By Rob Munro
Cool toys like motorcycles, ATVs, side x sides, snowmobiles, and watercraft are all considered a category of powersports. These can also be found hard at work on farms, golf courses, or to transport people into ruff and rugged terrain. Not only are they cool to ride, but they also have high-performance, high-revving engines that require repair. The good news for our industry is that when these toys break down, the cash register starts to ring! Most customers don’t mind opening their wallets to fix their toys, and they will even pay more if you can have it done by the weekend.
Shop owners are always looking for new ways to make more money, they have a large investment in equipment and tooling and need to see a return on that investment. I’m sure a lot of you have had jobs come through the door that you probably have referred to as “easy money”. I mean nothing is super easy, but there are certainly jobs that are considered gravy compared to others. Remember surfacing all those Ford 3.8 heads when they were still under warranty, then came all the Subaru heads… those jobs are what I considered easy money makers, powersport heads are no different.
Read this article with all images in the digital issue of Engine Professional magazine https://engineprofessional.com/2023EPQ4/#p=42
Since the majority of powersport engines are now a 4-stroke engine platform, the cylinder heads are not much different than what you are already seeing coming through the shop door. These small gas and diesel engines have OHV, SOHC, and DOHC designs using 2, 4, and sometimes 5 valves per cylinder. Valve stem diameters range from (4-6 MM), and most have a shim under bucket valvetrain. The machinists in the shop love working on these because they are clean and easy to lift. You don’t need a hoist to man handle them or have to spend much time chipping away layers of carbon out of the ports or on top of the valves. The best part is most shops are already tooled up to work on these pint-sized heads, and AERA has you covered with all the technical information needed to tackle the job.
Powersport users don’t spend much time idling around the track, they like to play hard! These engines are abused, and basic maintenance is always put off for another day. Pounded valves, stuck rings, lack of oil, over revving, water damage, and the “I put it away in the fall and it was running just fine!” scenarios are all an engine builders dream. The other bonus is that the pick-up truck that hauls these toys around is also racking up the miles and will require your services down the road.
If your shop is accustomed to doing high performance work, the powersport customers are an easy upsell for both bolt on parts and performance machine work. They are always looking for more power and they aren’t afraid to pay for it. I used to love dealing with all the motocross Dads who had to have $2000.00 in horsepower upgrades for their 10-year-old future champion… Who was I to argue, if you want it, we can provide it. For those of you that sell race fuel, get to know your powersports community! Race fuel is the easiest modification and bang for your buck you can do for these small engines, picking up 3 horsepower on an engine that only has 30 is a major kick in the pants upgrade!
Since most of you who read Engine Professional magazine know a little thing about how an engine works, you know the benefits of increased airflow. The more cubic feet per minute (CFM) of air that flows through the intake port and into the combustion chamber, the more horsepower the engine makes. Optimizing the ports in the cylinder head is another great upgrade for powersport heads, porting and a performance valve job can unleash hidden horsepower by increasing airflow. If you have porting already in your arsenal for automotive heads, these are no different.
A good example of this are snow bikes. Enthusiasts are taking modern day motocross bikes and converting them to run in deep snow by replacing the rear wheel with a track, and the front wheel with a ski. If you had said to me that I would be doing performance engine mods to a bike than ran on the snow 20 years ago, I would have called you crazy. Today it has become quite popular within the powersports community, and these folks pay big bucks for engine modifications, there is even an X-Games category for them now. Snow bikes are the perfect example for an engine that needs good reliable horsepower and benefits from cylinder head upgrades.
Another group of passionate riders who don’t mind spending money are the ones riding Harley-Davidson motorcycles. People just love how a Harley feels and sounds, plus when have you ever heard someone say they wish their Harley was slower! Companies like Goodson Tools & Supplies and Kibblewhite Precision Machining Inc. (KPMI) both have a large selection of hard parts and tooling for Harley-Davidson, as well as many of the other powersport engines that may come into the shop.
Years ago, we would have turned this kind of work away; it seemed counter-productive to change the machine set up to work on these kinds of jobs. With today’s tooling and fixturing, and the fact that AERA has all the rebuild specs, this kind of work is much easier. If you’ve been considering looking at a new market to enhance your business, this is one to consider.
Read this article with all images in the digital issue of Engine Professional magazine https://engineprofessional.com/2023EPQ4/#p=42