper filters before and after your fuel pump.

Fundamentally, we spec’d out our in-tank fuel pump at 150 gallons per hour (GPH). With that, we researched the Fuelab filter GPH offerings and chose the 818 Series in-line fuel filters, which can handle 200 gph. These feature male 37-degree flared fitting end caps on both ends, and can be ordered with various size combinations across -6AN, -8AN, -10AN, or -12AN male inlets and outlets.

Paitz explains that you must choose filter sizing to prevent pressure drops. “You want to be sure you get a pump filter that can handle the fuel capacity leaving the pump,” he says. “You want to minimize pressure drop across the filter. Blowing 10 gallons per minute through a filter that has a -6AN inlet and outlet is going to create a pressure drop across that filter, potentially losing a couple of pounds of pressure.”

Our EFI system dictated our remaining hose sizes; it calls for a -8AN inlet hose and a -6AN return line. We took advantage of Fuelab’s unlimited combination of AN fittings at the filters’ inlet and outlet ports to plumb a -10AN filter inlet from our pump to a -8AN filter outlet towards our EFI system, and a -6AN filtered return to the tank.

Outside of our selection, Fuelab also offers filters in larger sizes. The 828 Series inline filters are the same diameter as the 818 filters we’re using, but hold a 5-inch-long filtering element compared to the 818 models’ 3-inch-long filter. The 828 Series supports 350 gph of flow.

Their new 868 PRO Series Extreme Flow inline fuel filters have a 10 GPM rating for maximum flow and minimal pressure drop. Wait, GPM? Yes, this filter will flow 10 gallons per minute with -10AN male inlets and outlets and a 5-inch diameter filtering element.

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They do put the word “lab” in the company name at Fuelab for a reason: its extensive testing equipment helps to develop the highest internal flow characteristics to prevent low-pressure points within the filters. Their 3-inch fiberglass, 5-inch paper/cellulose, and 5-inch stainless steel filter media are shown.

 

Filtering Media and Fuel Type

Fuelab offers multiple choices of filter cartridges to insert into your filter cases. “We recommend that you use a filter with the 100-micron rating or finer before any performance type pump,” Paitz explains. “It’s super important to get the properly sized pre-filter before the fuel pump. This stainless filter element should only be used as a pre-filter for fuel pumps — it helps prevent pump cavitation with an extremely low-pressure drop.”

A finer element (lower numerical micron rating) is recommended directly following your fuel pump to protect injectors, carburetors, and other downstream components, such as fuel sensors. There is a variety of filter media choices; the deciding factor is your fuel type used.

A numerical rating describes a filter’s capabilities. For instance, a 100-micron filter will stop a particle as small as 100 microns. Our micro-fiberglass element offers extra protection by eliminating particles down to 6 microns in size. – Brian Paitz, Fuelab

Filter Media Choices

The Fuelab stainless steel filter is available in 40 and 100 micron filtration levels and is compatible with gas, diesel, ethanol, and methanol. In addition, the stainless filter is cleanable and does not necessarily require replacement for maintenance.

“Our 100-micron cellulose paper element is economical, and commonly used as a pre-pump filter element, but can only be used with gasoline and diesel fuels,” Paitz says. “Our most advanced filter is our micro-fiberglass element — it provides extra particle protection with improvements in filter efficiency. This disposable element is compatible with gas, diesel, ethanol, and methanol.”

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The filter housing offers a threaded cap allowing access to the filter area. Paitz shows us a fiberglass media filter that did its job to filter E85 to the point of collapsing. He told us this customer did not replace his filter for over two years.

Our E85-fueled project Camaro has a recirculating fuel system that uses a return line to the in-tank pump. We installed Fuelab’s stainless-steel 100-micron filter before the tank’s return line inlet and their inline filter with a 6-micron fiberglass element directly following the pump’s output.

One curveball that Paitz cautioned with cellulose/paper filters is the use of oxygenated fuels. Even if you’re racing with gas or diesel, if that fuel is oxygenated, definitely choose the micro-fiberglass option.

