As a pilot myself, and I love your videos and hate correcting engine gods like yourself... when the plane is flying,both mags are running. The only time that we switch A to B mags is on run up to make sure they are working. You typically see a 100 to 300 rpm drop while switching from A to B but while flying both mags are running.
As an aviation mechanic, I’ll add some context to the aviators comments, both mags are running at the same time on aircraft engines i.e. Lycoming/ Continentals mainly for performance. Aircraft engines have large bores relatively speaking, and the spark plugs are mounted more or less opposite each other and the idea is with the two spark plugs per cylinder the fuel mixture will ignite on both sides of the cylinder and meet in the middle giving an even burn, thus more performance, which is why with one mag off you will get the rpm drop and a rougher running engine, the secondary benefit is the redundancy of two ignition systems. However, what Steve is working on is for experimental aircraft, with an automotive engine, and the extra spark plug is there only as a backup.
This is some pretty cool stuff, always learning something new. Whether it’s from Steve Morris or the comments, it’s every video there’s something to learn.
Took my private pilot in 1991. Part of startup checklist pre taxi is a mag check. Increase rpm, switch to A, switch to B, return to Both. The idea is to NEVER lose a cylinder from firing at all.
"let me show you how to do this" is about the best thing ever. You're in a position where you could safeguard all of this information and keep it for yourself. But you're freely giving this information away. Just amazing.
Hey Steve. A little trick i learned from an old timmer hot rodder. Run your fine burrs and sand papper on some bar soap. Its keeps the aluminum from plugging it up.
You’re right about that circular interpolation thread cutting. I thought using circular interpolation to cut just a plain hole was neat. It’s amazing how far these CNC machines have come just since I got into the trade in 1989.
When I built Rolls Griffons for an Unlimited Hydo team, it had dual Mags in one housing. We also advanced one 2* more than the other. Must have worked. We made over 5,000 HP at 4209 rom with sequential 14" centrifugal compressors making 130 in/hg approx 65 psi, and we had 150 lbs of nitrous for a single 900 HP hit when accelerating. (Starting run, exit from a turn, and finish line, if needed.). At the push of the button, the boat would walk 6feet sideways from the 15.5" SS prop. ($10k each back in 1985😳). Id love to see a SMXXX V12 WITH 2,300 CID. With modern turbos fuel injection and alcohol, I figure 7500-8,500 HP would be easy today. I had develooed a system back in 1989/90 with turbos (4) and efi we calculated 7200 hp at 3200 rpm. (Griffon-2,240 cid 4V/cyl. OHC) for another team. They ended up going turbine. Much cheaper and a lot lighter, they look cool, but sound crappy, says everyone. What do you say, Steve, shall I start lining up sponsors? Maybe just use two SMX's would work, but eextreme low rpm torque is needed AND reliability, nothing hammers an engine like 235+ mph with only half the prop in the water.
Did y'all run on Lake Mead ? They came out to Vegas and had races out on Lake Mead back then . I don't remember the exact year but it was cool to watch from my boat . But we were kept back pretty far .
Funny I suggested a while back a 12cyl smx should be the next step up in the Steve Morris engine world. The v12 balances so nice. And he could easily up power 50% on proven components just add 4 more cylinders. Maybe no one would be willing to do the cranks ? I think the smx uses bbc size mains so probably need an upgrade there.
As a pilot you know that it was more of failsafe than it is a performance thing. Most aircraft piston engines are like that. I don't know but what are the chances of both mags shitting the bed. At least you have one plug sparking if one does.
It was funny when Steve says" Airplanes don't fall out of the sky" you know what I mean. No Steve, planes absolutely do fall out of the sky when they get slow and stall
All piston powered aircraft run both plugs simultaneously. If one fails, you land and get it fixed. When you do your run up, you test both. There is a big difference between running one or both in RPM and I am pretty sure the n power also. Not suppose to take off and fly on just 1. :). Love the videos.
There's less of a difference with Chevy sized pistons. With the monster bores used in Continentals and Lycomings it's a lot more noticeable because of how far apart the top and bottom plugs are.
As a pilot, I can tell you that on airplanes there are two independent magnetos and spark plugs firing for each cylinder continuously. The only time only one ignition system is running is during ground run up. The system is tested by setting a rpm and switching from both to #1 system, then both to #2 system. Each time you go to only 1 mag, the rpm should drop by a specific amount. That’s how you know both systems are working.
Sand drags used to be really popular in the 80s and 90s in Wisconsin and Minnesota. My dad had a CJ7 with a big block blower motor. He said it was his favorite type of racing.
