jack merkel engines

[TurboDiverArt]

Originally posted by Buicksx2
Hi Turbosix6,

I don't know of your buddys situation you had but I know in the past when the name Jack Merkel has come up on here that there was some confusion as there is a Jack Merkel in Long Island and the Jack Merkel in New Jersey.

This is just for info purposes only.

I was going to say the same thing. The Jack Merkel in Long Island is known for building some extremely fast motors. I know he's very well known in the Chevy community, not sure about his Ford experience.

 

[Turbosix6]

Im speaking of the Long Island Jack Merkel - sorry for any confusion.

 

[TurboDiverArt]

Originally posted by Turbosix6
Im speaking of the Long Island Jack Merkel - sorry for any confusion.

Believe me, very common mistake. The LI Jack Merkel has been known for years in the racing community.

 

[NJTurbo]

I find this thread very interesting as a few months back in GM High Tech Mag, Jack has quoted that he got more involved in the 109 Block as the buick community was seeking more out of the this engine. If this is the case where are all these 10sec engines

Keep in mind that Jack is in the back, he may be very good at building a 109 Block to take a 10sec run however as we all know there is allot of other things that contribute to going 10's that Jack is not a part of, Injectors, Turbo, engine tune ETC.


From the looks of Ron's it seems that Jack does all the machine work and Paul does the install and set-up, therefore Jack maybe building 109 blocks to handle 10sec passes, the real question i see is Ron's able to tune a 109 block to safely handle these runs. Just my 02 cents.

 

[TurboDiverArt]

Originally posted by njturbo
I find this thread very interesting as a few months back in GM High Tech Mag, Jack has quoted that he got more involved in the 109 Block as the buick community was seeking more out of the this engine. If this is the case where are all these 10sec engines

Keep in mind that Jack is in the back, he may be very good at building a 109 Block to take a 10sec run however as we all know there is allot of other things that contribute to going 10's that Jack is not a part of, Injectors, Turbo, engine tune ETC.


From the looks of Ron's it seems that Jack does all the machine work and Paul does the install and set-up, therefore Jack maybe building 109 blocks to handle 10sec passes, the real question i see is Ron's able to tune a 109 block to safely handle these runs. Just my 02 cents.

You said a mouthful. Just seems strange that from what I hear he can't keep engines on the shelf. If they are selling off the shelves so fast, where are they. Not race engines maybe?

I don’t know if Paul does the actual tune. I know he does all the installs and the “real” work. I think ron probably does the build up and selection of parts. I know his 109 block was able to go low 11’s before having some trouble. Then he went stage motor from quad air and picked up 9 tenths.

Travis, anything new on your project?

 

[NJTurbo]

Originally posted by TurboDiverArt
You said a mouthful. Just seems strange that from what I hear he can't keep engines on the shelf. If they are selling off the shelves so fast, where are they. Not race engines maybe?

I don’t know if Paul does the actual tune. I know he does all the installs and the “real” work. I think ron probably does the build up and selection of parts. I know his 109 block was able to go low 11’s before having some trouble. Then he went stage motor from quad air and picked up 9 tenths.

Travis, anything new on your project?

The latest addition to my project was a CASV1 which i bought off a board member, that is the only way i would buy (CAS) stuff. I am waiting on my cam and lifter set-up from weber which should be a few weeks. Once i get the cam and lifter set-up it is going to the machine shop. Therfore i am going to run the 109 block this year as i do not see the S2 getting done as soon as I would like, and i really want to get some racing in this year. I just put a set of 50LBS injectors in my 109block and a Joe Lubrant 110 chip I am just out to have some fun this year with the stocker and learn some more.

 

[TurboDiverArt]

Originally posted by njturbo
The latest addition to my project was a CASV1 which i bought off a board member, that is the only way i would buy (CAS) stuff. I am waiting on my cam and lifter set-up from weber which should be a few weeks. Once i get the cam and lifter set-up it is going to the machine shop. Therfore i am going to run the 109 block this year as i do not see the S2 getting done as soon as I would like, and i really want to get some racing in this year. I just put a set of 50LBS injectors in my 109block and a Joe Lubrant 110 chip I am just out to have some fun this year with the stocker and learn some more.