If you’re using the stainless-steel screen filters at one or more points, cleaning and reusing these filters is reasonably easy. Scrubbing with carburetor cleaner, a catch pan, and compressed air will do the trick; we go a little further and use a parts-cleaning toothbrush and a small ultrasonic cleaner in our filter maintenance.

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Another option is the check valve (arrow) integrated into the housing. This allows the benefits of your fuel system remaining pressurized when your fuel pump is not running. Their pumps, filters and regulators are anodized per military MIL-A-8625 with a high-tech laser etching of your product and serial number on the case.

It is wise to make sure you have spare O-rings from Fuelab in your tool box in case one is damaged during the disassembly of the filter housing. For paper/cellulose or fiberglass filters, there is no recleaning option. All replacement filters from Fuelab come with replacement fluorosilicone O-rings.

Additional Features

All Fuelab filters are machined from billet aluminum and finished with a fuel-durable anodizing per military specification MIL-A-8625 (Type II). They are available in a variety of anodized colors.

The filter housing is designed with machined internal radius points along the internal flow of the filter housing from inlet to outlet. These radiused provisions allow for minimal pressure drop in the fuel flow. An internal spring forces the filter against the downstream port of the housing to seal it; this causes the fuel to travel through the filter from the outside inward.

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Inside, you can see the extensively developed flow radius corners that offer the best flow numbers. An internal spring forces the filter element over the exit port where all fuel travels from the outside of the media, inward for best flow. An outlet indicator is machined into the housing.

For Fuelab’s 848 and 858 series filters, there is an integrated check-valve option that allows your fuel system to maintain fuel pressure when the pump is dormant. The compact valve is located at the exit port of the filter for contaminant protection and easily alleviates the use of an outside check valve into certain systems.

We’re Protected

With a 100-micron and 6-micron filter installed on our recirculating fuel system, we are confident that no contaminants within the fuel will affect our electronic fuel injection or wreak damage to our fuel pump. Paitz finished by adding his recommended maintenance schedule.

“So, people ask me how often I should change the fiberglass filter? For drag racing guys, make it a once-a-season inspection for the filter, plus a thorough cleaning of the stainless filter. But there are so many variables, such as where do you get your fuel? Is it going into a stock tank? Is it E85? Are you straining the fuel before putting it into a cell? These variables should have you considering a tighter inspection and maintenance schedule.”

If you consider the many gallons of fuel that pass through your racing fuel system, keep in mind how quickly particles or even the slightest degradation of your fuel lines can affect your fuel system. Think about these quality filters as a protective component for your fuel system and monitoring devices to inspect what tiny micron-sized “hitchhikers” are corrupting your performance carbs or injection system.

When considering parts for an upcoming engine build, I’m reminded of a conversation I overheard many years ago between a teenager and an older gentleman. The young boy was looking at a car to purchase and was exclaiming all the benefits of his recently-located dream car such as the new brakes, new exhaust system, and on and on. The older gentleman listened and then asked, “Are you buying a car or a bunch of car parts?” While an assemblage of quality parts is always a plus, they won’t be much good if the rest of the package isn’t up to the task as well. The same goes for the engine in your car. Choosing the right piston rings is as important as any other part of your engine.

We must choose individual components for our engines in much the same way, fully understanding how they must work together to get the best results — piston rings included. Today’s rings employ much more technology than they did just a few years ago. Choosing the right path when shopping for piston rings without an understanding of why these advancements have come about can be quite daunting. We spoke with Lake Speed, Jr. from Total Seal to help us better understand today’s piston ring technology and how the machining process needs to work together to ensure any engine rebuild is a success.

Types Of Piston Rings

Many of us can remember when there were only two types of piston rings – ductile-iron moly-faced or chrome-faced. Before that, there were simple cast-iron rings, but since we’re talking LS-based engines, let’s stick with technology from this century. The latest material to come into the piston ring market is steel. This durable material has enabled cylinders to seal using the thinnest of surfaces. If you’ve been shopping for piston rings lately, you’ve no doubt noticed how thin some rings have become.

