HWD, the reason the engines have been more reliable is not due to maintenance but the engineering design. At the cutting edge of technology parts are designed so the engine lasts one race, but with the new rules the penalty for engine failure is quite severe. As a for instance the cylinder head bolts are now made from different materials, different machine processes to make sure they do not fail, the cost of these bolts is 8 times the originals!
Lowtimer, if your BMW was being raced then the engine would benefit from being stripped and rebuilt, just as the Escort engines did. However the starting point would be better as modern parts are better quality and accuracy, but a road car engine is still only built to a standard. For instance, a crank from a modern engine is better balanced but still not as good as it could be, back to costs again.
With regard to aircraft engines, I do sometimes think we over maintain them. After all a Merlin engine has been run long enough to know its weaknesses, and surely these weaknesses are the only points we really need to keep an eye on. Our Yak had another engine fitted at 500 hours, when the 'old' engine was running well. In the USA they are run on condition, and have clocked thousands of hours with no problems.
Last edited by yakker; 12th Sep 2005 at 09:16.