Tribute to Duke

[Joe R.]

Not to take anything away from all the great guys on the TDB that have helped me and others, but just wanted to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude to an especially knowledgable and helpful guy, Duke Williams.

Post after post, he does nothing short of give all of his heart and soul into helping us poor slobs with our engine troubles. I don't post all that often, but I personally have learned more about engine physics and dynamics from him than from any other source in my life, and I felt that I should express my personal appreciation to him. Patience? He is re-defining the term!

Anyone else sharing my thoughts, please express!

Thanks for the past and future help, Duke!

Joe Ryan

[Mike G.]

Duke is the man!

His advice and counsel are an integral part of my personal tech archives.

[Terry R.]

Re: Tribute to Duke

He's way over my head most of the time!!!!! but I don't ever miss a chance to learn something!!!!!!!!!

[Keith B.]

Re: Tribute to Duke

Boy, do I ever second that. Duke and Joe L have assisted me so much and I have learned and enjoyed working on my engine, etc. This forum and the NCRS is the best fraternity one can join. The cars are fun, the people you meet with them are GREAT !!!

[John D.]

Re: Duke is the man!

His advice and counsel are an integral part of my personal tech archives.

I couldn't agree more. I just wish this thread had another title.... there's been a lot of bad news lately

[Duke W.]

Re: Tribute to Duke

No sweat. I'm still very much alive and kickin' - feisty, irreverent, cynical, and iconoclastic as ever. It's in the Celtic blood!

Thanks for all the kind remarks. This is the only Web forum I participate in anymore. The rest I have quit.

The reason is that guys here are capable of learning. Most other places the same questions get asked again and again and after answering them at least a half dozen times I began to suggest "archives" and was met with a swarm of wrathe for not answering the question of a newbie.

I guess newbies have some kind of entitlement to have every question answered again. Did Congress enact a law requiring this?

As long as guys here are capable of learning, I'll probaby keep typing because I think it's doing some good, but if I've already answered/explained the issue several times I might say "archives".

This "how engines work" stuff is a no-brainer to me since I've understood it for over 30 years, but I endeavor to explain it in a way that a reasonably bright car guy can understand. But I'm fighting against a tidal wave. The world is full of hot rodders and "engine builders" who don't understand the science/engineering behind the IC engine even though the basics have been around for 100-300 years. It's an uphill battle fighting all the myths, misinformation, and marketing hype!

They see engines as one-dimensional - how much horsepower?... Idle? Part throttle? Fuel economy? Who cares? What the hell is "torque bandwidth"?

As I've added a suite of analysis tools to my PC I've been amazed at how well these vintage engines were engineered and built at a time when engineeering was mostly seat-of-the-pants experience - build and test. Analysis? They would have killed to have what I have on my PC. But then they had Duntov. Enough said!

Sure, some of these old cast iron lumps have problems - early 327 conn. rods and early big block valve springs, but there are usually later OE parts that fixed the problem. They are amazingly simple, powerful, durable, and fun to play with.

Modern engines are amazingly well engineered and built - and complicated! About all you can do is screw them up, so they're no fun to play with at all! It's the vintage engines that still offer a challenge to make them better without making them look or idle any different than the day they left the St. Louis plant!

Oh, and my apologies in advance for those times when I seem to get a little testy.

Duke

[Peter M.]

Re: Tribute to Duke

Duke,

Are there any books out there that you recommend that help advance one's knowledge of the science of motors, etc and are not geared towards the advanced (i.e. already knows this stuff) audience?

Thanks

Pete

[Don C.]

Re: Tribute to Duke

I too very rarely post here: however, I look for any responses Duke provides bacause I invariably learn something from them. Duke's posts here plus his willingness, actually his eagerness, to share engine design and build data in personal emails was a great assist to me in building what has turned out to be a very strong 327 for my '65.
Thanks Duke!

[Gary S.]

Re: Tribute to Duke

The Forum probably only shows about half the help he really gives to people. I know he has helped many via direct email. Hail Sir Duke!

Gary

[Scott S.]

Re: Duke is the man!

His advice and counsel are an integral part of my personal tech archives.

Same here....thanks Duke.

[Joe R.]

Re: Tribute to Duke

And sorry about the subjectline title, Duke. I re-read it after I posted andit did look a little like an obit.

[Paul Y.]

Re: Tribute to Duke

I agree. Duke is a gentleman genius and has given his time to email me direct with his motor paper and encourageing counsel. One upstanding duke of motors if you will. Paul

[Duke W.]

Re: Tribute to Duke

Duke,

Are there any books out there that you recommend that help advance one's knowledge of the science of motors, etc and are not geared towards the advanced (i.e. already knows this stuff) audience?

Thanks

Pete

I'm not sure what you mean by "advanced", but unless you've taken upper division/graduate university courses in IC engine design and already own the following books, they may be useful.

The late Prof. Charles F. Taylor, who for many years ran the MIT/Sloan Automotive Labs at MIT wrote a two volume 1300 page tome titled "The Internal Combustion Engine in Theory and Practice". This is the "bible" for the IC engine designer, and I've owned the set for over 30 years.

The first volume covers a lot of theory and may not be comprehensible to those who don't have a solid background in thermodynamics, but the second volume has a lot of practical design and design practice information that a knowledgeable enthusiast might be able to absorb. What I found most interesting about the second volume when I first read it is that a lot of the "hot rod tricks" we learned about in the fifites and sixties were actually developed during the thirties and forties when a lot of government research money went to MIT and other research labs to support the development of high performance aircraft engines.

I believe the most commonly used text book in current university IC engine courses if Prof. John Heywood's (also of MIT) "Internal Combustion Engine Fundamentals", which is 900+ pages in a single volume.

I don't have Heywood's book, and a few years ago I e-mailed him to ask if he planned to revise the latest 1988 edition. He replied one was in work, but there was no scheduled publication date, and I don't think a revised edition is out yet. My plan is to wait for a new edition and then probably buy it.

These volumes are available, new and used, at the usual sources like Amazon, and if you google IC engine textbook or something similar you will come up with a number of titles.

The SAE bookstore also carries these and other volumes along with thousands of SAE papers. I think they still offer Duntov's 1957 FI paper, and there are SAE papers on the LT1 and LS1 that provide a lot of insight into current design practice and CAE design tools.

Though all these books are relatively old, the basic guts of the IC engine haven't really changed for about 100 years. What has changed/improved is materials and the advent or sophisticated design analysis tools (computational fluid dynamics, structural analysis, and simulation) that allow much better detail design to reduce weight, improve output and fuel economy.

The big technological improvement in the last 50 years has been electronic engine control for both spark and compression ignition engines, which enabled a drastic reduction in engine emissions without sacrificing performance and fuel economy, which was the case prior to about 1980.

Duke

[Wayne K.]

Re: Tribute to Duke

Duke,

Are there any books out there that you recommend that help advance one's knowledge of the science of motors, etc and are not geared towards the advanced (i.e. already knows this stuff) audience?

Thanks

Pete

Duke,

With your knowledge and experience you could write your own book and it would stand up to any others out there. Thanks for taking the time to help us learn more about these cars.

Wayne

[Peter M.]

Re: Tribute to Duke

Duke - Wow what can I say other than thanks for taking the time to pen your response. I will certainly explore your suggestions. Thanks again

Pete