altoncustomtech

Yeah they're big, but believe it or not they're still small compared to some of the engines that exist. Thank You, I thought any one who's a gear head or who generally likes to see something different would enjoy it. Work is getting in the way of me getting the pics.

LOL, that's not a bad idea. Though it might be kinda hard to get it setup cuz unless we're doing an overhaul the only time we have it apart like that is when there's something wrong. They're not like a smallblock, you don't take it apart unless you really have to. In the 5th picture you can see the big beam with the yellow and black stripes on it. That's our 5 ton hoist. Every part from the heads, to the piston & con rod, to the liner have to be lifted off and out with that hoist. Not exactly something that can be done very quickly or easily. A couple of interesting notes though, after we reinstall the piston and rod and bolt the cap back onto the rod we actually use the hoist to lift on the piston to bump check the clearance of the bearing. Also, there are TEN 1.75" studs that hold each head onto the block. Each one has to be torqued to 990ft. lbs. for proper torque spec. Not exactly friendly to maintenance. We do use an air powered torque tool called a RAD tool to torque them, but it takes quite awhile as the heads have to be torqued down in steps. By the time you get done hefting that 40lb. tool over and over again you're pretty well worn completely out. They're torqued down in 6 steps, then it may take another 4-6 rounds at 990ft.lbs. before they're fully torqued and the nut no longer spins more than 1/8 turn.

Well, the turbine can do 0-60psi of differential in about 5, depending on pipeline conditions. The recips take alot longer to get up to speed, but they can haul it like no other. Think of it like this, the turbine is more like a regular race car, it can wind up and blow down the track (pipe) in a hurry. The recips are kinda like those BIG dump trucks you see at coal mines with the 13ft tall tires, they're far from the fastest things in the world but little can stand in their way. :lol2: :lol2: :lol2:

LOL, you are aware that technically speaking, 2700HP at 300RPM is 42,768ft. lbs. of torque? How's that for POWER?!?!!? It can be!! It's always fun when we have to change a liner out to climb down into the block, stand on the crankshaft, and clean where the liner O-Rings seal and clean the intake and exhaust ports. Only a little...

For those who may be interested. Thought I'd share a few pics of the engines we have where I work. I work for a Natural Gas Pipeline. We have a 30" pipeline that runs from Portland, TN all the way up to Joliet, IL. It goes through several compressor stations where the engines turn compressors to move the gas north or south in the pipeline depending on where it's needed. The big piston driven engines are called Recips, short for Reciprocating engines. They are 2700HP Clark TLA-8's, turbo charged 2 cycles. They run at a mere 300RPM, however with the amount of steel thats flying in these things you wouldn't want them to run any faster. The engines are about 34,500 cubic inches displacement. Yes, that's right, THIRTY FOUR THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED cubic inches. That's 8 cylinders at a 17" bore and 19" of stroke, 34,483.48cuin. to be precise. The other engine is our 4,000+ HP Solar Centaur 40 Turbine. Much like a jet engine it spins up and runs like mad, lol! 15,000 RPM is it's sweet spot believe it or not. I'll post up a few quick pictures and when I get time I'll post up some pictures of the connecting rods, pistons, rings, etc. and when I can I'll get pictures from the other stations of their engines. First up the turbine. Not much to see except that it doesn't look very big at all for 4,000HP. Now, the Clarks. We have 3 of the TLA-8's at this location. First a couple to give a general idea as to the size. A shot here of the top of the #1 unit looking out over at the #2 and #3 units. Here's a look at the compressor cylinders themselves. Natural gas enters through the suction pulsation bottle on the top, gets compressed in the double acting compressor cylinders and is discharged through the bottom into a discharge pulsation bottle under the floor grates. This shot is of the compressor cylinders on Unit #2 from the top of #1. Last but not least, a shot across the top of Unit #1 at the heads. If you notice the push rods, rockers and fuel valves... Yes, I said this is a two cycle engine. The fuel, which is natural gas, is directly injected into the cylinders. That's all for now, I'll post more pics up soon of the cylinder liners, con rods, pistons, and more here very soon.

Well, it's not exactly rocket science or any kind of absolute. It has to do with your listening habits, the enclosure and it's tuning, and how you set your gains. If the enclosure is built and tuned correctly, assuming it's ported, AND you set your gains conservatively, you shouldn't have any problems as long as you listen for stress from them while playing them, especially when you get happy with the volume knob, otherwise you should be fine. There's no definite answer. I've seen a 100watt rated speaker take a wall socket for over 15 minutes without giving up. I've also seen a sub rated for 900wrms blown with a 250wrms amp. It all depends on application and execution.

