DIRTY STUFF

LET'S talk about plates. No, not the plates you smash into the restaurant fireplace when you see the size of the bill! And not the steel connecting plates that lock railway lines together, either – those are fish plates (although how they got that name when trains don't travel under the sea is one of life's great mysteries).

- WILLIAM PORKER

No, these are torque plates - thick pieces of steel that are drilled and shaped to match the top face of cylinder blocks. With these perfectly flat plates in place and the retaining bolts tightened down to cylinder head locking tensions, a boring bar can go to work to accurately machine the desired bore size for your cylinders. The torque plate works by simulating the distortion that the gasket and head applies to the shape of the cylinder bores, replicating the working conditions the block will endure when the engine is together and firing. This way, you can hone the pre-distorted bores so that when your mill is all buttoned up, piston and ring blow-by will be minimised while power will be maximised.

Legendary US drag racer Henry ‘Smokey’ Yunick took this block stressing prior to machining even further, running hot water through the coolant passages while his blocks were being bored. Smart man, that Henry.