Who proof reads magazines these days?

[RacerRick]

I bought the Hot Rod Engines mag because it is usually a compendium of the best tricks and tips from the past year, but the articles are crap in most cases, and one is just so full of errors its sick. Its the Massive Strokes article on page 78.

Here are some direct quotes.

"The overall cubic inches of your motor will depend on the length of the rod."

I always though the stroke of the crank and the bore determined the displacement.

"Another popular [stroker] combination is the 406 that uses a 0.03 over-bored 400 block with a 3.75" crankshaft."

This is also known as a stock 400 with a 30 thou overbore. Not a stroker motor.

"Depending on the rod length and stroke, of the engine, the piston will have to be a shorty-style piece."

What is a "shorty style" piston?


"All small-block chevys, no matter what size, can simply use a good high volume oil pump. We used this Milodon stock replacement pump."

If all small block chevy's should use a high volume pump, why did the auther stick on a stock replacement pump?

Maybe I am nit-picking but for a starter article on stroker engines this will cause lots of people huge problems. There are several errors, and the article contradicts itself.

Where is useful, informative articles these days?

[Dave]

LOL! I feel your pain, Rick. Almost every article I've had published in car magazines ends up being edited/changed in some way such that factual inaccuracies creep into it. It's annoying from a writer's perspective, so it's got to be even more annoying for reader's who know better.

[glh]

I can give you an answer to shorty piston as i'm building an alminm head 350 for a guy with shorty pistons and as stated thay are shorter than stock with a coated skirt and beefed up ring lands as to the rest good info can be hard to come by
steve

[Dave]

Steve, your piston knowledge is scaring me! Heck, your torque monster of a Omni is scaring me! I really hope you have better luck on the reliability side with it next year.

Are you still toying with the SRT-4 idea?

[Shaman]

Motorcycles are using coated, forged pistons as stock these days. :eek:

[RacerRick]

That sounds like a short skirt lightweight racing piston, if you are using a stock stroke crank. Is it running buttons? Is the ring stack into the piston pin?

But I have also heard people refer to the reduced compression height pistons used in long rod or stroker applications as a "shorty piston".

I think that it is too ambiguous a phrase to worth anything.