What do you think of these pictures?

[dirttrackfan1984-99]

I took these thermal/infrared images of an engine recently. See if you notice a difference.

This one is from the right side of the engine, left to right in the pic the back of the engine to the front




This one is from the left side of same engine, left to right is the front of the engine to the back




Any thoughts? If this type of image was available for you to see either right before or right after you race, how could it help you with improvements on your car (not just the engine), diagnoses, or help with different set-ups?

Tell me what you think and how it COULD be used.

[xxxmod]

I would be doing a thermal of the tires.

[dirttrackrocker]

Looks to me like you have a dead cylinder..

[circle dirt]

dead cyl on cyl 3 but I would be looking at 4 and 1 also. A bit hot

[racin6mod]

#3 is dead for sure #5 is week #1 is hot looks like maybe a leaking intake gasket that would cause the hot/cool cylinders or run the valves . as for #4 it's picking up the extra heat coming off the #6 ex. tube that runs right unding it notice the heat pattteren nearest the #6 tube is at it's redest.

[dirttrackfan1984-99]

Thanks for all your input.

XXXMod - I thought tires right after a race would be beneficial too.

Basically, I work part-time with thermal camera imaging and happened to have the camera on me the night his engine just wasn't running. I ran out to the car and brought it into the pits and took these pics while he was testing it. I know you guys spray water or whatever on the headers, I just thought hey pretty cool to see a thermal pic.

I'm NO ENGINE EXPERT - note my name - dirttrackFAN. I just wondered, how could more thermal pictures help guys with their setups.

Think about tire temps right after a race. This camera could actually find the temp difference between the inside and outside tread of tires, temp difference between tacky, dry slick, and I would think it could help with set-ups with cars.

Just throwing things out there - I am not a racecar set-up guy and can barely turn a wrench - was hoping some of you guys who know more about working on them could benefit from seeing temps on various parts of the car immediately following a race?

Thanks! Keep some ideas/thoughts coming.