From Classroom to Circle Track

(Pat)>> You're watching Powernation!

(Frankie)>> Today Engine Power is packed with race cars from the University of Northwestern Ohio where students can build and race real life race cars.

(Pat)>> To the newest Hot Shot's Secret powered drag car.

(Frankie)>> And Ford powered race cars at Holley's Intergalactic Ford Fest. [ Music ]

(Frankie)>> Today we're out of the shop and we are back at one of our favorite places, the University of Northwestern Ohio, and today we're gonna be checking out their high performance technology program, the one that I went through, and the student run racing team here at UNOH.

(Pat)>> We are in the high performance technology building where students will everything from chassis, transmission, and our favorite, custom engine building and how it applies on real race cars in real racing situations. [ Music ]

(Frankie)>> UNOH offers several programs in different fields, but the automotive and high performance technology program covers technical knowledge and experience, not just for o-e-m vehicle, but race car technology from bumper to bumper as well.

(Greg)>> This is our custom engine building program. We cover advanced engine building techniques. For instance, milling a block. One of the first lectures we get into in this class is compression ratio. Deck height is key to that equation. So a student needs to know what deck height they're gonna target when they mill a block so they can calculate their compression ratio. Just coming out and using the equipment might look good but it doesn't put the puzzle together. One of the beauties of a program like this is we have about twenty to one instructor to student ratio. We talk with them, help them find their niche if you will. They have to come willing to learn, open minded, and willing to face the challenges of learning something new that they haven't really been introduced before most likely.

(Parker)>> You can start off with the basic automotive sort of classes but then you can expand and take these high performance classes. So you have a regular suspension and a high performance suspension. It's really nice to break down and get the basics, and then sorta work into the advance.

(Hunter)>>> You're gonna start off in your simple automotive classes. You're gonna learn electrical, you're gonna learn your brakes, you're gonna learn computer systems, and then after about the first year that's when we start getting into it. So now I'm in high performance engine machining. I've also got customs coming up next, and we get to learn also high performance steering and suspension. Everything that goes into a race car and how to make power and speed out of it.

(Brandon)>> I try to make them understand first that an engine is nuts and bolts. They all work the same. It's just we have to adapt to the specific engine and the specific circumstance, and once they get past that and understand alright, we just slow down, take our time, look at what are we trying to achieve, and then how we're gonna go about we can kinda break that barrier of I don't know what it is and how to do it.

(Frankie)>> UNOH is widely recognized as one of the premiere high performance technical schools not only in the country but in the world with students attending from over 40 states and 49 counties.

(Hunter)>> It was time to graduate high school, and I was looking for a place to go. Thought about engineering, but I decided I want to build race cars for a living. I just so happen to find an ad for UNOH. Came here and visited October of my senior year. The rest was history and I came here.

(Alejandro)>> While I was getting out of the Marine Corps I was looking for the best automotive school, and everywhere I looked and everyone I asked everyone always said UNOH. That's how I ended up here.

(Hunter)>> So a lot of our engines actually start off in the automotive building, in our D and R class. That's where they get stripped down and students get to learn how to disassemble and engine, measure it, and put an engine back together. Once it's in there and it gets kina worn out and tired it gets brought back here and basically starts going from machine to machine. First it'll start off on a head mill. Then it can be put on the align hone, and then it can be put on a boring bar. Hey, want to see us succeed. So they've got their background in racing, or their background in automotive, and if you've got a question or anything they're more than happy to help you.

(Andy)>> The ones that put the effort in in the classes and get a lot of other classes are everywhere. I mean we've got students on Cup teams, Indy car teams, sports car teams, drag teams. There's some in hot rod shop. There's some that have their own shops building engines, tuning. So if they put the effort into it they get where they want to go.

(Frankie)>> Engine building takes a ton of specialty engine building tools, and that can add up over time. That's why Summit Racing has gone through the extra effort of creating an affordable line of engine building tools for both the hobbyist and the professional. From simple things like piston installation hammers, camshaft installation tools, ring expanders, ring squarers, and piston stops, all the way up to pro level tools like this piston ring filer that is extremely precise. Speaking of precise, they offer a ton of precision measuring equipment from spring height mics all the way up to dial bore gauges so you can accurately measure everything inside your engine. So if you're thinking about getting into engine building make sure you check out Summit Racing Equipment's engine building tool catalog to fill your toolbox. Coming up, the students go from the classroom to the dirt track as the UNOH Motorsports Team competes at Limaland Motorsports Park.