The oil acts as a gasket, as well as a lubricant. – Lake Speed Jr., Total Seal

There are also a variety of coatings available on piston rings, such as plasma moly, gas nitriding, and various PVD coatings. PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) has become more popular as of late. It is a thin coating process that deposits hard films on the surface of the ring. The PVD process offers many options, such as CrN (Chromium Nitride) and TiN (Titanium Nitride), both feature excellent temperature and wear resistance. With so many different choices, you may wonder if anyone can really know what type of piston ring is best for their application. Yes, you can. We asked Total Seal’s Speed how to do just that.

Let Your Power Determine Your Piston Ring

As with so many areas of concern when building an engine, knowing your power expectations for the engine is the best way to determine which piston ring will work best. Even the fuel you intend to use can make a difference in the best piston ring choice for your application. Speed explains, “The key is, you have to know how the engine is going to be used. Is it going to be naturally aspirated or boosted? Is it going to see nitrous? Each of these considerations has an impact on what ring material is best used.”

Running pump-gas or E85 can make a big difference, too. For a naturally aspirated engine running pump-gas, a ductile iron ring with a moly coating works perfectly. The moly face coating is porous, so it holds oil well to lubricate the cylinder wall. For that reason,  ductile moly rings don’t rely on the cylinder wall’s machining to retain oil as heavily. Conversely, if you are looking at boosting or running E85 in your engine, you’ll want to use a steel ring. Steel rings are harder than chrome or moly-coated rings, and they are not porous, so oil needs to be retained in those small valleys in the cylinder wall, which are created by the honing process.

Longevity In The Valley, Power In The Plateau

“EVERYTHING you do has an impact on the rings’ ability to seal the cylinder!” says Speed. “Even supporting the engine with an engine plate versus traditional motor mounts can make a difference.” It is widely accepted that using a torque plate during honing builds power by ensuring the cylinder is perfectly round once the head is installed. Just the same, getting the proper cylinder wall finish for your choice of rings is important for longevity and how the rings will seal to the cylinder wall. Speed explains that every ring type is going to have its own recipe for preparing the cylinder bore. That proper finish is, more often than not, a two-part equation that includes the smoothness of the highs and the depth of the lows, called plateau honing.

The oil in a cylinder acts as a gasket, as well as a lubricant. There needs to be adequate oil within the cylinder so the rings will have the lubrication they need. Speed explains that fuel is the enemy once it gets down to the area where the piston rings and cylinder walls meet because it washes away the layer of lubricating oil. The more fuel that goes into the cylinder (as in the case of boost, nitrous, or E85), the more it will wash down the cylinder wall and remove the oil film that provides for the longevity of your rings. In these instances, it is imperative to retain enough oil to lubricate the piston rings.

• Oil’s Four “R”s

  • The RIGHT AMOUNT
  • Of the RIGHT OIL
  • In the RIGHT PLACE
  • At the RIGHT TIME

Just as importantly, the cylinder wall needs to be smooth enough so the rings will seal completely. The answer is plateau honing, where two different grit stones are used. The first round is with a coarse stone to create a surface finish with enough “valley” for oil to reside without being washed away by the fuel. The second pass uses a finer stone to smooth out the peaks of the minuscule mountains on the surface of the cylinder wall (much like a broken-in engine would have) to ensure a good seal with the rings. “Seating the rings” was once a process that occurred over time during the running of the freshly built engine. Today, the ring set in a properly plateau-honed engine with the right ring package can be broken-in much faster. The exception is chrome-faced rings, which require a different finish, specific to the material.

Power Solutions For Stock Components

With so many junkyard LS-based engine builds going on, we asked Speed about finding the right cylinder finish and ring package solution for a low-budget, stock-based build. He reaffirmed, “Be honest with yourself and what you’re REALLY going to do with it.” He explained that on a pump gas engine, a ductile iron ring will work great with a 320-grit hone on the cylinder walls. At that point, the strength of the piston to handle the engine’s power output becomes the limiting factor.