John Williams, the owner of Titan Aircraft, recently had a fatal crash in one of his T51 Mustangs from a prop hub failure. They also use v8 engines, which keep the cost of the 3/4 scale planes lower, but come with the added risk of hub reduction systems failing. Since props can't run over ~2,600 rpm, the engine has to be geared down to achieve torque and hp peaks, which are above the max prop speed.
@@mynameisntleo too much stress in multiple directions, g-force and distortion, the prop hub can explode or distort. even if it doesn't explode, any distortion can violently shake apart the engine and air craft causing all sorts of bad things.
@@VTX1029 That's a bit of knowledge I would've never known, or even have researched just out of interest. but that's wild. Now I need to know how dive bombers in WWII didn't disintegrate on the diving run.
Had the opportunity to go through Mickey Thompson's parts collection about 20 yrs or so ago. He had 2 pairs of FAA approved BBC aluminum cylinder heads assembled with valvetrain. Can't remember who's castings they were but was astonished that they even existed. Cool stuff.
If only Brodix would send you unfinished Heads so you can cut exactly what you want without the plugging. That would save you so much time and effort. One can only hope. Love the video Steve!
Even without having the spark plug hole drilled from the factory, I'm betting that there isn't enough material to drill a dual plug without hitting water. This is why the oval insert is used.
@@bobroberts2371 Years ago a friend converted heads to duel plugs. He got a pair of unfinished heads, machined a 1'' hole where the second plug will go. Then welded in a 1" aluminum rod into the hole and machined that into a very nice second plug hole. Drilling through a water passage to start was not a problem the way he did it.
Brodix may not wish to be connected with the aviation market in any way. If you read the tech data sheets for electronic parts you will often see a disclaimer about no use in life safety or aviation uses. They don't want the lawsuits that often go after everyone involved, regardless of how distant their part may be from the issue. Companies can't get insurance if they have any aviation connection... or it's absurdly expensive.
30:00 Nice tips on polishing technique, Steve. Most self-taught newbies ruin a few cylinder heads before discovering how to brace the grinder body against their chest & gently sweeping with the burr or sander roll.
Most aircraft run both plugs at once, you check the two ignition systems on the ground by individually switching off each magneto and observing the rpm drop. Too much drop indicates a malfunction of some sort.
I was with Stewart 51 in the beginning and was the 'engine guy'....and lots of people wanted dual plugs for 'redundancy'. My thoughts were that the single plug was ideally placed and rarely failed so unlike the huge bore hemi's used in most other aircraft engines...dual plugs weren't needed or desired in a Big Block Chevy. You CAN run dual ignition systems so you have redundancy while still using the single plug just like they do in NASCAR and IMHO is the better way to do it. It's funny that the S-51 design NEEDS an iron block and heads for proper Weight and Balance...but everyone wanted to use aluminum blocks because they're lighter and somehow they thought this was 'better'. If ballast is needed it's WAY more effective back in the tail to correct nose heavy because the arm is so much longer. If your light in the nose you have to add a LOT more weight which totally defeats the purpose of the expensive aluminum engines. The original Merlin's are HEAVY beasts of an engine and the S-51 mount plenty strong enough to hold the iron Big Block as it was stress analyzed by an old Grumman engineer who wrote the book and we worked together to build them able to handle 9G's with the gearbox and Hartzell 4 blade prop hanging on it. ALL aircraft engines today run dual plugs with dual magnetos for speedier flame propagation and the redundancy you get is just a side benefit. When doing your pre-flight run-up you always do a 'mag check' by switching one mag off then the other and you watch for a known rpm drop and rough running when only on one. That way you know they're working properly and while the engine does run on only one mag...it doesn't run properly and if you have a mag failure you need to get on the ground ASAP.
@@bobroberts2371 Yes...I saw that. The prop we had in the shop was from Hartzell w/aluminum blades that for sure wouldn't fail like that thing did. I don't think they've come to any concrete conclusions yet but the blades looked like composite's and someone was saying there are Chinese knock-offs around...but for sure something bad happened there for the prop to come apart as it did. Even after losing the prop....trying to make the turn back to the airport and stalling it rather than landing belly up in a field or trees was a fatal mistake.
37:28 i think you meant to say its for redundancy instead of emergency sir. at least thats what airmen call such systems. thanks for letting us in on the fun sir. kred for the steady hands at your age brother, wish i was THAT stable still ;)
If the twin plug head is for the Titan T-51 ( a 3/4 scale P-51 Mustang plane ) , the owner of the company was killed on July 21 2024 when the prop hub failed, Blancolirio did a piece on this. He is an excellent source for aviation incidents as well as other non aviation issues. He also does pieces on aviation in general so not everything is a crash. He ( Juan Browne ) is a commercial pilot. .
I was a little surprised that there’s only one spring per valve especially when there seems to be redundancy on about everything else. I know most double springs are there to stabilize the main valve spring but it would help keep it together with the second spring in place. And that is one nice looking head when it’s all done!
