Valve floating, electricity, etc.

["Jason and Maria Colavecchia" <jasoncolavecchia@domain.elided>]

Here are some thoughts....

Despite the inherent massivity of the IHC gasoline engines,  their valve
springs are really only good up to about 4600 rpm before they cause
significant loss in engine power.  The original camshafts in these engines
were designed for maximum torque at low rpm, allowing their use in the
medium duty dump trucks and busses.  I still know a few of my customers ( i
sell trucks for a living) that drive these things around with no
complaints.  The engine's limited rpm range is really a function of the
camshaft and perhaps the valve springs working together to produce power
where you need it most.   If you are really ambitious when it's time to
rebuild your engine, you can try the next step up in cams (changing the rpm
power band from around 500-3200 rpm to 1200-4500 rpm) and change out the
valve springs for big block ch#vy ones....this will let the engine breath
up to 5000 or so rpm AND get more net horsepower, but it is decidedly a
different personality than the stock setup.  I do plan to do this little
job to my Travelall engine, but the Scout II will stay with the stock
setup...off road, I prefer the low end power the stock cam gives me rather
than all that horsepower that simply makes you spin your tires and lose
traction....

Check out Jim Weed's Scout page, and there's lots of info regarding these
kind of rebuild ideas...

Quick point....IHC engine don't use chain-driven camshafts....instead, they
used infinitely more durable gear drives!!!

While I'm on the subject of IHC engines,  has anyone played around with
turbocharging or supercharging these engines?  Since they have such massive
construction, and relatively low compression ratios (the intake manifolds
are especially strong), that they seem to be natural candidates for one of
those bolt-on kits with the belt driven remote superchargers. (ie, paxton,
etc).  Since I have no real idea what those kits require in terms of the
engine setup, it would be neat to hear from anyone with any experience in
this matter...Even if you leave the stock cam alone, by adjusting the pully
size on the blower you should be able to tune it for the 0-4000 rpm range
no plm....

Here's something I wanted to add about electric motors and such.....Most
modern railroad engines that don't feed directly off  power lines strung
above the tracks use a massive diesel engine to power a generator that runs
the traction motors in the carriages.  It would be possible to convert a
Scout to Gasoline/electric, or diesel/electric....It would be alot of work,
but not impossible...in the end, at least you would have a machine capable
of handling any hill (with said torque being from 0 rpm and up), but
probably not too practical on the road...of course, running gasoline/diesel
electric defeats the real purpose behind electric cars...supposed to be
cleaner...

That's a joke, actually...as far as I am concerned, electric vehicles
create as much pollution as any gas car, simply because SOMEWHERE that nice
clean electricity is produced by BIG, DIRTY coal or nuclear plants...VERY
few places in north america utilize water or geothermal electric
generation, and even then the environmental impact is just as
great....Honestly, CNG is probably the next best choice besides hydrogen
when it comes to being environmentally friendly.  Until some type of truly
clean electrical source is developed into widespread use, the electric car
will always be as environmentally unfriendly as gasoline cars..

(can't wait to hear feedback on THAT one hehehe :)

Last one...anyone know where I could find replacement floorpans (or plans
or kits, whatever you can offer) for Travelalls??  Any points on
reconstructing floors in these trucks, or any IHC vehicle??  Finding
replacement floorpans would definitely be the easiest route, but probably
the most improbable....oh welll..