If you’re going to boost it and you want it to last, Speed recommends starting with at least a 280-grit hone and finishing off with a 400-grit stone to provide the necessary plateau. Once the cylinder surface is correct, you can also have the piston skirts coated with an abradable coating to help keep them square in the bore. When choosing the rings, you can opt for a gas-ported top ring to help improve the seal around the entire cylinder’s circumference.

Speed also spoke about the importance of having the proper end gap in the rings. You want to give those rings room to expand under heavy loads without butting together and ruining your engine. He also explained too many folks worry about keeping a tight end gap to prevent leak-down. Speed says the risk of ruining your engine by having your piston ring end gaps too tight is geater than the power you might lose by giving your rings some gap. If you’re really concerned about losing that last horsepower through the end gap, you could always employ a set of gapless rings to fill in the gap, so to speak.

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Gapless rings employ a second ring within the same ring land. The gaps are staggered between the two rings, effectively filling in the gap area while allowing each ring enough room to expand due to heat.

Without a profilometer, you’re just guessing. – Lake Speed, Jr.

Knowing the expectation for your engine will help you decide on the best components and machining process for your application. When it comes time to scratch the surface of your cylinder walls, make sure your machinist can verify the work with a profilometer.

Speed was quite adamant, “without a profilometer, you’re just guessing.” We’ve spent most of this story extolling the importance of getting the proper finish for your rings and it would be a shame to drop the ball at this point in the game. If you think about it, it’s kind of like laying the foundation for a house without a level. While you may not be the one holding the profilometer during the machining process, we hope this helps shed some light when choosing the next set of rings for your engine build. If you have any questions, the knowledgeable folks at Total Seal are just a phone call away.

The Automotive Racing Products (ARP) staff are pretty darn “geeky” when it comes to the science of working  with varied metals to give them certain desired strengths or properties. Here are some key terminology nuggets from ARP that influence the design and manufacturing of their product lines.

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Holding everything together, from your engine’s engine rod bolts to wheel studs, each can have a specific metallurgical composition for each different load and cycling application. 

Grain Size 
The importance of a metal’s grain size comes from the ways different alloys are cooled and form a grain pattern. For example, grains in cast metals are quite large. Grains can be refined (made smaller) by first cold working and then by recrystallizing at high temperature.

Smaller grain size equals stronger metals. Alloy steels, like chrome-moly, do not need any cold work to do this – reheat treatment will refine the grain size. All ARP bolts and studs are of a fine-grain – usually eight or finer on the ASTM scale, with 10 being the finest.

Metal Toughness vs. Brittleness
Recognizing the laws of nature concerning steel, as the strength goes up, the toughness decreases. At too high a strength, the metal tends to be brittle. And threads accentuate the brittleness. Tool steel, which can be heat-treated to 350,000 psi, would be a disaster as a bolt because of the threads.

Modulus of Elasticity
Metals are like a spring – if you double load on them, they will also stretch to a doubled factor. This metallurgy is important in connecting rod bolts because we are measuring the load by measuring the stretch.

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ARP Fasteners utilizes the highest tech in metallurgical equipment to develop product and monitor quality control right down to the grain structure of the metals.,

The modulus of elasticity of all alloy steels is the same – 30,000,000 psi. Whether it is heat-treated or not, this modulus is true – whether it is a 100,000 psi strength level or 300,000 psi.

What is Chrome?
Chrome is the metal chromium best known for chrome plating. It is also used as an alloy addition to iron to form stainless steel. Stainless steel must contain at least 12-percent chromium. These low-chromium steels can still show rust on the surface. Using 18-percent chromium will make stainless steel more rust-resistant. In fastener applications, stainless exposed to oxygen at temperatures above 1200 degrees Fahrenheit will cause the chromium to join the oxygen and leave the surface depleted in chromium.