(Frankie)>> We do a fair bit of wiring here in the shop, and there's a bunch of ways you can make an electrical connection, but if you want a permanent and watertight solution the best way is to solder the wires together. In today's Summit Tech Tip we're gonna show you how to properly do that. The first thing we'll do is strip the insulation off the wires about an inch from the end. After spreading the strands of wire out we can slide them together and tightly twist things in opposite directions until we can't get them any tighter. The wires should stay together even without solder. We'll let the soldering iron fully heat up the wire so that the solder melts when it comes into contact with it. We'll apply just enough solder to reach the end of the bare wire, making sure it doesn't travel into the insulation. After letting the solder cool we can slide on our heat shrink and use a heat gun to seal up our new connection. And boom, there you go! You have a waterproof, permanent soldered connection between two wires, and if you want to get any soldering tools of your own so you can do this you can find them at Summit Racing Equipment. [ Music ] ( )>> Race night is pure adrenaline, excitement. It's pure awesomeness! There's not really a bad day at the racetrack.

(Frankie)>> Starting in May and ending in late July, the UNOH Motorsports team competes against professional racers at Limaland.

(Hunter)>> We've got some of the best equipment, some of the best cars, and we get to actually work on them as students. I don't have to go out and buy this $60,000 car. I just come to UNOH. I get to play with it every day, and then go out on Friday nights with a bunch of my buddies and we go racing.

(Paul)>> The university owns the local quarter mile dirt track here in town, Limaland Motorsports Park. Many years ago President Jarvis, with the support of the board of directors, thought it would be a great idea to have a student run, student maintained, and student driven team run out of the university. The motorsports team is the closest to real world application the students are gonna be able to participate in. The cars, the vehicles, the engines, all of it's maintained, built, driven, and worked on by the students. Students report to another person above them and we have student team managers, car chiefs, and even engine department, and they have a hierarchy in there.

(Ayden)>> I get all the mud covers ready for it, get all the tire pressures set. I get my driver in the car when it's haul lap time. Walk over to the car, let them know what the track's looking like, and then I'll send him out. He'll come back in.

(Alejandro)>> And then as soon as they get back in the pits we start checking to make sure everything's tightened down, no motor mounts are loose. We check all the wiring to make sure nothing got unplugged. Sometimes we have to check timing depending on if it ran lean or it's getting a little fat. We just have to check that sometimes.

(Bret)>> Working on a real, live race car is something completely different. If something goes wrong you have to bring it back to the pits and you have to fix it and go out. It's not just a training aid where if you break something it's like whatever, you just grab a new part. You're at the track. Other people are relying on you and you're relying on others.

(Pat)>> The students on the motorsports team develop their skills by learning from head coach Higgins. When they ask questions the answer often comes in the form of another question.

(Paul)>> They have the knowledge, a lot of them, but it's to make them apply it. So you ask them a question back. What do you think is the reason it is doing this? The goal of education is not to give you the answer. The goal is to teach you how to find the answer.

(Bret)>> A lot of the life lessons I've learned is especially be quiet and listen a little bit more. Listening is very important, trying to gather a lot of information from other people and what they know. It's taught me so much more than just racing.

(Dillon)>> Like I said, the whole team is just one big family. So if there's something needed then they'll come help no matter what it is. Even if you don't know anything. You've just got to hold a wrench or a flashlight. Anything to help.

(Alejandro)>> We're very friendly. Just ask us and we're more than willing to tell you how to work on it cause what if one day we're not there. Then you can jump in case of emergency and start working on it.

(Hunter)>> We all learn a lot from each other. We all get along with each other, and you have to learn how to manage your time but also get along as a team. If you don't get along then at the end of the week your car's not gonna perform right or you're not gonna perform well as a team at the track.

(Nash)>> It's a great experience. I love working on those cars over there. You can actually put your knowledge that you learned from the class into the motorsports team.

(Parker)>> It's awesome to be able to go out on Friday nights, see your car whip around the track and know I was a part of that.

(Frankie)>> One of the students' fiercest competitors is UNOH instructor Brandon Vaughn.

(Brandon)>> I do race at Limaland. I am a competitor to the students on the motorsports team, which is fun because we joke about it all the time and we give each other a hard time. When I beat them, when they beat me, and at the same time they come and ask me a lot of questions on hey I felt this, or we want to try this with the car, and I'll help them out as much as I can. I still look at, even though we're competitors out there, I'm still here to teach, and if that makes them a better racer then I'm doing my job. (Hunter H.)>> It's pretty rewarding, especially when you do really, really good on a night. It like, yeah, we gave them the power plant and the rest of those guys were ready to set it up, get it in the dirt, and make it happen.

(Frankie)>> In the UMP Modified's A-feature Shaun Verweiss finished in fourth place, and Randy Geroux came in seventh. Both earned bragging rights over instructor Vaughn who placed ninth. As the 26th annual season championship night closes so does another year of lessons learned, experiences gained, lifelong friendships forged.