We appreciate all you share. This was a great compilation of some of the things done in the shop and track. Steve Morris engines showing up in a forms of motorsport Proves the reputation your engines have attained and the services you to supply to customers. Interested in learning and entertainment
I've always loved your attitude and energy, Steve. Still a fan of the blow through carb deal when we were making the odd pro charger for you. You're a good dude!
HI Steve another cool video! Under normal flying conditions both mags are running. You typically see a rpm drop while switching from both mags to ether A or B of 100RPM to 300RPM. This is done as part of your pre flight runup to verify both mags are operational.
Always thought Twin-Plug was just a Hemi thing, but today I learned its actually for Aviation! Steve seems to always leave you with some cool knowledge!❤
Absolutely fell in love with your channel since finding out about it from cleetus. It amazing how you share all your knowledge and everything you learn. Most old timers hide their knowledge from younger people, fearing theyll take their jobs or something. Really like seeing all the rides your engines end up in you should keep showing them. Keep up the great vids.
You just tell me how they work I'm a badass Motorhead through and through but I've never understood until you put it into that mathematical form thank you
I had a Ford Ranger, 2.5 _ 4 cylinder with 2 plugs per cylinder. If memory is correct, change plugs on the # 1 cylinder was a bear, a two universal with extension. It was a clutch 5 speed. When I left the Ford plant, KC, Mo, was an electrician/ tech-ie robot baby sitter, they had 680 of them in there.[ They build F150 & Transit van, we launched that. Was down there 27 months drove that back with a trailer to Chicago area. It was a torque' little motor, did the deed.Made some 💸🇺🇸
being a racer for the last 15 years, the best my budget would allow me is a 4.01 in the 300 our fast guys ran 2.80 clay with a little bit of sand hooks really good but if you get too much clay and sand and it’s wet, it connect more like quicksand if you don’t jump on the top immediately. they have a race track in Trout Creek Louisiana that stayed soupy. It was nearly impossible to post good times there but the further north and the further east the better the tracks for the longest time. The preferred combination was the 496 or small block 408’s
thanks for showing us all this cool stuff Steve. twin spark mod is very neat to see. Funny little dig there at proline haha. Hope you guys are finding rest. God bless
Bro you're the man you finally just tell me about double 16 valve spark plug thank you so much my whole life just the only thing I can never figure out bro
I have the same c3 heads, done by bes this year. They’ll flow 430cfm. Before I had them softened for nitrous it made about 950 hp on motor. Run 5.40 on motor. We’re spraying 5-60 now and it’ll do 470s in the 1/8th. Got it in a foxbody. That’s cool to see those run on a sand drag truck.
Had a rotax engine (583cc) that had dual plugs for airplanes. I collected rotax 583s,617s and 670s to put in all the honda oddyseys and pilots i was building at the time. Was undefeated in 300ft dirt drags with one when i went to Busco Beach in like 2012.
Yes it's very satisfying to see material get taken off by the tooling!!! That's something I really miss about my job that I lost machining medical device's.
Also, I put a cheap, old school adjustable knob-type air pressure regulator on my site grinder I use for porting heads. I got tired of the blisters on my fingers from trying to "manually" regulate the die grinder like you do it.
standard aircraft dual mag dual plug is to run both mags and plug sets all the time. if one fails, you lose a little power, but it keeps on keeping on,
I worked on an injected nitro dragster for a while, and the guy tuning. It kept telling that blown alcohol guys that they should run to spark plugs per cylinder.. he had a few points that were pretty valid. This was a number of years back, but he had some idea we were talking about when we had top speed of the event at the national event in Dallas lol
Always heard of the engine term "port and polished" and kind of had the understanding of the concept for it but to actually see it done is pretty damn cool, that's why i started to love this channel the minute i found out from it in a cleetus vid 👍
Private Pilot and A&P mechanic. As others have said, They are running both ignition systems all the time except for ground run up checks to ensure both systems are operating properly. You'll see around a 300 rpm drop without both systems running.
It would be interesting to run it on the dyno in a controlled environment and run 3 tests. 1) Using spark plugs closest to the intake valve 2) Using spark plugs closest to the exhaust valve 3) both spark plugs at the same time I would imagine the gains/losses would be minimal but interesting no doubt
I have valves I’ve cut down so i can protect the Valve job when I’m doing chambers, something everyone without a seat and guide machine should do, 60 grit is totally fine for most things, learning how to cut, what shape cutters to use and when is all very important
I would bet both ignition systems are firing at the same time. They did on everything I have flown even my ultralight with the Rotax 503 with dual ign. If you ran it on one system the other set of plugs would be gas fowled in no time. I am guessing the engine has gear drive for the prop and I don't know but it would surprise me if they ran it over 3000-3500 constant as they will need to keep the prop tip speed subsonic. I would love to the the plane and engine build...I do love P51s. Thanks for sharing
“Fastest 4 Wheel Drive” is an assertion that can be made on CZcams without any real verification standards.. might as well say, he’s the most successful racer in the world.
