At 02:08 PM 2/20/99 -0500, you wrote:
>So what exactly IS a redline? Does it hurt the engine to take it over
redline?
>If not, who cares what it is?
>Just wonderin. Doesn't really matter to me 'cause I've got an auto. :-)(
>(love it/hate it)
>-Hood Killa
>
Redline is more or less a "theoretical" kind of thing... As you
rev higher, eventually the valves will start to float, the valvetrain
isn't designed to handle those speeds, etc. That causes damage, so its
best to keep the engine below this RPM. I suspect the manufacturers
figure out where these bad things start to happen, and then set the
redline lower than that, just for an extra margin of safety.
Its sort've a warning from the auto manufacturer to you... "Don't
rev the engine above this point, or bad things will probably happen." :-)
You can change the redline of your engine. If you upgrade the valvetrain
and the internals, your truck could rev happily to 10,000rpm, even though
your tach still says 4800 (or whatever). (I'm not saying it'd be cheap, but
you could do it...) ;-) Of course, once you upgrade your engine or
valvetrain with a mod that theoretically raises your redline, I think its
anyone's guess as to what your new redline is. I believe the only way to
determine a new one would be to actually rev the engine and monitor it for
valve float and the like...
-Jon-
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