(Dillon)>> You're going out there with your friends and doing what you love. I don't think you could do anything better.

(Pat)>> Up next, Levon Miller stops by with his newest Pro Mod powered by science, and you might be surprised what's under the hood of this Duster.

(Pat)>> Any time we have a race car here in the shop I'm a happy man, and we have something very unique. Levon Miller from Firepunk Diesel has brought a Pro Mod car based off a 1970 duster. I'll tell you, there's not a lot of Duster in here but it is ultra cool. Tell me about this rig.

(Levon)>> This is a car that was purpose built just to go fast. So we worked with Reese Brothers Race Cars. Gave them the engine out of the S-10. This was the truck that we had set the record for the world's fastest diesel truck. Went a 3.99 at 182 with that, and we wanted to go faster. So working with Reese Brothers we gave them the engine, and they built a Pro Mod specifically for this power plant. And this weekend we took it out and got our first forward passes on it. We got about a couple of hundred, 200 foot licks on it, and we're excited to see what we can do with this platform. This is based off of a 6.7-liter Cummins that you'd see in a Dodge Ram truck. D and J Precision Machine took that and made a billet aluminum version of that. There's a lot stronger mains, a little bit wider on the overall platform, one inch taller deck, aluminum head, and there's actually a 12 port exhaust port design. So there's one port per valve, and that picks up 90 c-f-m on the exhaust flow. With a new car there's always new car blues of going through and working out all the little details, and that's what we did this weekend. We figured out our torque converter was a little too loose. So we're gonna make some changes like that. Then we can really lean on this thing and go fast.

(Pat)>> Since this has been in the S-10 you have done some updates to it. So tell me a little bit about that.

(Levon)>> Well the short block is essentially the same. The head we changed up. We had a top feed injector setup on that, which made it a custom one-off set of injectors. We went back to feed tube style injectors and we did some injector changes. We worked with Exergy Performance for our fuel system and our Bosch stand alone system. That gives us a little bit more capabilities as making some injector changes quickly and getting some high r-p-m fueling that we're looking for. This has a 98 millimeter G-55 on it, and next time we're probably gonna see a 107-to-112-millimeter turbo on there. That's just trying to get our air/fuel ratio as lean as possible when we're making over 3,000 horsepower.

(Pat)>> Now when you have that kind of power you need some serious protection. That's where your partnership and your sponsorship with Hot Shot's Secret comes in because you are literally part of the R and D team.

(Levon)>> They came in to solve problems. We were looking at our oil systems. We had some needs that weren't being met and they brought the FR-3 additive to the dyno that we added to our previous oils that we were using, and we saw tremendous gains. This was on our street trucks. At a 500 horsepower level we picked up 11, 12 horsepower and at 800 horsepower level we picked up 25 horsepower. I was like, this is adding friction reducer to engine oil and we're picking up horsepower. Carbon nano technology is what the anti-wear is based off of in the FR-3 product. You can add it to any oil. It is polarized and it's heat sensitive. The polarized means it's attracted to metal, and then heat sensitive means it's gonna go to hottest areas. The hottest area's gonna be where you have your most friction and most wear. If you have your squish point of your rod bearing it's gonna be attracted to that area, and it's gonna give the most protection. Every time that we send out oil analysis we just see no metal wears. Then we tear an engine like this down. We hit 100 passes on this engine and tore the bearings out of it, and you could still see the marks on the bearings where we had the profilometer in there to measure the bearings. There was no wear on the main bearings. We have this in the engine, we have it in the torque converter, the Liberty transmission, the rear end, it's all the way through, and then I run it in the r/v. We've got it in our pickups that we tow with on a regular basis. The FR-3 with the nano carbons will never break down, and the anti-wear package is the same from the fresh oil change to 7,000 miles. That's the advantage that the nano carbons has over the moly.

(Pat)>> From the R and D standpoint you are directly involved in the development of these things. They'll make something special for you just to try it.

(Levon)>> With the new car this has a Liberty transmission, and the tie drive called for some special viscosity, and Hot Shot's did not have an oil for that. So they've special blended a race oil for us, and that's what that relationship is all about. In a couple of days we can have something to test in our own equipment at our shop.

(Pat)>> That's pretty unique that it's all done here. It's all done in the USA, and that's a big thing because they have full control over the whole formulation. This is the first time everyone's seeing this car. Tell me about what the plans are for this car after you leave here.

