After we all took our turns at the coffee, juice, and donuts provided, introductions followed. Promptly at 9:00 a.m. Jay asked us to introduce ourselves and state where we’re from and our brand of engine. Jim Brown and his father Sam came all the way from St. Louis and others were from IL, Eastern PA and Southern Ohio. There were Ford, Chevy, and MOPAR fans wanting to make their pulling tractors, circle track cars, and obviously ¼ mile machines more powerful.

The matter at hand today, aside from the car show was engine design theories and build ideas. Jay handed out nicely done three ring binders including a CD containing engine calculators and engine design software and an agenda that included everything from basic chassis tuning to advanced cam and cylinder head design.  

I came away with a much greater appreciation for what it takes to make our cars run fast. Most of us, me included, come here to Hardcore or pickup 5.0 & Super Fords or some other rag and sort through the advertisements for the biggest numbers and best price on a particular “proven” part. After today many of us that attended now understand why that part works. This small lesson was worth the admission fee in itself if you’ve ever bought a high dollar item only to find it didn’t work with just any combination.  The people I talked to all seemed to gather something from the workshop which is pretty impressive considering there were people in attendance who have a basic understanding of how an engine works and others who have years of successful engine building experience.
 

Brian, AKA “gasguzzler” of Escanaba, MI said, “I took home too many things to write down. Some of the things were a better understanding of what chassis parts to buy, how to pick the right valve springs, how much ballast to use, the importance of a lightweight reciprocating mass, and concepts of piston speed.” I also spoke with Cary Chounard of CPF Racing a week before and found he was attending.  I asked him what he though he would learn, and he said for the money you couldn’t beat it, and if he could learn something new it would be worth every penny. Well, at the end of the day, he told me it was completely worth it.

CPF Racing prototype small block ford intake	Team Z Motorsports

Later in the afternoon after we were all done eating pizza compliments of our host, we moved into Jay’s specialty, camshaft design. Our instructor explained the importance of the correct cam as well as a matching valve spring. We were informed that the cam and valve springs were to be the second to last item in an engine build up with the correct length pushrod being the last item. This guy is passionate about designing cams. So passionate, in fact, that he is starting a new cam company that will be open shortly after the first of the year. The new company name is Camshaft Innovations and Jay is looking forward to helping as many people as possible with his designs. If not for Dave Zimmerman, the “Z” of Team Z Motorsports, we wouldn’t have had such a comfortable place to hold the workshop. Much appreciation goes to Dave and his family for allowing all of us to take up their spacious shop from dawn to dusk.

Blue Thunder Small Block Ford Cylinder Head	Fox Lake CNC 2 Valve Head