Good plan. I can tell you from experience, going from 10's (in the Camaro race car I use to have) to 9's in the GN, it's a big difference. When Richie drove my car in Bristol he commented that there's a big difference between 10.7@129 and 10.2 @135. Things happen exponentially faster the deeper you go below 11 seconds.

Take your time with it, it's just beginning!

 

[Buicksx2]

Originally posted by TurboDiverArt
When Richie drove my car in Bristol he commented that there's a big difference between 10.7@129 and 10.2 @135. Things happen exponentially faster the deeper you go below 11 seconds.

>>>> That's why they put walls there for don't they?? Hey fArtie next time tell me you took the power steering out of it will ya....lol.

"Be thankful I had fast reflexes" (Jeff Spicoli)

 

[Wht87T]

Its intresting why Ron had problems getting his 109 block into the tens. I think the problem there was man and not machine. I'm still on the stock rotating assembly. I allready had the right turbo and converter, it was the heads that got me where I am now. Hopefully with a twist of the boost controller I should be able to make a high 10sec pass.

 

[Buicksx2]

I wish I had better heads like Champions on my wife's car other than the stockers with a 3 angle valve job, TA61 and stock IC, 10" conv and a Testa chip I am sure I coulda hit a 10. Only 4 tenths away from there now, but then again that car never ceases to amaze me.

 

[Wht87T]

Rich

Best money I ever spent on the buick. I cut .4 and picked up 5mph with 5psi less boost. Worth every penney.

 

[JRSGN]

Its intresting why Ron had problems getting his 109 block into the tens. I think the problem there was man and not machine.

The only one that could answer this is Ron. I hope he will post here to Set it Straight...

Hello Ron you out there?????

 

[NJTurbo]

Originally posted by JRSGN
The only one that could answer this is Ron. I hope he will post here to Set it Straight...

Hello Ron you out there?????

Don't hold your breath.

 

[86underboost]

When we put an engine in a car we fill all the installation requirements and give it a basic "break in" tune. This consists of conservative boost, tps & iac set, fp adj if they are needed. That's pretty much how we ship em out. It's up to the customer to give any tuning after that, but we're always more than happy to steer ya the right way. I personally invite anyone to come down and see what we do. I'll give ya the "grand tour" of our shop . I've been here at Ron's for about two years now, and you'd be suprised how many people just drive their TRs around town. Probably about 90% of the cars are either weekend cruisers or daily drivers. Most of the rebuilds are stock block or billet mains only. Only a few (seems the more recent ones) have been girdled-full rollered beasts. Don't get me wrong, people do check in with their times etc, and if they care to share with the TR community i'm sure they will. Also, don't forget, E-town just opened up, so all those winter builds will come out to play soon.
As far as life at the shop is concerned, Paul is probably one of the easiest guys to work with. He tries to help ya out any way he can. I look at him more as a friend as opposed to my "boss". He's also very willing to work with all of our customers. We try to make an engine job as painless as possible. As far as time is concerned, i think we take more time painting and cleaning and prepping all the parts than we do putting it all together. I mean, who wants a nice fresh engine that looks like a heap of you know what?
Getting to the whole "i'm going 10's on my original stock engine" topic, anyone who knows about engines shouldn't have to even ask why you should build your bottom end. Sure people have gone 10's on never opened up engines. But then again, there have also been people that ran their first 12.5 and spun a bearing. Engines are wierd sometimes. Sometimes straight up luck comes into play. A properly tuned engine is key, but the more boost you run and the faster you go, the more that bottom end has to put up with. Kinda like the old saying "your days are numbered."
Moral of the story, to each his own. Some people do it one way, others do it another. Some people are happy running what they run, others always want faster. But hey, i just wrench over here...i'll leave the politics to the big guys.