(Levon)>> I'm thinking that with this power level that we're running this weekend we should be able to run 3.90s and then start chipping away at the block and try to get it into the 3.80s and hopefully get into the 3.70s, and hopefully set the world on fire. We want to see some numbers on the board and print some time slips, and then we're gonna be racing the ODSS point series. Eventually if we can get this thing fast enough I'd like to PDRA races, maybe race some Pro Boost, and get in some traditional Pro Mod races. I'd love to be able to bring a diesel to a Pro Mod race, and make the field, and compete. That's the end goal.

(Pat)>> Now I understand we have another vehicle, not just this beautiful race car, that's protected by FR-3 and Hot Shot's Secret.

(Levon)>> Yep, this is a little truck I built for my son. This is a seven horsepower engine, and we've got 30 weight oil in it. He put some FR-3 in it and then he can go out and hold the thing at 32 mile an hour for as long as he wants and I don't have to worry about it.

(Pat)>> I can appreciate that kind of thing. Thank you very much for bringing everything in. We're excited to see what happens with this rig.

(Levon)>> Me too!

(Frankie)>> Next up, there's only one word at this event that means fast, furious, or fiery.

(Pat)>> And that is Ford!

(Pat)>> When we need parts to keep our daily drivers on the road and running great we turn to Duralast. What we love about Duralast is they will make parts that will meet or exceed o-e-m specifications. Things like master cylinders, starters, water pumps, even batteries. They fix any o-e-m problems and engineer things to work great. They will address any problems that the o-e-ms have with particular parts and reengineer them to make them better than o-e quality. To pick up your Duralast parts you can go down to the store or you can go online to the AutoZone Pro website, or better yet get on their AutoZone Pro app. Check them out! It's a beautiful day and we are here in Bowling Green, Kentucky, at the Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival. If you come to a Ford festival you have to bring your Ford. So we brought our Spicy Granada. This one is one of our favorites, and it was very popular with you guys as well. We're set up here in our Powernation display where you can come, get some free swag, and check out the car in person.

(Frankie)>> Now Holley does a great job of making this weekend action packaged with everything Ford and Ford powered, and there's all kinds of stuff to do. There's auto cross, drifting, a circle track race, a swap meet, a car show, even an off road experience that you can go check out. There's all kinds of stuff that we want to check out and we're gonna show you. So let's get going. It doesn't matter if you're into car shows or motorsports. If you like Fords that burn gasoline or tires there's something for everyone here. The action starts early in the morning and goes late into the night with Holley and NMRA World Finals putting on an awesome show.

(Pat)>> Back by popular demand is the Holley Off Road Experience where cars ditch the asphalt and play in the dirt whether they're set up for it or now. This year there was even an appearance of jet dragsters making flaming passes down the dragstrip. The drifting exhibition is pretty impressive to watch as well with up to four car tandem drifts happening flawlessly. As we're going through the car shows tons of nice cars here, but I don't care if there's a hundred or a thousand cars this is my favorite car. I'm a little bias cause I have a '63 box top as well. This car is absolutely gorgeous.

(Jerry)>> The car come out of the stable of George Poteet in Memphis, Tennessee. He originally got the car as a 260 V-8 car somewhere in the Indianapolis, Indiana area. They got a '69 Mustang 428 Cobrajet stuck in it with a C-6 automatic transmission. So it is an absolute nut and bolt rotisserie built car, and it runs strong.

(Pat)>> It is absolutely spectacular! Thank you so much for letting me look at it and thanks for bringing it.

(Frankie)>> The off road course doesn't discriminate letting 20 year old jalopies and brand new Raptor-Rs take jumps and tear up the dirt track. The Hooptie-X Crew puts on a show on a budget, and will run anything with four wheels and safety equipment through its paces on the course. We always love walking around the swap meet area because there's all kinds of cool finds. If you're looking for something specific you can find stuff like heads, blocks, a lot of used parts you can get a little bit cheaper than new ones.

(Pat)>> If you're good at haggling and you're good at digging chances are you're probably gonna find what you want. I don't know if we want this stuff though?

(Frankie)>> We need to spend our money efficiently. Let's go look around.

(Pat)>> This is exhausting over here!

(Frankie)>> One of the other amazingly cool cars that we found here at Ford Fest is this '57, and we found the owner to tell us a little bit about it because this car is pretty unique under the hood.

(Dan)>> It's got a Paxton supercharger. It's a Nascar, and it was built to Nascar standards to accommodate a supercharger. So everything's in sync. It's not a mis-built engine. Back in '57 they had to homologate about 200 of them. They put them on passenger cars, station wagons, four doors, and they also put them on customs, and that's what this is.

(Frankie)>> I love that you're Ford man through and through, a Ford dealer yourself, and this car is amazingly beautiful. Thank you for taking the time to talk to us about it, and I'm glad you enjoy it. Like always, Ford Fest was an awesome time and didn't disappoint.

(Pat)>> We can't wait to show up next year.