1:35 part of the problem is you just said aircraft or airplane. That scares people. That triples the price , or causes alot of refusals to work on it. My dads 46 Luscombe uses a Model A ford fuel gauge. Price out one for a Model A ,and then price one out for a Luscombe. Pretty much the same part, but the Luscombe one costs triple, because it has the "FAA blessing". Dont get busted with a Ford one! Aircraft liability crap is absolutely insane sometimes.
Pricing in aviation STARTS by moving the decimal point over one... then goes up by supply, demand and what people / companies are willing to pay to get that A/C out of AOG status. (Aircraft On Ground) for those not familiar.
As a pilot myself, and I love your videos and hate correcting engine gods like yourself... when the plane is flying,both mags are running. The only time that we switch A to B mags is on run up to make sure they are working. You typically see a 100 to 300 rpm drop while switching from A to B but while flying both mags are running.
I was coming to post this myself. He should have fact-checked with Cleeter first. He would have set him straight.
I was just thinking about the spark plug that isn't running would be getting caked with carbon. This explanation makes way more sense.
@@jmav7755 Yeah Lycoming engines are like that. An airworthy io 540 costs about as much as one of Steve's smx engines. Lol
correct....but he won't be insulted...he love's to learn!!
I was going to correct him, but you beat me to it!
As an aviation mechanic, I’ll add some context to the aviators comments, both mags are running at the same time on aircraft engines i.e. Lycoming/ Continentals mainly for performance. Aircraft engines have large bores relatively speaking, and the spark plugs are mounted more or less opposite each other and the idea is with the two spark plugs per cylinder the fuel mixture will ignite on both sides of the cylinder and meet in the middle giving an even burn, thus more performance, which is why with one mag off you will get the rpm drop and a rougher running engine, the secondary benefit is the redundancy of two ignition systems. However, what Steve is working on is for experimental aircraft, with an automotive engine, and the extra spark plug is there only as a backup.
But, I've still never seen or heard of a person not running both mags, experimental or not...Will have to look into that. Thanks
@@fergusonhr I would imagine they probably do run both at the same time, I’m not sure, but would make sense, one less step to do if one fails.
I was remembering that rpm change happened because other system was advanced
This is some pretty cool stuff, always learning something new.
This is some pretty cool stuff, always learning something new. Whether it’s from Steve Morris or the comments, it’s every video there’s something to learn.
Took my private pilot in 1991. Part of startup checklist pre taxi is a mag check. Increase rpm, switch to A, switch to B, return to Both. The idea is to NEVER lose a cylinder from firing at all.
And hopefully when you kill a mag the engine doesn't just die, cuz if it does you might as well turn around and go right back to the shop😂
"let me show you how to do this" is about the best thing ever. You're in a position where you could safeguard all of this information and keep it for yourself. But you're freely giving this information away. Just amazing.
Welding tip: keep your filler rod in the gas envelope while welding. Everytime you pull it out of the envelope you are chancing contamination
Not a welder but I thought he needed more post flow
90% of your audience will not under stand the finesse involved with polishing. You go dude. WHOOAAH
"Proline guy is a little slow" 😂😂
Ha! Just read this as that happened. Nice little friendly jab there 😁
Facts
😂😂😂😂
Subtle as a sledgehammer 😂
@@Jasta315 😂
Hey Steve. A little trick i learned from an old timmer hot rodder. Run your fine burrs and sand papper on some bar soap. Its keeps the aluminum from plugging it up.
interesting... i will try this. Thanks
Love your perspective, it's like a breath of fresh air in a sea of sameness.
You’re right about that circular interpolation thread cutting. I thought using circular interpolation to cut just a plain hole was neat. It’s amazing how far these CNC machines have come just since I got into the trade in 1989.
That slowmo and seeing the scoops of sand in the air off the back of the ranger is awesome
When I built Rolls Griffons for an Unlimited Hydo team, it had dual Mags in one housing. We also advanced one 2* more than the other. Must have worked. We made over 5,000 HP at 4209 rom with sequential 14" centrifugal compressors making 130 in/hg approx 65 psi, and we had 150 lbs of nitrous for a single 900 HP hit when accelerating. (Starting run, exit from a turn, and finish line, if needed.). At the push of the button, the boat would walk 6feet sideways from the 15.5" SS prop. ($10k each back in 1985😳). Id love to see a SMXXX V12 WITH 2,300 CID. With modern turbos fuel injection and alcohol, I figure 7500-8,500 HP would be easy today. I had develooed a system back in 1989/90 with turbos (4) and efi we calculated 7200 hp at 3200 rpm. (Griffon-2,240 cid 4V/cyl. OHC) for another team. They ended up going turbine. Much cheaper and a lot lighter, they look cool, but sound crappy, says everyone. What do you say, Steve, shall I start lining up sponsors? Maybe just use two SMX's would work, but eextreme low rpm torque is needed AND reliability, nothing hammers an engine like 235+ mph with only half the prop in the water.