From my experience, "A" will be the proper length dimension, due to the fact the air must travel around a bend equal to the rest of the port width it adds to the total length. Or, at least that's how I've been doing and figuring them for years, but I could have been wrong all this time.

We will bring this model to production, we have to complete testing to see if it is this version. The original did not stand up to Marks abuse testing. 4k bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh *POOF* 4k??? Abuse testing??? That's not abuse testing, that's being lined up at the firing line, or putting the noose around your neck at the gallows. :lol2: Damn that's a mean test, hope this prototype is holding up better! I'll definitely be recommending these to everyone around here!!!

Happy B-Day dude!

Hey, you're not going to hear any laughter from me on the minivan thing. I'm real glad you're liking the Fi sub, you'll love it even more once it's loosened up some more. Had a friend that works at the local gas station tell me yesterday that when my wife pulled into it the other day some guy kinda freaked out and said "WOW, that's a rockin' soccer mom." In reference to her rattling a few things in the store from her 1998 Chevy Venture minivan. Aside from it's capability to rattle a few things outside of it, it's a very clean sounding vehicle and I agree the cabin gain lends itself nicely to being easily energized. Plus it is kinda fun to be driving through a parking lot with the windows up and watching people looking around for the vehicle responsible but not putting a second thought on the minivan, lol.

Too many DeeBeez?? Looks like the spacer between the bottom bolt leg of the alt and the bracket was too narrow which made the bolt pull on the front of that bracket and finally snapped it. In order for it to not happen again that alt and spacer need to have VERY little play inside the bracket so it doesn't pull on the tabs.

If it weren't for the 155mph part (though with today's available mods it might be possible) I would recommend something completely different, like a retired Ambulance??

No kiddin, I THOROUGHLY inspected my Q's when I got them because the boxes were beat up pretty good. They both turned out fine though. I know once you get your second one you'll love them!!

You're going to have to do some troubleshooting. The problem could be caused by several things. You've burnt a coil, an amp is failing, the enclosure may have failed, there's a power problem with an amp. There's literally a couple dozen possible problems. You'll have to start at one point and start checking problems. Wires first, then make sure both amps have power without protection lights, then check the enclosure, take a DMM and test the coils on the subs, play a tone and test the voltage coming out of the terminals on both amps or take it back to where you had it installed and have them check it out if you don't think you can properly troubleshoot the system.

Happy Birthday dude!

Being that I own a set of the PG's myself, they are hard to beat for good overall sound and price. Very good bang for your buck set. ID CTX's are a great component set at well, though priced a hair above the $150 budget you mentioned. Rears with a good set of components up front won't be necessary in almost any case. You've got the right ideas, which ever set you end up going with I think you'll be happy with the end results, perhaps even surprised. You're on the right path, continue.

I don't care who ya are, that's funny right there. :lol2:

Woohoo, made the deposit this morning. Sis will be rockin' her DCON in no time!! Thanks again Andrew!!!

I like it. I can't imagine that there will be any adverse affect on the sound. That's some ingenuitive thinking on that port, can't wait to see the results!

You'd have to take a tape measure and measure the length of the port walls that go into the box. With those measurements we can tell you what it's tuned to.

Assuming 3/4" construction, it looks like it's 4.21 cuft gross. Which doesn't account for the space the port takes up, but all in all the box sounds like a decent match, though its impossible to say for sure without knowing the port length and tuning.

Nevermind, another false alarm.... but chop says that Samantha and the baby are doing very well so that's good to hear!!

That looks like two subs in an IB configuration, correct? I agree with everyone else, bracing isn't difficult to do, uses very little room inside the enclosure which isn't hard to account for anyway, and just plain won't hurt anything to have in there anyway.

Welcome to the Forum!! Once you go ported, you'll likely never go back to sealed. If you search around the site you'll find LOTS of good info on building ported enclosures. I believe there's a thread somewhere on the number of cuts and spacing required for a certain port radius which will be handy to know. Also understand that producing a kerf that works will be easiest with a table saw. It can be done without one I'm sure, but I wouldn't want to try it. If you're looking to build your first ported enclosure you might go ahead and try a simple slot ported enclosure first to try it out. I dunno why those guys wouldn't like a wood enclosure, they're so much cheaper, faster, and easier to build than a full out fiberglass one, but to each his own. If you need help with design and tuning there's plenty of us here and available to help with that as well.

The crossfire will be just fine on it. Like anything else, watch your gain setting and listen carefully to be sure you're not clipping the signal. The Hifonics amp is a good step better than the Power Acoustik, but as Andrew mentioned, the Audioque 1200 would be a great amp to get for it. If you can find a used Sundown SAZ-1000 or SAE-1200 would be great as well. There's ALOT of call for amps in that power range, keep looking around the forum, you'll find the names that you can easily trust.