By Rob Munro
Rolling into 2025, AERA’s Prosis Pro Engine Specification Software is now loaded with over 15,000 engines. As the leader in supplying technical engine specifications and information, our plan is to add 1,000 new engine listings to Prosis Pro each year. When you consider that Prosis Pro has engines listed for cars, trucks, marine, powersport, tractor, stationary, industrial, etc. and is used by members worldwide, there are a lot of engines to choose from.
I’ll bet you’re asking yourself, where are we going to find information for all those engines? I used to ask myself the same thing, it wasn’t until I started working for AERA that I realized just how many different models of engines are out there, and how strong AERA’s resources are for gathering that much information. All our engine listings in Prosis start with information from an original equipment (OE) service manual. Some of them we find online, but most of our information comes from either manuals that we purchase, or industry software that we subscribe to.
Read this article with all images in the digital issue of Engine Professional magazine https://engineprofessional.com/2025EPQ1/#p=70
Now, just because we paid to purchase a manual, doesn’t mean that all the information we need is in there, trust me, this can be frustrating… Important specifications like valve stem heights, main housing bores, flywheel step or cup specs, block deck heights, etc. are rarely published by the manufacturer. This is why it is crucial for shops to take measurements upon engine disassembly, especially on some of the newer engine platforms.
For those times that there isn’t a published specification, we rely on our members to help provide that information to us in what we refer to as a reported spec. When you see the word “Reported” next to a specification in Prosis Pro, that means it came from another source other than OE and that we have verified that spec at least three times from other members or other sources. We also take calls where members have reported a different spec than what is listed from the OE. Once we get three or more of these calls on one engine, we will place the reported spec in Prosis (see Figure 1 on page 70). There are times, especially for newer engines, where we don’t have a published or reported spec yet. We can’t emphasize enough to measure before you machine and save yourself from a headache later on.
With the complexity of today’s engines, we are starting to take more calls on engine diagnostic related issues. For this reason, AERA has invested in more engine diagnostic software, as well as started to provide training on such issues.
If you attended the 2024 EPIC Conference at the PRI Show in December, Chris Hamann of Lakeland Auto & Marine did a session on identifying engine mechanical failures using electronic methods. This presentation was a real eye-opener on just how much time you can save when you have the right tools and information.
As Prosis Pro users, if you have any questions related to engine diagnostics, simply go to the “Specification Request” tab at the top right of Prosis Pro and let us know how we can help. (See Figure 2A.)
Have you had time to play yet with the recently added “Advance Search” button in Prosis? This feature is one of my favorites when I can’t find what engine I’m looking for and don’t have any casting number information to go on. Let’s say, for example, you get in a crankshaft and a pair of cylinder heads, and you have no idea what they fit. Try clicking the red “Search By Component & Size” button in the advanced search section of the program, this will open several more boxes for you to fill out. (See Figure 2B.)
Once you’ve entered in a few simple measurements, click the red “Search” button to see what Prosis finds for results. If you want to narrow the search down further, you can go back up to the “Search By Component & Size” section and enter in more information. This new feature comes in handy, especially if your customer didn’t provide any good information on what engine it is you are working on.
On the example in Figure 3 above, I entered “All” in the box that says “Make”, “Crankshaft” in the “Select Section” box, and “Main Journal Diameter” in the “Select Description” box. I then typed in 2.475″ in the “Measurement” box and clicked “Search” which produced 61 results and 7 pages of information.
To narrow the search further, I measured the rod journal diameter of the crankshaft and entered 1.967″ into Prosis. This narrowed the search down to 21 results and 3 pages of information. (See Figure 4 below.)
The last search I did to pinpoint what engine I have was I measured a head thickness of 5.437″ on one of the cylinder heads and entered that information into Prosis. As you can see in Figure 5 above, now Prosis has narrowed my search down to 5 results and the engine in this example is a Nissan 3.0-liter VG30 engine.
For more tips and tricks using Prosis Pro, send us a message through the specification request tab, give us a call on the tech line at 888-324-2372, or check out our Prosis playlist on YouTube: @AERAEngineBuildersAssociation/playlists.
AERA Membership and Prosis Pro Engine Specification Software are tools that every shop should have at their fingertips. Don’t spend your valuable time looking up engine information when you could be on the shop floor making money. For more information on how to subscribe, go to ProsisPro.com.
Read this article with all images in the digital issue of Engine Professional magazine https://engineprofessional.com/2025EPQ1/#p=70