Did y'all run on Lake Mead ? They came out to Vegas and had races out on Lake Mead back then . I don't remember the exact year but it was cool to watch from my boat . But we were kept back pretty far .
@@Kevin-ti3rz Lake Mead wasn't on our 1985 schedule.
Funny I suggested a while back a 12cyl smx should be the next step up in the Steve Morris engine world. The v12 balances so nice. And he could easily up power 50% on proven components just add 4 more cylinders. Maybe no one would be willing to do the cranks ? I think the smx uses bbc size mains so probably need an upgrade there.
I hope I’m racing in my 70’s.
Gary is the man!!
The airplane I flew sparked both plugs all the time. There was two magnetos, one firing top plugs, the other sparked the lower set.
As a pilot you know that it was more of failsafe than it is a performance thing. Most aircraft piston engines are like that. I don't know but what are the chances of both mags shitting the bed. At least you have one plug sparking if one does.
Absolutely, I always ran the engine up at the end of the runway and checked both systems. Luckily, I never had a mag failure.
@@leroyroettgen8442 I said most because there's some guys running LS engines in their planes. I know they are reliable but damn.
It was funny when Steve says" Airplanes don't fall out of the sky" you know what I mean. No Steve, planes absolutely do fall out of the sky when they get slow and stall
Sounds like a rotary.
All piston powered aircraft run both plugs simultaneously. If one fails, you land and get it fixed. When you do your run up, you test both. There is a big difference between running one or both in RPM and I am pretty sure the n power also. Not suppose to take off and fly on just 1. :). Love the videos.
I wouldn't say all because some guys are running LS engines in their aircraft.
@@josephstoots6548most of those only exist in the experimental class.. 😉
@@WezleyB just a few days ago one of those LS in a Titan T51 mustang just had a prop hub failure and the pilot passed away.
Is that direct drive off the crank?@@stephen_crumley
There's less of a difference with Chevy sized pistons. With the monster bores used in Continentals and Lycomings it's a lot more noticeable because of how far apart the top and bottom plugs are.
What a variety of work you have carved out for yourself! Thank you for sharing, it's always entertaining what is flowing through the shop.
As a pilot, I can tell you that on airplanes there are two independent magnetos and spark plugs firing for each cylinder continuously. The only time only one ignition system is running is during ground run up. The system is tested by setting a rpm and switching from both to #1 system, then both to #2 system. Each time you go to only 1 mag, the rpm should drop by a specific amount. That’s how you know both systems are working.
Sand drags used to be really popular in the 80s and 90s in Wisconsin and Minnesota. My dad had a CJ7 with a big block blower motor. He said it was his favorite type of racing.
John Williams, the owner of Titan Aircraft, recently had a fatal crash in one of his T51 Mustangs from a prop hub failure. They also use v8 engines, which keep the cost of the 3/4 scale planes lower, but come with the added risk of hub reduction systems failing. Since props can't run over ~2,600 rpm, the engine has to be geared down to achieve torque and hp peaks, which are above the max prop speed.
what's the RPM limitation on the props? Because of fabrication material? or physical limits for the shape and stresses of airflow?
@@mynameisntleo too much stress in multiple directions, g-force and distortion, the prop hub can explode or distort. even if it doesn't explode, any distortion can violently shake apart the engine and air craft causing all sorts of bad things.
A big limitation is the speed of sound. You don't want the tips of the prop exceeding the speed of sound.
@@mynameisntleo The biggest factor in prop speed is the prop tips going supersonic.
@@VTX1029 That's a bit of knowledge I would've never known, or even have researched just out of interest. but that's wild. Now I need to know how dive bombers in WWII didn't disintegrate on the diving run.
Had the opportunity to go through Mickey Thompson's parts collection about 20 yrs or so ago. He had 2 pairs of FAA approved BBC aluminum cylinder heads assembled with valvetrain. Can't remember who's castings they were but was astonished that they even existed. Cool stuff.
Usually on aircraft both mags are firing all the time except for when your testing each mag on run up, or if something is wrong.
I'm super jealous, I wish I could be there!!! Much love SMX
Killer job on the Dual plugs!! Bad boy SMX sand drags!!!!
