Osborne here. It is interesting to see all the interest in my engine. I am more than willing to share what I know even though my crew chief (Dad) says I help others too much. I have realized my driving is on the downhill slope after doing this for 13 years or more. Being an engineer I do like to tinker but don’t have the patience of say Ranger and just prefer things to work. So here is the story of my engine.
In September of ’08 I had an engine built by an up and coming SE30 engine building shop. This shop had done three or four before me and many more since. With the investment in this new engine I was not going to let a few extra $$ be the limiting factor. So I did some things that some of the others did not seem to do. I had the cam reground at Delta Camshaft back to factory specs ($65). I installed a new AFM ($350). Replaced FPR, TPS, CPS, CTS, Coil, Plugs, Wires, Cleaned injectors, and installed new fuel pump. I run a 173 ECU that has no sign of being opened. Basically everything in the system was new. I contribute most of the smoothness of my dyno curve to the AFM. I have had the car on the dyno for tuning and found that adjusting the AFM does not do as much as you would hope. I tried different ECU’s with no real difference.
The other systems of the engine are in top shape too. Cooling system fresh with 176F thermostat and temp are a rock solid 176-180 as measured in the T-stat housing. I run a stock new oil cooler and at nationals ran 10W30 synthetic. Oil temps run 205F rock solid as measured at the filter with a sandwich plate. I use Castrol ATF in the transmission and Redline 75W90 NS in the diff. The diff has had the clutches replaced some time along the route. Oh and I have a crank scraper.
Some of these things were done prior to the build in Sept ’08 trying to salvage my junkyard motor. In any event by the time the engine was built this was all done. The only thing done since then is replace the O2 sensor every season. Oh, and I typically run Top tier 89 OCT fuel.
I have gobbled up every SE30 dyno curve ever posted. My car is not the top of the field. Even excluding some obvious outliers it is still a strong engine but not the top. At Nationals My dyno run was on a dry setup with is 4 lbs per wheel lighter then my wet setup. Because of the changing conditions at nationals I don’t think we got a good representation of what some of the other engines could do. My car was on the dyno back in July and of the three we dynoed I was the strongest but only by 1 hp and 1 ft-lb. I think I made a believer out of changing of the O2 sensor as I handed out some old ones to competitors that only had one season on them and they said they could tell a difference from the one they had with unknown mileage.
Well, that is my story. The whole thing is a system and I am very pleased with the engine after 3 ½ seasons averaging 5 events a season. Let me know if you want any more information.
