From: "Doug Nelson" <nelson@camalott.com>
Subject: RE: Vmax blueprinting

TIMOTHY AVERY WROTE: Can somebody please explain the value of blueprinting
an engine.
Hey Timothy, if you have no need to go past stock specifications on your max
then you might be? wasting your time and hard earned money. On the other
hand lets gain a little knowledge on exactly what a balanced and blue
printed engine is and how it benefits the customer. The following are areas
blue printed, and their benefits to you and your engine.
1)  The max transmissions are inherently misalighned and sloppy. This will
cause the transmission to prematurely wear, or it will start hanging up
between shifts. You will have excessive metal fragments on you oil drain
magnetic plug. This is what should be done.
	a. The first gear wheel is most always sloppy from factory. After hard
riding or excessive shifts the gear becomes worn and shaft OD compared to
the gear ID becomes to great and the gear starts to wobble. What is done is
I install a small steel shim between the large first gear wheel and shaft or
bearing this to bring the side play to a more precise clearance. This will
add life and stability to the 1st gear.
	b. The other gears will be shimmed on their shafts, this to align the gears
on each shaft to its counter gear. This will add life to the transmission
and add stability among the gears with less wear due to a more precise
alignment.
	c. The aft left drive shaft pinion gears are checked to ensure they are
properly shimmed. If they come out of alignment the pinion gears will wear
excessively and possibly cause pinion gear clunking noise, a load wine noise
et, pinion gear lock up.
The crank is blue printed by the following
	a. Measure the crank journals for round out. A crank main and rod journals
if out of round will cause premature wear of the bearings possibly causing a
bearing to be spun within the case.
	b. The crank is checked to ensure it is within warp limits from end to end.
A crank that is warped out of specifications will cause engine vibration,
premature bearing failure, other engine related problems.
	c. The crank is magnafluxed to ensure their are no stress cracks, metal
fatigue etc. If these deficiencies are not found the crank will break
causing serious collateral damage.
	d. The crank, rods, pistons are balanced. This will extend the life of the
bearings due to less vibration. The engine will run smoother, quieter  due
to this process.
The pistons are checked for the following
	a. The pistons are checked to ensure they are not ovaled out of
specification. Ovaled pistons will cause excessive piston blow by, excessive
cylinder wall wear, improper ring seat.
	b. The piston to cylinder clearance is checked. If the piston to cylinder
clearance is excessive you will have excessive piston blow by, low
compression, loss of performance, reduction in gas mileage, excessive case
pressure causing oil to be blown through the case vents out onto the engine
or in the carburetor air box which will cause engine smoke under heavy
loads.
The piston ring end gap is checked
	a. If the piston ring end gap is to close or to large, the rings will could
lock up , stick et if to close. If they have to much end gap this could
cause loss of compression, performance, gas mileage loss, exhaust smoke.
The heads are checked to ensure
	a. The heads are checked to ensure they are not warped, have surface cracks
ext. All of these things will cause your head gasket not to seat properly
possibly blowing a head gasket. Head surface, valve seat cracks will cause
loss of performance, compression problems, water in case (oil). Engine over
heating.
The valve seats are checked on older engine
	a. You will check to ensure the valve to valve stem clearance is not
excessive. If it is to much the valves will wear at a faster rate, the
valves will not be seating correctly during operation. A valve might
possibly break  because of excessive valve movement, causing serious engine
damage.
	b. The valves are magnafluxed. This will make sure you have no hairline
cracks, and to make sure the integrity of the valves are good. Valves can
break causing serious engine damage.

These are just the major things that are checked in a good balance and blue
print. You should get a detailed list giving you these measurements and
dimension to help aid you in any future engine related modifications, or
rebuilds. You have to make sure before you get this done that you get a
written statement guaranteeing these things will be checked, this to prevent
any confusions or problems when you pick up your engine with questions in
mind. Hope this helped you out, take care and e-mail me soon. Doug Nelson