Engine Department Facilities
Engine Tuner/Dress Area
This section of the department houses workstations for the engine tuners. Each team, including all Hendrick lease teams, has a tuner that is assigned specifically to its engines. The tuner’s main responsibility is to make sure that all three of the engines that travel to the track each weekend are in perfect shape. They also rebuild carburetors from previously run engines. The tuners are the last people to touch a team’s engine before the start of a race. This area also houses the two Hendrick engine dressers, who do the final fittings or dressing on the engine before it is placed into a team’s car.
Engine Assembly Area
In the assembly area, Hendrick engine assemblers execute an in depth analysis of each and every component in the engine. They perform fittings to ensure the dimensions of critical components such as bearings meet rigorous specifications. Engine assemblers also responsible for tracking where each engine and part is run through out each season.
Machine Shop
The engine department’s machine shop lies in the middle of the main engine room. This area includes mini-mills and honing machines used to modify rods, pistons and crankshafts to specific dimensions.
CNC Room
The Hendrick CNC (Computer Numeric Coding) room houses numerous HAAS CNC machines used to manufacture and produce engine components from raw materials. More than 40 percent of the parts used in Hendrick engines are produced on site in the CNC room. Using CNC machines allows parts to be made faster with fewer mistakes. One of the main goals of the Hendrick Engine Department is to eventually make all engine components in-house.
Head Shop
After the cylinder heads are cut in the CNC area, they progress to the area of the engine shop known as the head shop. The head shop is where cylinder heads and intake manifolds are ported and valve jobs are preformed.
Teardown
The teardown area of the engine department is where all incoming engines are torn down, cataloged and then thoroughly inspected prior to returning to the engine build cycle.
Wash Room
The wash room area is where used engines are cleaned, inspected and then returned to the engine build cycle. This is one of the most labor-intensive processes within the Hendrick engine department. The washdown room is equipped with numerous sinks, pressure cleaners, steam cleaners and chemical parts washing stations.
Magnaflux
The term “magnaflux” is short for a magnetic particle inspection. This process checks steel parts within the engine such as camshafts and connecting rods for defects such as cracks. An engine is covered in a dye laced with magnetic particles, which are attracted to cracks on steel parts within the engine. A special light is used that causes the magnetic particles to glow green and highlight the defects.
Dynamometers
The Hendrick Engine Department has four dynamometer or “dyno” machines that measure torque and horsepower. Using dynos allow the engine staff to test an engine in-house before it is ever put into a car. The engine is mounted onto the dyno machine that connects it to fuel, coolant, exhaust pipes, and a brake that simulates drag. These machines perform two main functions for the department. First, they serve as a quality control mechanism to ensure that the engine is properly assembled. The engine will be tested at open throttle to meet power specifications and to check for leaks in oil or gas lines. HMS also uses the dynos as a development tool for engine building, specifically in the areas of durability, power and reliability.
Spintron
The spintron machine measures movements within the engine’s valvetrain. The engine is powered by an electric motor that allows the spintron operator to control revolutions per minute to mimic track conditions. An operator can increase rpm’s to simulate a certain track’s straight-aways and then decrease then to simulate its turns. The spintron is advantageous because it allows the engine department to observe the different types of demands placed on the valve trains at the various types of tracks.
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