Differences Between 4130 and 8740 Chrome Moly
Both metals have chrome-moly (most alloy steels have moly) and similar chemistry. A 4130 fastener has only .3-percent carbon and can’t be hardened as high as 8740, which has .4-percent carbon. Also, 8740 has about .45-percent nickel, and 4130 has none. The chromium content of 4130 is slightly higher, .95-percent instead of .55-percent. However, 8740 is generally considered to have somewhat better toughness due to the nickel.

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The importance of load characteristics derived from measuring the stretch of a given size and configuration bolt will indicate how much load is stretching the bolt.

Common Fastener Failures
The most common cause of a connecting rod and wheel stud failure is too little induced load (stretch) during installation. This induced load allows the alternating load to impose a cyclic loading on the bolt. Overtightening a fastener is another cause of failure because the induced stress is too close to the yield point.

When you decide upon various fasteners for performance and racing applications, knowing the more common terms can help you make the proper decisions.

The ARP fasteners catalog is not only filled with pages of various fasteners comprised of different metals, but it can also become a classroom-style textbook for learning exactly why different metal alloys are used for varied fasteners.

In the late ’90s, Dan Muldowney was racing at a track where he bought 110-octane fuel for his car. He thought everything was fine. The gas was purple and the pump said it was 110 octane. He went out on the track for practice, and by the third lap, he had melted a hole in three out of six pistons.

“I found out the fuel had been sitting there and it collected a bunch of water, which caused some oxidation and formation of some pretty bad stuff like tars and varnishes,” says Muldowney. “It really wasn’t 110 octane.” That time it cost him $28,000 to rebuild the engine. When he did it again a few months later, it was $60,000 because it took out the crank, too. 

Muldowney owns Motorsports Fuel and Equipment, makers of Race Gas Fuel Concentrate. What is a fuel concentrate? That’s a good question, and one we wanted to know more about. Many people get confused (including this writer), thinking it is another octane booster, which it is not. Some fuel additive products are just glorified snake oil. They say it “boosts octane,” but it doesn’t give the fuel more energy as a result. 

Race Gas is different because it is a concentrated fuel that, when blended with pump gas, such as 87 or 93 octane, will effectively make that gasoline into a bonafide 101- or 110-octane race fuel with all of the energy density of a high-quality and refined racing fuel. And it’s quite a bit cheaper, too. 

Muldowney says that after his experience with bad race fuel and two blown engines, he wanted to find a way to test the fuel in the field. But he found out that’s prohibitively expensive. So he went at it from another direction. 

“I spent several years researching the difference between racing fuel and regular pump fuel,” he says. “And along the way, I ran into some former petrol chemists that turned me on to different data sources. Some of them were from the US government going back to World War II, when piston-powered fighter planes required much higher octane fuels than were available at the time. They tested different constituent components of gasoline and how they function and work together.” 

Testing Blends

Muldowney then discovered a formulary lab in Michigan to make his fuel concentrate, but he didn’t have the money for them to create a product for him. But he did have money to hire them to consult on his blend candidates. “They would tell me which ones would work and if the EPA would let me do it. And then they could tell me about any idiosyncrasies of those blend candidates,” Muldowney relates.

When he came down to his last three blend candidates, Muldowney says he took them to another lab in Deer Park, Texas, that does the ASTM standard testing for most fuel manufacturers in the United States. There are two standard tests: ASTM D 2699 and ASTM D 2700. Those tests give you your motor octane number (MON) and research octane number (RON), respectively. 

He took a liter of gasoline bought from a gas station and blended one liter with his blend candidate to make the octane he wanted. And then, he also sent one liter of the base fuel with nothing in it so he could verify the original octane he had. “We narrowed it down to one candidate, which became our first product. That was the easy part. The hard part was getting it tested in the real world,” he shares.

Dyno Testing

Muldowney set out to find someone who would dyno test his new fuel concentrate but found it a difficult sell because most shops didn’t want to risk an expensive race engine for fuel testing. But he found an old friend willing to help. “I’ve known the late Myron Cottrell at TPI Specialties since I was a kid. Myron was one of the big names in the LS market and LS tuning. I knew he competed in the Engine Masters Challenge. So I called him up and asked if he would try our fuel. In short, he said he would do it. But, ‘if you break my engine, you bought it,’ he said.” 

