|
|
RMI- The art of air flow
 The following articles were all written by Don Redmon. They are in pdf format, you need the Adobe Reader to view them. It can be downloaded free of charge by clicking the button below.
 Many of the articles are from the SpeedOptions website and may contain comments from users, banner ads, etc. Don Redmon of Replika Maschinen, Inc is only responsible for his own words.
- Stop Making Sense - Introduction
- "Hello, my name is Don Redmon and I am the owner of Replika Maschinen,
Inc. We are an airflow, porting, engine and thermal coating facility located
in the Santa Cruz, California area. I have been professionally involved in the
racing, high performance and technical automotive and motorcycle markets for
over a quarter of a century."
-
- Stop Making Sense - High Performance Applications for Fuel Economy
- Here in Replika Maschinen, Inc. land, we were fortunate enough
to find the proverbial low mileage well maintained “Little Old Lady”
automobile. In this case it is a 1992 Nissan Maxima and a very nice little old
lady really did own it. Just like in the song. Only the little old lady
didn’t live in Pasadena but in northern California and the car is not
a1960’s Dodge but a 1992 Nissan. So it’s exactly the same, only different!
-
-
- Stop Making Sense - Thermal Coatings, Part 1
- "Around the end of the Second World War the need to go higher, further, faster enveloped the defense and aeronautical industries. These desires spawned a metallurgical revolution in exotic materials. But along with these exotic materials for air frames and more powerful engines came new problems of protection. Corrosion resistance, noise suppression, friction reducers, thermal barriers and thermal dispersants were invented or modified to address these new concerns."
- Stop Making Sense - Thermal Coatings, Part 2
- "So where does all of that internally combusted heat go to? It goes to the same places it normally does but now we are trying to control and positively use the normally wasted heat energy. Normally, part will go into the cooling system to be eliminated via the radiator or in the case of air-cooled engines, cooling fins. Part will go out the exhaust system as additional waste. The remaining thirty percent or less is actually used to produce work and turn the crankshaft. It should not take a rocket scientist to realize that increasing the latter's percentage even in small amounts will garner additional returns in work and power."
- Stop Making Sense - History of Internal Combustion
- "I hope that this will answer a few questions for those of you who are interested enough to want to learn more. This however is simply the beginning; there is an incredible library of books and texts on the internal combustion engine, I encourage you to seek them out and discover this world. Never blindly accept automotive mythology, go out and find out for your self, investigate and then cross-reference. When you move with the herd you get what the herd gets, fleas."
- Wings for a Flyin' Miata
- "We put it on the pressure rack to check for leaks. We also give it a quick check for straightness, cracks, casting flaws, bearing saddle wear or damage. We like to make as sure as possible that we are not working on a damaged head."
- Another Flyin' Miata
- "In most cases engine components are selected and thrown together based on nothing more than magazine advertisements or verbal recommendations such as "well it worked for me" kind of thing. This hit or miss method of engine tuning is not always positive. So when a customer approached us with the desire for something better for his particular Miata 1.8 liter engine, we were ready to comply. This package would include a flow bench developed fully ported cylinder head and intake manifold, something we have been doing for a while now in both naturally aspirated and turbo applications."
- Measurement, Part 1: Crankshaft
- "In a recent conversation with Dema Elgin, owner and mastermind of Elgin Cams, we were discussing the term "Blueprinting" and how this term has become so abused and misunderstood. Dema told me of the problems he had some thirty years ago in getting an actual engineering department mechanical drawing or "blueprint" of a Chevrolet V-8 engine in order to manufacture a crankshaft stud girdle."
- Measurement, Part 2
- continuation of the above article
- Cylinder Head Basics
- "An internal combustion engine is essentially a thermodynamically controlled air pump. You pump air in, heat and process it to move a piston, rotor or fan blade to produce work. One of these items, attached to a crankshaft or axle transmits chemical and thermodynamic energy into kinetic energy or motion. After processing and use, the charge is then expelled. This expelled charge still has energy and inertia. It can energize a power-adding device such as a turbocharger or as generally the case, simply expelled into the atmosphere. This all sounds simple and Zen like, air in, air out."
- You Get What You Pay For
- "When writing, I often ask myself how can one voice be heard above the ever present din of buy, buy, buy advertising. How does one penetrate the cult of excess which drives our society? Well with patience, sometimes providence provides. It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words; well these pictures should provide all the evidence necessary to explain the difference between a budget job and a quality job."
- Son Of
You Get What You Pay For
- "I had not planned on turning "You Get What You Pay For" into a serial. But an example of let us say, less than desirable automotive machining work recently came to our attention. All of this work was performed by a professional automotive machine and engine building shop. The engine, we were informed by the owner, had less than 1000 miles on it before it rather violently expired."
- Eserini Racing VR-6 Funny Car
- "Like the movie "Six Degrees of Separation" it seems we are never too far away from new and interesting experiences just around the corner. All it takes is the right word from the right source and suddenly life takes off in a different direction."
|
