About this episode
And we’re back! After a few weeks away from the microphone, we’re jumping back into the Tuned In podcast with our longest and tech-heaviest episode yet — one that will satisfy even the nerdiest listeners. Use “DIGGLES100” for $100 off our HPA Engine Building Starter Package here: https://www.hpacademy.com/hpa-engine-building-starter-package/ This week, we’re talking to Australia’s Ben Diggles. Ben is somewhat unique as a Tuned In guest due to the fact he doesn’t work in the motorsport industry — as an accomplished marine biologist with a couple of doctorates under his belt, he’s quite far from it. That career choice hasn’t stopped him from being one of the smartest people in the engine-building world, though, as Ben has spent his weekends for most of his adult life tinkering with cars — more specifically extremely high-output four-cylinder engines. Down in our part of the world, Ben is well known for his work pushing Nissan’s mostly-forgotten FJ20 two-litre four-cylinder to its absolute maximum, first by building a 9.1-second Nissan S12 Gazelle street car years back that still holds the S12 world record, before moving his FJ expertise to a rear-engined dragster that has so far run a best of 6.7 down the quarter mile. In this episode, Ben and Andre go way deep on ultra-high performance engine building, discussing different types of abnormal combustion and their causes, compression ratio considerations, mixture preparations, included valve angles, and much more. There’s also a whole lot of FJ20 talk, including a comparison with a more modern gold-standard four-cylinder Honda K-series, as well as some surprising chats about the future of motorsport and the ever-advancing world of EVs. There’s so much to chew on in this episode that it might require a couple of listens just to digest all the golden tech nuggets found within. Don’t forget, use “DIGGLES100” for $100 off our HPA Engine Building Starter Package here: https://www.hpacademy.com/hpa-engine-building-starter-package/