There's my 2 cents

p.s. hey jon, how's the car runnin?? havn't seen ya since ya broke that rocker button

 

[Buicksx2]

Originally posted by 86underboost
p.s. hey jon, how's the car runnin?? havn't seen ya since ya broke that rocker button

>>> Yeah that broken rocker button sure set off a flurry of posts on here and was dubbed a "Sad Ordeal" by your bosses boss Mike. In fact that was probably the last time your bosses boss posted here. Glad he was able to pull John out of it at a reasonable cost.

It's good to see John has worked past that troubled period in his TR life and has his car running strong now and on to bigger and better things.

 

[RCA/MERKENG#2]

First of all, just to confirm there are 2 Jack Merkel's one in Long Island and one in New Jersey. At times they could get mixed up very easy.

Second, It is just my opinion but I find it hard for people to make comments like ( wht87t ) " I would not trust a merkel engine lol."
When like you said your engine is all original stock internals!!
You never had him do engine work and as far as I know you never even spoke to the man. There are alot of people out there that have had work done but you will never hear me or see me write anything bad about anyone. I believe you do not throw stones in glass houses.

PS. By the way is ( WHT87T ) the same person who ran out of gas on the parkway or had a blown fuse and I myself went and brought you gas and fuses on the GARDEN STATE PKY in NJ to help you out or am I wrong. That seems to be a pretty nice thing to do to help a fellow Buick owner out on MY TIME!!! without getting paid. Would you still Trust me to do that again??

NJTURBO & TURBODIVER, I only have one question what did I do to either of you to be on the one side of negative comments????
I think you have issues with certain people and once again you do not realize I am tied to the shop 110% and it involves me..

I know this will somehow become an open forum of comments now but just think about who you direct your comments to Jack Merkel has never done engine work for anyone who has a comment here, so tossing negative digs is not fair..

 

[NJTurbo]

NJTURBO & TURBODIVER, I only have one question what did I do to either of you to be on the one side of negative comments????
I think you have issues with certain people and once again you do not realize I am tied to the shop 110% and it involves me..

Paul or Ron whoever this is. I looked at thread and really have not seen any negative statements that i made. I think if you want to be in Turbo Buick world it would be nice for you to post topics and help us were you can. This would only grow your business. It really seems that we just had some questions and for 3 pages have not got an answer from real track data. As far as me having a problem with you or Jack, I have spoken to Jack in great length on the phone about my S2 project and the man knows his stuff when it comes to the internals. I have even spoke to you a few times, and you were also a big factor on me even going S2 remember Paul the Service Director from DiFeo Ford, not to mention you live a hip-hop away from me. However there are allot of us in NJ and it would be nice to see you more involved on and off the board. I cannot tell you how to run your business or your life just my 2cents.

Again the question was do you guys have any 109 blocks running in the 10's

 

[RCA/MERKENG#2]

Sorry one small detail that I forgot on my last post.

For those who need to know a Jack Merkel engine ( 109 block )
had run 10's @ 126or so mph numerous times in New Jersey. That driver of the car was also the owner of this Jack Merkel 109 block engine installed at Rons Auto and his name is
Ron Joseph.

 

[Gr82baGN]

To Wht87T and the rest of you idiots that have joined the negative band wagon. You are a VERY VERY VERY small minority. A speck on my ass if you will. Ron and company are about as top notch a crew as you can get. The more I read on this thread the more pissed off I get. Ron, Paul and the whole crew do great quality work, they spend a lot, I repeate A LOT of their own time working with customers to assure they the best work done to their cars, they truly are a class act. Everyone I know that goes into that shop feels the same way. This I know from personal experience. I believe that people who have the ability to pass such bull **** comments probably get towed a lot more than they wish to admit. Just my 2 cents.

 

[JRSGN]

Gr82BaGN,

Grow Up...Calling People names Will just get a Thread locked.
I can't speak for anyone else ,But my Q was answered..

Also Yes, They do GREAT Work, Paul & Staff are Tremendous.
I'm Glad Someone Finally Came to say so..

Jim