Painful Ending For C.A.R.S. Engines
It's bad enough that the government is bankrolling a "cash for clunkers" program that not only won't help the environment but is just an expensive bandaid that won't help OEM car sales down the stretch. Now we come to find out that there is a specific process for disposing not just the vehicles this program collects but catastrophically disabling the engines in those automobiles. What does it mean to me and you? Fewer good engines in recycling yards across the country for engine swaps. It's blasphemy! Here's a look at the procedure for killing a perfectly good engine.
Engine Disablement Procedures For The C.A.R.S. Program
This Procedure Is Not To Be Used By The Vehicle Owner
Perform the following procedure to disable the vehicle engine:
1. Obtain solution of 40% sodium silicate/60% water. (The sodium silicate (SiO2/Na2O) must have a weight ratio of 3.0 or greater.)
2. Drain engine oil for environmentally appropriate disposal.
3. Install the oil drain plug.
4. Since the procedure is intended to render the engine inoperative, drive or move the vehicle to the desired area for disablement.
5. Pour enough solution in the engine through the oil fill for the oil pump to circulate the solution throughout the engine. Start by adding 2 quarts of the solution, which should be sufficient in most cases. CAUTION: Wear goggles and gloves. Appropriate protective clothing should be worn to prevent silicate solution from coming into contact with the skin.
6. Replace the oil fill cap.
7. Start the engine.
8. Run engine at approximately 2,000 rpm (for safety reasons do not operate at high rpm) until the engine stops. (Typically the engine will operate for 3 to 7 minutes. As the solution starts to affect engine operation, the operator will have to apply more throttle to keep the engine at 2,000 rpm.)
9. Allow the engine to cool for at least 1 hour.
10. With the battery at full charge or with auxiliary power to provide the power of a fully charged battery, attempt to start the engine.
11. If the engine will not operate at idle, the procedure is complete.
12. If the engine will operate at idle, repeat steps 7 through 11 until the engine will no longer idle.
13. Attach a label to the engine that legibly states the following: This engine is from a vehicle that is part of the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS). It has significant internal damage caused by operating the engine with a sodium silicate solution (liquid glass) instead of oil.
14. File this document in the file for the new vehicle purchase.
Sly Stallone's New Movie Features Custom Trucks
West Coast Customs was charged with building three trucks for a new Stallone picture and the deadline was three weeks. One of the trucks, a '55 Ford F-100 received a ground-up restoration for Stallone himself, so the amount of work needed was pretty drastic for such a short time frame. WCC CEO Ryan Friedlinghaus tapped Wyotech graduates to help out with the project because he knew they had the talent to work with his regular crew and pull off the job. WCC already employs Wyotech graduates so the pairing was easy.
The WyoTech-Laramie campus carefully screened the students designated to graduate with top honors in the Collision Refinishing and Street Rod and Custom Fabrication programs. Owen Lubenow, Rusty McClintock, and Matt Myers were the students chosen by the faculty based on the quality of their work, their campus and community involvement as well as their ability to represent the WyoTech brand. According to Owen Lubenow, "I was speechless when I heard I was chosen and pretty excited that I had the opportunity."
According to Friedlinghaus, "Rusty, Owen, and Matt really stepped up as part of the West Coast Customs team and got the job done." In addition to the metal fabrication work, the former students helped install a 347ci Ford engine from ATK Engines, outfitted with an Edelbrock Total Power Package, into Stallone's personal truck for an impressive 428.5 hp and 411 lb-ft of torque.