EngineLabs

Ask experienced engine builders where reliability lives, and the conversation always circles back to lubrication. It doesn’t matter how much horsepower an engine makes if the oil system can’t keep up with the demands placed on it. Beyond just the pump that you bolt up, bearing clearances, oil temperature, crankcase vacuum, drainback, and pressure stability are all parts of getting the oiling system right.

According to Peterson Fluid Systems’ Peter Byrne and Technical Manager Wade Moon, the company’s approach goes far beyond simply moving oil from one place to another. The goal is to build pumps that improve efficiency, maintain stability under extreme conditions, and adapt to the increasingly specialized demands of modern racing engines.

The company’s pumps utilize a four-lobe twisted rotor design that differs from many traditional external oil pumps. Byrne explains that the twisted-lobe arrangement eliminates the need for additional timing gears inside the pump body. Instead of requiring spur gears to synchronize the rotors, the design of the rotors automatically aligns.

Did you know that most camshafts intended for the street are machined with built-in advance?

There’s an easy way to determine this by studying the cam card. If the intake lobe centerline — expressed in degrees After-Top-Dead-Center (ATDC) — is the same as the lobe separation angle, then the cam is not advanced.

Looking at a COMP small-block street cam (P/N: 12-468-8; cam card), it has an intake centerline of 109 degrees ATDC, but the lobe-separation angle is 113 degrees. This means this cam is machined with 4 degrees of advance already built-in. This also means the engine builder should install and degree this cam “straight up” — with no advance — because the intake lobe has already been advanced. Adding more advance would only hurt power.

Throw as much stock (or shade) as you want at the six-cylinder engine; there is no getting around the fact that it has long been referred to as the Swiss army knife of motors. Be it an angled V6, a brutish Boxer, the Slant-6, or one of the iconic inline six-cylinder designs, drivers the world over have embraced this piston-powered middle ground with open arms.

👉 https://www.enginelabs.com/news/straightforward-fords-indestructible-inline-six-cylinder-explained/

While luxury European automakers may have maintained an interest in the inline six-cylinder more than any other, it was Ford that arguably made the best-selling engine design. An inline six-cylinder success story that was never intended for racing glory or world records, but for mass appeal. Yes, we are referring to the classic Ford 240 and its far larger and brutish brother, the mighty 300.

With its cast-iron overhead-valve cylinder head and block, triple-ringed aluminum pistons, forged connecting rods, hydraulic lifters, and quad-bearing cam, the single-carb six-banger provided reliable power in a much smaller (and affordable) package than the brand’s V8 engines. Naturally, these smaller engines were an instant hit with Ford buyers, with the 240- and 300-cube duo gracing a myriad of platforms starting in the mid-1960s.

Never see a spraypainted piston get rusty, right? 😆

What do you gap your pistons to?

😂

Quick Tech: Magnetic Particle Inspecting Engine Components

If you’ve been around engine building for any length of time, you’ve probably heard about components — usually blocks, connecting rods, and cylinder heads — being “Magnafluxed,” “mag checked,” or simply “magged.” You’ll notice that “Magnaflux” is capitalized, because that is a proper noun — it’s a brand name. Much like how “Kleenex,” “Q-Tip,” or “Thermos” have become eponyms to describe the items, rather than just a brand, Magnaflux has done the same for automotive magnetic particle inspection.

By magnetizing the surface to be inspected, usually with a handheld electromagnet, and then adding a magnetic particle powder (either wet or dry), any surface imperfections will disrupt the magnetic field, which allows the powder to settle into them. Once the excess powder is removed, the previously invisible (or barely visible) imperfections stand out as bold streaks of color (based on the color of the powder used).

Mercedes-AMG’s M139 Is The Most Powerful 4-Cylinder For 7-Years Running

👉 https://www.enginelabs.com/news/mercedes-amgs-m139-is-the-most-powerful-4-cylinder-for-7-years-running/

Seven years ago, Mercedes-AMG released the M139 engine as “the world’s most powerful turbocharged four-cylinder in series production.” On debut, it produced 416 horsepower and 369 lb-ft of torque, displacing its own M133 engine from the throne by 40 horsepower and 19 lb-ft of torque. As we sit here in June of 2026, the M139 retains the title, but with 50 more horsepower and 33 additional pound-feet of twist. Producing 469 horsepower and 402 lb-ft of torque out of a scant 1,991cc (121.5 cubic inches) is no small feat of engineering.

At the High Performance Expo currently going on at the Charlotte Convention Center in Charlotte, NC, Hendrick Motorsports is conducting the Engine Builder Challenge, which pits teams of engine builders and technicians against one another in a race to go from bare block to complete engine, on the clock. It's really impressive to watch these professionals ply their craft at speed.