While working with Jon Richardson and Ron Liddell on the previous storyabout the daily lives of engine builders and tuners, we were givenamazing access to Richard Childress Racing's engine shops. Housed inthree buildings (Production, R&D, and a dedicated CNC machining center),RCR's engine program is one of the most technologically advanced in thebusiness. There were a few things the people at RCR wanted to keep tothemselves in the name of competitive secrecy, but the rest we give toyou in this photographic tour of the RCR engine department.
RCR's engine building department just moved into its new facility at theend of 2004. It has been designed to provide its occupants all the toolsnecessary to build the best engines possible. | 
After a race, each team delivers its race engine to the teardown roomwhere it is completely disassembled and inspected. Since RCR supports 10teams with engines in the Cup, Busch, and Truck series, that's a lot ofequipment every week. | 
Even if there haven't been any problems with the engine, every piece isthoroughly inspected as it comes off the engine. Many people thinkengine disassembly is an entry-level job, but RCR depends on itsteardown team to help spot potential problem areas. |
All the parts that can potentially be re-used on the rebuild are cleanedand prepped for the engine builder. | 
New blocks require over 35 man-hours before they are capable of meetingRCR's expectations. New blocks are never raced. They either serve dutyas a dyno mule or a test engine to make sure it can hold up before it istrusted as a race block. | 
RCR has a separate facility just for CNC machining processes. Known asthe "Okuma Center," the facility produces just about everything you canimagine. Engineers have even used the machines to produce specialone-off pistons. |
The Chevy SB2 heads are good for a dozen or more races before they arecycled out. They also require a lot of attention between races. Thecylinder head department alone employs 11 people. | 
Literally every piece that is part of the engine package is eitherfabricated or modified in some way by somebody at RCR. Here, new hosesare cut to size, and oil squirters are assembled in the valve coversthat RCR has custom cast just for its use. | 
Each engine builder has his own assembly bay that is surrounded byworkbenches. Everything that comes into this room has already beencleaned (although the builders clean every part yet again) to minimizecontaminants in the room that might find their way inside the engine. |
Engine builder Greg Gunnell installs a camshaft in a nearly complete SB2engine. | 
RCR has over 100 engines built and in its rotation for racing, testing,and backups. As you might expect, they are everywhere you turn. Theseready-for-action engines are lined against a wall near the dyno cells. | 
The engine shop also has its own chassis dyno to allow it to test theentire driveline. The chassis is dedicated to this dyno and outfittedwith an array of diagnostic equipment that allows it to trackinformation a standard engine dyno cannot. |
This isn't your ordinary dyno cell. Although every engine is broken inand checked for power on a dyno before it leaves the shop, this Dyno-Simis a special tool reserved for R&D. It is computer controlled and cansimulate an entire race, including practice, qualifying, and even pitstops. It is used to test how new parts will act under racing conditionswithout risking a team's performance in a real race. Interestingly, thisdyno uses electrical resistors instead of water to create drag on theengine. It produces so much electricity during a test session--which canlast up to four hours or more--that RCR actually sells electricity backto the local power company. | | |