We’re Takin’ Over

With the garage and fabrication side in place, we now focused on addressing the engine building side of the facility. If we brought the engine building on site, then we could eliminate any guesswork from engine machining. While many shops do great work, those few that do sub-standard work make it tough for the customer to trust others with their high-dollar, high-power engine builds.

Fortunately for us, a perfect opportunity to build our machine shop came at the right time. Shortly after we began looking for equipment, Cosworth Engineering downsized their U.S. operations and started liquidating most of their machinery. This opportunity gave us not only the chance to pick up the machines that we needed at bargain prices, but also to hire Cosworth’s engine machinist, Magnus Ohlaker.

[pullquote]WE’VE GOT EVERYTHING TO BUILD A BARE BLOCK INTO A 1000+ WHP RACE ENGINE[/pullquote]Magnus had worked at Cosworth for over 20 years, building almost all of the Cosworth EJ25 engines and having a huge part in the Champ Car and Formula 1 engine programs. After adding a few different machines to our shop to supplement the acquisition from Cosworth, we’ve got everything to build a bare block into a 1000-plus-whp race engine. We also added a Superflow SF-750 flow bench and a Roehrig 5VS shock dyno to our arsenal of testing equipment. By the time you read this, our machine shop will have received an RMC V40 four-axis CNC engine machine center. This machine will give DSPORT the ability to automate most of the cylinder block boring and honing processes and other tedious machine work that makes engine building such a long and strung-out process.

The Real Test

With the ability to build the engines and the cars, we now shifted our focus on how to test them. For many, the dyno remains the ultimate test of power-producing potential. Unfortunately, we never had a place for a chassis dyno at our old office. Previously, for issues like the New Car Buyer’s Guide, we shuttled cars to and from the dyno facility, spending a lot of time in traffic and always at the mercy of the dyno facility and their techs’ schedules.

[pullquote]OUR (DYNOJET) DYNO PROVIDES US WITH RELIABLE AND REPEATABLE DYNO NUMBERS[/pullquote]After moving to the new facility, we immediately seized the opportunity to install an in-ground chassis dyno. Our tool of choice, a 2,000-wheel-horsepower, all-wheel-drive Dynojet 424xLC2 Linx dynamometer, provides us with reliable and repeatable dyno numbers at a moment’s notice. Having a dyno not only helps determine vehicle baselines, but also provides a convenient venue for testing and tuning. Our dyno has seen the 2013 Formula Drift machines of Daigo Saito, Robbie Nishida and Ryan Tuerck, 1000-plus-whp R35 GT-Rs and all of our D’GARAGE project vehicles.