I'm a 76 year old headbanger love your music😮
If only Brodix would send you unfinished Heads so you can cut exactly what you want without the plugging. That would save you so much time and effort. One can only hope. Love the video Steve!
Brodix does supply unfinished heads to most builders. Most other manufacturers do the same.
Even without having the spark plug hole drilled from the factory, I'm betting that there isn't enough material to drill a dual plug without hitting water. This is why the oval insert is used.
@@bobroberts2371 Years ago a friend converted heads to duel plugs.
He got a pair of unfinished heads, machined a 1'' hole where the second plug will go.
Then welded in a 1" aluminum rod into the hole and machined that into a very nice second plug hole.
Drilling through a water passage to start was not a problem the way he did it.
Brodix may not wish to be connected with the aviation market in any way. If you read the tech data sheets for electronic parts you will often see a disclaimer about no use in life safety or aviation uses. They don't want the lawsuits that often go after everyone involved, regardless of how distant their part may be from the issue. Companies can't get insurance if they have any aviation connection... or it's absurdly expensive.
Also, the paperwork that is in the chain for each component.
30:00 Nice tips on polishing technique, Steve. Most self-taught newbies ruin a few cylinder heads before discovering how to brace the grinder body against their chest & gently sweeping with the burr or sander roll.
Yes I really appreciated his polishing tips. 😊
They both operate at the same time. Not one off one on. Helps with mpg's even combustion & burns cleaner.
Most aircraft run both plugs at once, you check the two ignition systems on the ground by individually switching off each magneto and observing the rpm drop. Too much drop indicates a malfunction of some sort.
I was with Stewart 51 in the beginning and was the 'engine guy'....and lots of people wanted dual plugs for 'redundancy'. My thoughts were that the single plug was ideally placed and rarely failed so unlike the huge bore hemi's used in most other aircraft engines...dual plugs weren't needed or desired in a Big Block Chevy. You CAN run dual ignition systems so you have redundancy while still using the single plug just like they do in NASCAR and IMHO is the better way to do it.
It's funny that the S-51 design NEEDS an iron block and heads for proper Weight and Balance...but everyone wanted to use aluminum blocks because they're lighter and somehow they thought this was 'better'. If ballast is needed it's WAY more effective back in the tail to correct nose heavy because the arm is so much longer. If your light in the nose you have to add a LOT more weight which totally defeats the purpose of the expensive aluminum engines. The original Merlin's are HEAVY beasts of an engine and the S-51 mount plenty strong enough to hold the iron Big Block as it was stress analyzed by an old Grumman engineer who wrote the book and we worked together to build them able to handle 9G's with the gearbox and Hartzell 4 blade prop hanging on it.
ALL aircraft engines today run dual plugs with dual magnetos for speedier flame propagation and the redundancy you get is just a side benefit. When doing your pre-flight run-up you always do a 'mag check' by switching one mag off then the other and you watch for a known rpm drop and rough running when only on one. That way you know they're working properly and while the engine does run on only one mag...it doesn't run properly and if you have a mag failure you need to get on the ground ASAP.
Are you aware of the crash of a Titan T-51 on July 21 2024 when the prop hub failed ? Blancolirio did a piece on this.
@@bobroberts2371 Yes...I saw that. The prop we had in the shop was from Hartzell w/aluminum blades that for sure wouldn't fail like that thing did. I don't think they've come to any concrete conclusions yet but the blades looked like composite's and someone was saying there are Chinese knock-offs around...but for sure something bad happened there for the prop to come apart as it did. Even after losing the prop....trying to make the turn back to the airport and stalling it rather than landing belly up in a field or trees was a fatal mistake.
37:28 i think you meant to say its for redundancy instead of emergency sir. at least thats what airmen call such systems. thanks for letting us in on the fun sir.
kred for the steady hands at your age brother, wish i was THAT stable still ;)
Time 115 This isn't a welding jacket on backwards, it is a straight jacket and Steve has a day pass. .. . . . ( Tee Hee )
My uncle had a Chevy luv that he would sand drag years ago in the early 90s I miss it so much
10 👍's up Steve Morris thank you for sharing 🤗
If the twin plug head is for the Titan T-51 ( a 3/4 scale P-51 Mustang plane ) , the owner of the company was killed on July 21 2024 when the prop hub failed, Blancolirio did a piece on this. He is an excellent source for aviation incidents as well as other non aviation issues. He also does pieces on aviation in general so not everything is a crash. He ( Juan Browne ) is a commercial pilot. .
So this engine was destroyed by now?
@@TheOneAndOnlySatan I'm pretty sure the engine in the crash plane was an LS.
