Which manufactures sell kit engines?
The thought of buying a listeroid which hasn't been run (casting sand) and is unpainted is quite attractive.

Does Powerline (Power Anand) produce kits because from what I understand, they seem to be the fore runner in terms of quality (Am I mistaken here?).

Someone should tell George that that page has a bunch of black squares where many of your pictures should be.  The problem is that his page is using xmlns (OK) and vml (not OK).  vml is Vector Markup Language and is pretty much -- AFAICT -- a M$/IE-only thing.  Even that's OK, because George's page is testing for vml support:

Code: [Select]

<!--[if gte vml 1]>
  <v:shape id="_x0000_s1049"
           type="#_x0000_t75"
           style='width:6in;height:489.75pt'
           fillcolor="window">
  <v:imagedata src="kit_engine2_files/image038.jpg" o:title="Protrusion"/>
  </v:shape>
<![endif]-->

<![if !vml]>
    <img border=0 width=576 height=653
         src="kit_engine2_files/image039.jpg"
         v:shapes="_x0000_s1049">
<![endif]>
[indention is mine, for readability]

The real, final problem is that if vml support is there, his page serves one picture (in the example above, "image038.jpg"), but if vml support is not present (say, Firefox or SeaMonkey browsers), George's page serves an entirely different image, one that renders as a plain, black square (in the example above, "image039.jpg).

Upshot is that I can't see Quinn's pics in the last half of the page, unless I go to extraordinary lengths -- there is not a Windoze box available here.

The Nat Gas supply and controls for that are a mystery to me.  I know I can't just 'run a hose'.....!    Where would a guy go to collect the parts for the Nat Gas or Propane equipment required?

i am not saying that mounting to concrete is better than any other mount, just as i am not saying that mounting to something else is better than concrete, although
i can make the case that concrete returns and in some cases amplifies the shocks, vibration and stresses imparted upon it back to the engine.

also please note, that even if bolted to a concrete block it is still on a resilient mount albeit a very stiff resilient mount, (unless you cast you crete ontop of a granite bedrock)

you seem to take to the tangent and extremes to support your position

i don't support spring mounting the engine or any engine, and don't know anyone that would
there is such a thing as an engineered resilient mount, that does the isolation thing without allowing the engine to jump around wildly

yes i do believe that vibration can be an issue, in all engines, but i don't believe that a properly balanced engine will exhibit destructive forces no matter how it is mounted.

"And, what if your engine does have a flaw?"

then it will eventually break no matter how it is mounted.

as far as bending forces, if the engine is properly engineered it will handle all these forces internally,

there are very few places within a properly designed engine that exhibit bending forces, rocker arms, the crankshaft, wrist pin being a few
the rockers can and are built heavy enough to last forever
the wrist pin is built large enough to handle the stress without bending
the crankshaft, is sufficiently large in journal diameter to handle the modest power densities

concrete bases have no effect on rocker life, or wrist pin life.

resilient mounts absorb motion, over a range of motion and in doing so slow it down and then return it over an equally slower motion,this effectively absorbs and dissapates as heat much of the energy in the motion/vibration,  as opposed to concrete which being like an anvil returns this motion/shock nearly immediately and with an equal and opposite force and in some instances with an amplification of this force/vibration.

a concrete block is a muffler, a blindfold, a pacifier, it basically masks these forces, it does not absorb them

take your piece of glass and your hammer

hold a concrete block against the glass and strikeit with your hammer, and watch your glass break
now hold a rubber block against your glass and hit the rubber with the hammer,

alternatively, take a piece of strap iron, an anvil and a hammer, beat on the strap iron while it lays on the anvil and you will see it distort readily
now put the strap on a block of wood or hard rubber, and beat on it,,, you will beat yourself silly before you deform it nearly as bad as the anvil
why is this? because the anvil returns the work instantly back to the hammer
why does the hard rubber not work as well? because it absorbs and returns little of the energy of the hammer

now substitute soft metal rod and main brgs for the strap of steel and see what happens

another visual method is the swinging balls, you know the ones, you swing one down and it hits the 5 hanging, the energy from the first is transmitted thru to the last and is returned back thru to the first, if you insert a bit of rubber into the stationary balls the action stops, the energy has been absorbed.

so what does this have to do with the crankshaft you might ask?

the ignition point directs a stress to the crank (diesel knock) this is a relatively fast event, this sharp knock is sent into the mount and returned with the same frequency and intensity if mounted on a concrete base, if mounted on a resilient base this action is not only slowed down but the reaction as well, along with the intensity because of dissapation.

bob g