Cottrell set up a 413-ci. race engine on the dyno and did some base pulls using regular racing fuel to tune the engine, according to Muldowney. “Then we drained the fuel rail, changed out the fuel, mixed our stuff with the gasoline we bought from the gas station down the street an hour before, and we repeated the test,” says Muldowney. “While running these tests, he’d make a couple of notes, do some stuff, change something, and do another pull. This happens about five times, and he hasn’t said anything to us. We had no idea whether we just blew this motor up or what. Suddenly, he turns around with a big grin on his face and said, ‘Boys, I would have thought you were buying me an engine, but this stuff actually works.’”

Myth Buster

When we mistakenly called Race Gas an octane booster, Muldowney was quick to correct us. We think that is a misconception that others would also make at first glance, because so many other fuel additives on the market claim to be an octane or cetane (diesel) booster. But there are differences between what an octane booster does and what its marketing department claims. With an octane booster, the additive does not increase the energy density produced by the base fuel. It may add a few octane points to prevent detonation, but the energy is the same.

Muldowney explains the difference between an octane booster and his race fuel concentrate. “Racing fuel has higher octane, chemical energy, and chemical oxygen than gasoline from the pump. To replicate racing fuel, we had to do those three things. You’ll damage the engine if you have high octane and low chemical energy at wide-open throttle (WOT). If you have high octane and low chemical oxygen, not all the fuel burns in the power stroke, some burns in the exhaust stroke, and you’ll damage the engine.” 

Muldowney claims that Race Gas is the only product on the market that is patented, dyno-tested, and race-proven to do those three things. “That is the fundamental difference between a race fuel concentrate and an octane booster. When a commercial fuel manufacturer, Sunoco, or whoever posts information about their fuels, they post the MON and RON numbers with the Anti-Knock Index (AKI). That’s what you see on the pump; the R plus M divided by two (R+M/2). That’s the research octane number (RON) plus the motor octane number (MON) divided by two, to create the average AKI.”

Muldowney notes that most products on the market don’t tell you to which octane number they are blended. The RON is derived from the performance of the fuel in a single-cylinder test engine at low RPM. The MON is derived from the same test rig under higher RPM. But Muldowney says you want to use the AKI or antiknock index because it gives you a good indication of the average octane between high and low RPM. 

Since most people don’t understand the intricacies of MON and RON, a manufacturer can say that its fuel additive can go up to 116 octane. “That 116 octane is the RON,” Muldowney explains. “It is the performance of the fuel at almost idle. And the problem with that is, I’ve been racing cars for my whole life, and I’ve never won a race idling. It’s really easy to get a high RON. But it’s tough to get a high MON. And it’s even harder to get a MON and RON close to each other. When we publish certified ratings on our cans, we’ve had them certified by the lab in Texas. And we tell our customers, this is the AKI number. It’s not the wrong number. It’s antiknock, and we do that for a reason. If you’re buying a product that says it’s 116 octane, but it’s 116 RON octane, you might under-octane your motor. You can damage the engine that way. So we’re very transparent about our blends.”

As always, education is the key to understanding what you are using. “If you’re going to use a product, make sure you understand what it blends to,” Muldowney cautions. “The other one that you see a lot is people will talk about points of octane. A point of octane is 1/10 of a number. So if you have a product that says it raises the octane by five points, and you have a gallon of 91, you now have a gallon of 91.5. You don’t have 96. And that’s another point of contention that people don’t know about, and they should.”

Like most car enthusiasts, we’ve tried our fair share of fuel additives and other products that make wild performance claims. Most of the time, you know it won’t do anything, but you hope it will help. However, if you’re using an octane booster instead of specially blended race fuel or Race Gas concentrate to raise your octane level for competition, you better make sure you know what is in the can, or you could suffer a similar fate as Muldowney did early on.