I too saw the video Juan put out. SAD
@@bobroberts2371it was 100% a LS3
It's not a titan. Stewart s51. 70% scale.
i was there when richard montiel set the track record and. ended up in the trees. epic trip and great people
Loved the multi scene video. Keep doing great videos. We enjoy it. Rex in NZ.
Come on steve, I know you aren't throwing shade at him for letting out early when you chickenfoot the wagon all of the time 😆
I was a little surprised that there’s only one spring per valve especially when there seems to be redundancy on about everything else. I know most double springs are there to stabilize the main valve spring but it would help keep it together with the second spring in place.
And that is one nice looking head when it’s all done!
Was Steve foreshadowing the future with the whole smx going faster than the proline lol
We appreciate all you share. This was a great compilation of some of the things done in the shop and track. Steve Morris engines showing up in a forms of motorsport Proves the reputation your engines have attained and the services you to supply to customers. Interested in learning and entertainment
300 feet!!!
You gotta be hookin and bookin!!
To be the fastest!!
Super cool!! Video.
I've always loved your attitude and energy, Steve. Still a fan of the blow through carb deal when we were making the odd pro charger for you. You're a good dude!
A very good happy dude. 😊
HI Steve another cool video! Under normal flying conditions both mags are running. You typically see a rpm drop while switching from both mags to ether A or B of 100RPM to 300RPM. This is done as part of your pre flight runup to verify both mags are operational.
Just a chill old man making his best life possible love it!
Thanks for keeping it real, your authenticity is refreshing
Hello bot
Always thought Twin-Plug was just a Hemi thing, but today I learned its actually for Aviation! Steve seems to always leave you with some cool knowledge!❤
Both ignitions are operating in flight this way if one fails your engine keeps running. Electronic or magneto.
Love the channel.
Absolutely fell in love with your channel since finding out about it from cleetus. It amazing how you share all your knowledge and everything you learn. Most old timers hide their knowledge from younger people, fearing theyll take their jobs or something. Really like seeing all the rides your engines end up in you should keep showing them. Keep up the great vids.
I love Sand Drags, very unique builds.
You just tell me how they work I'm a badass Motorhead through and through but I've never understood until you put it into that mathematical form thank you
I had a Ford Ranger, 2.5 _ 4 cylinder with 2 plugs per cylinder. If memory is correct, change plugs on the # 1 cylinder was a bear, a two universal with extension. It was a clutch 5 speed. When I left the Ford plant, KC, Mo, was an electrician/ tech-ie robot baby sitter, they had 680 of them in there.[ They build F150 & Transit van, we launched that. Was down there 27 months drove that back with a trailer to Chicago area. It was a torque' little motor, did the deed.Made some 💸🇺🇸
Hand porting and grinding is an art in and of itself and everytime I`ve tried it I should of went to jail.............Hat off to ya!
being a racer for the last 15 years, the best my budget would allow me is a 4.01 in the 300 our fast guys ran 2.80 clay with a little bit of sand hooks really good but if you get too much clay and sand and it’s wet, it connect more like quicksand if you don’t jump on the top immediately. they have a race track in Trout Creek Louisiana that stayed soupy. It was nearly impossible to post good times there but the further north and the further east the better the tracks for the longest time. The preferred combination was the 496 or small block 408’s
Them sand drags are pretty sick
this is probably the best channel on youtube
thanks for showing us all this cool stuff Steve. twin spark mod is very neat to see. Funny little dig there at proline haha. Hope you guys are finding rest. God bless
"proline guy slow" shots firedddd
Bro you're the man you finally just tell me about double 16 valve spark plug thank you so much my whole life just the only thing I can never figure out bro
Steve, Double stack those rectangle filters on that sand drag truck. If you have to machine a rectangular ring to stabilize the junction between them.
Pretty cool stuff indeed... and digg'n tha "Kyle stuff..!"
I have the same c3 heads, done by bes this year. They’ll flow 430cfm. Before I had them softened for nitrous it made about 950 hp on motor. Run 5.40 on motor. We’re spraying 5-60 now and it’ll do 470s in the 1/8th. Got it in a foxbody. That’s cool to see those run on a sand drag truck.
Great porting tips, thanks Steve!
Had a rotax engine (583cc) that had dual plugs for airplanes. I collected rotax 583s,617s and 670s to put in all the honda oddyseys and pilots i was building at the time. Was undefeated in 300ft dirt drags with one when i went to Busco Beach in like 2012.
Thank you for posting all the interesting informative videos on your CZcams channel.
Worked on a friend's ultralight when running both ignitions , it gained 400 r.p.m.s at idel.
Amazing video. Luv the varied content.
Especially the sand drags. I used to do it a few years ago. I’d upload a picture of my vehicle if I could.
Really cool showing the porting and tools your using!! Enjoyed that very much!
