After selling Lakewood Industries, Schubeck left the Cleveland area for

California where, in 1976, he started Stage II Development Co. 

Stage II's mission was to adapt aluminum Chrysler Hemi drag racing

engines to crop dusting airplanes.  A special gear box was designed to

mate the engine to a propeller.  Also developed, were heads with

two spark plugs per cylinder, needed to comply with a Federal Aviation

rule requiring two independent ignition systems for each cylinder.

"Even though, the initial reason for developing a head with dual plugs was the airplane program, success, in this case, came from filling a need.  Although, not apparent at the outset, the need for two spark plugs per cylinder in blown, nitro burning dragster engines turned out to be greater than the need for a 'Hemi' V8 in duster airplanes".

The flight tests were successfull , but the project soon took a back seat

to another marketing opportunity that surfaced when Schubeck

introduced the dual spark plug aluminum Hemi cylinder heads to to a

few of the sports leaders, such as Don Garlits, Shirley Muldowney, and

Connie Kalitta.  Shortly after these superstars of the sport, shed their

single plug heads for the new Schubeck heads.  Two spark plugs per

cylinder became a virtual standard in Top Fuel and Funny Car

competition.

              A new Dual Overhead Cam Engine is born

Schubeck Partnered with Steve Barber in 1988 to develop an all-new,

aluminum racing engine intended for blown fuel drag racing.  The

“Eagle Engine”, was a state-of-the-art, 4-valve per cylinder, overhead

cam race motor, developed with a fresh sheet of paper.

Plans were altered before the engine could make its debute in the

dragster field when Barber and Schubeck sold the company in 1990 to

an International conglomerate.  The intended use for the power plant

was their new luxury, performance vehicle called the 'Torrero.  Shortly

after the six million dollor prototype car was introduced to the World

Press in Geneva Switzerland, production plans for the car were abruptly

canceled for economic reasons.

The "Torrero" concept car, utilizing Eagle engine

                          MALIBU FOR THE DESERT?

Aware that the government was spending billions of dollors on

space technology, Schubeck again focused his energies on exploring

Aerospace for breakthrough technology. Again it paid off when he

learned of a new lightweight material with phenomenal wear

characteristics, used to make bearings that opperated in extreem

preasure and temperature enviornments on the Space Shuttle

engines. The composite material became the basic ingredient for

Schubeck's new breed of lightweight, virtually"wear proof" valve

lifters for high performance engines.

This lead to a second partnership with Steve Barber and the

formation of a new company called "Schubeck Racing Engines

& Components". The base of operations was moved from Los

Angeles, California to Las Vegas, Nevada.

This new material caused a rewriting of the primer on "The care and

feeding of flat lifters and flat lifter cams".  It makes all the lessons

and rules handed down from generation to generation, such as; "Flat

lifters need a tedious break-in process in order to survive" and

"A lifter should never be separated from the mated cam lobe after

break-in", totally un-applicable using "Schubeck Flat Lifters".

The company's composite flat lifters, often referred to as tappets,

were initially marketed to the oval track market, but soon caught on

in the stocker ranks of drag racing.  Schubeck lifters are well known

for preventing cam wear and eliminating the time consuming "break-in".

The company's proprietary composite material was also found

desireable in the development of another unique valve lifter, named

for its basic shape, called the "Radius Lifter".

The Radius lifters are esentially a modified flat lifter and are based

on the fact that, increasing the useable working face of flat lifter to

utilize a faster acting and higher lift cam, will increase the engines

performance.  This increase in useable surface is achieved, without

increasing the diameter, by arcing the flat surface into a radius. The

results approach the performance achieved with a roller cam.

The company's newest product called "RollerX", was created to solve

another problem which frequently occurs in today's hi-performance

engines using roller lifters. The problem occurs when needle bearing

roller wheels, an intergal part of the roller lifters design, disintegrate

when over-stressed, usually at high rpm, causing severe engine damage. 

   The New Schubeck RollerX Lifters, are designed to use solid roller

wheels that have no center hole for axles or needle bearings. 

The unique roller wheels (made from the company's proprietary

composite material) float on a thin film of oil in the wheel well portion

of the lifter that cradles the wheel, as it spins against the rotating camshaft

lobe. The principle that allows this to happen is based on a law of physics

that says " You cannot compress liquid". The liquid, in this case is the

motor oil and it separates the two surfaces so they do not touch. 

Its the same principle that prevents a connecting rod bearing

from touching the crank journal.

The new, one piece, "RollerX lifters" are available for the more

popular Chevy, Ford and Chrysler as drop in replacements, with larger

diameters up to one (1") inch. The larger 'one inch' model, has a wheel

diameter of .820" and  requires the engine's lifter bores to be increased

in size to one inch.

See more details and recent advertisments on this product in the Valve

Train section of this site.

<<<BACK...............................................................NEXT>>>