Haven’t been there in years. I have a bunch of video from there in the early 2000’s. Mostly quads and trikes.
Yes it's very satisfying to see material get taken off by the tooling!!! That's something I really miss about my job that I lost machining medical device's.
Silver Lake Sand Dragway hasnt changed in the 17 or so years since I was last up there.
This was a very informative video, probably my favorite. Keep uploading unique things!!!
Also, I put a cheap, old school adjustable knob-type air pressure regulator on my site grinder I use for porting heads.
I got tired of the blisters on my fingers from trying to "manually" regulate the die grinder like you do it.
Interesting build love those sand drag cars
Back in the day , I used to turn wrenches on a sand/ mud runner . Fast stuff .😊😊😊😊
I done sand drags in seguin Texas 90s with my 557bbf spraying nos love the fast runs 290s 320
The little ford looked like it was bunny hopping off the line. In the slow motion you can see all weight come off the tires after the launch.
It would be interesting to see a dyno test with that dual plug head. Test the power with different plug locations and with both plugs firing.
Awesome video! Would Love to see them test the secondary ignition system in the plane
That was very cool. Twin spark plug head for a P51!!
so frickin cool Steve, ty for sharing!
standard aircraft dual mag dual plug is to run both mags and plug sets all the time. if one fails, you lose a little power, but it keeps on keeping on,
I worked on an injected nitro dragster for a while, and the guy tuning. It kept telling that blown alcohol guys that they should run to spark plugs per cylinder.. he had a few points that were pretty valid. This was a number of years back, but he had some idea we were talking about when we had top speed of the event at the national event in Dallas lol
Always heard of the engine term "port and polished" and kind of had the understanding of the concept for it but to actually see it done is pretty damn cool, that's why i started to love this channel the minute i found out from it in a cleetus vid 👍
Great video Steve. Thank you and Dewey you can come to my house this weekend ❤🐕❤ . We love Dewey.
Fascinating video! Quite informative and educational from my perspective.
Private Pilot and A&P mechanic. As others have said, They are running both ignition systems all the time except for ground run up checks to ensure both systems are operating properly. You'll see around a 300 rpm drop without both systems running.
I love the big screw blown sand rails they run now., too! :)
I used to run 5 axis cnc made in germany intened to make tooling for cnc tooling. They kept very tight tolerances. Half a thou was non issue.
It would be interesting to run it on the dyno in a controlled environment and run 3 tests. 1) Using spark plugs closest to the intake valve 2) Using spark plugs closest to the exhaust valve 3) both spark plugs at the same time
I would imagine the gains/losses would be minimal but interesting no doubt
Love that valve compressor tool
Have to thank this man for keeping those special birds in the air!!
Thanks sir!!
To expand on this , they are modern 3/4 scale replicas of the P51
Hahaha that quip at proline, classic 😂
Also god damn that jeep jumps off the line
I have valves I’ve cut down so i can protect the Valve job when I’m doing chambers, something everyone without a seat and guide machine should do, 60 grit is totally fine for most things, learning how to cut, what shape cutters to use and when is all very important
I would bet both ignition systems are firing at the same time. They did on everything I have flown even my ultralight with the Rotax 503 with dual ign. If you ran it on one system the other set of plugs would be gas fowled in no time. I am guessing the engine has gear drive for the prop and I don't know but it would surprise me if they ran it over 3000-3500 constant as they will need to keep the prop tip speed subsonic. I would love to the the plane and engine build...I do love P51s. Thanks for sharing
Steve, it sounds like you’re using the welding advice you showed us in an earlier video!
“Fastest 4 Wheel Drive” is an assertion that can be made on CZcams without any real verification standards.. might as well say, he’s the most successful racer in the world.
1:35 part of the problem is you just said aircraft or airplane.
That scares people.
That triples the price , or causes alot of refusals to work on it.
My dads 46 Luscombe uses a Model A ford fuel gauge.
Price out one for a Model A ,and then price one out for a Luscombe.
Pretty much the same part, but the Luscombe one costs triple, because it has the "FAA blessing".
Dont get busted with a Ford one!
Aircraft liability crap is absolutely insane sometimes.
Pricing in aviation STARTS by moving the decimal point over one... then goes up by supply, demand and what people / companies are willing to pay to get that A/C out of AOG status. (Aircraft On Ground) for those not familiar.
cool camera work
They run the T-51 through a 2:1 gear reduction box. They need low end torque more than hp. Great video Steve. Music rocks.
A Titan T-51 crashed on July 21 2024 due to a prop hub failure. Blancolirio covered this using the preliminary NTSB report.
@@bobroberts2371 The Titan 51 is a different airplane powered by a different engine.
That dual spark set-up could also be used for marine applications...(but you already know that).