Don Terrill’s Speed-Talk

I'm going from a Comp Cams belt drive to an RCD gear drive on my stuff. Never had an issue with the belt I'll admit, but I prefer gear drives.....

I wonder if Comp is talking about highspeed stretch and return, or belt settling. So Jesel is talking about backlash, nice that they have compensating belts. I have a purchased minus chain and sprocket set once, surprised they made those, plus sets not so surprising. The backlash they are talking a...

From the instructions for a Jesel drive off their website: "How much belt backlash is acceptable? Due to the round tooth profile inherent with the Gates HTD® timing belt, belt backlash between 2° and 4° degrees is acceptable and normal under a fully assembled valvetrain. If you experience backl...

Both Jesel and Comp Cams tell you to add up to 4* of advance when installing their drives to allow for belt stretch if you're degreeing the cam without the valve train in place. If valve train is in place, there is enough belt stretch from the springs to compensate for that. Under running condition...

I don’t care how tight a chain is, they retard with RPM. A belt does it too, but not as far as a chain. Both Jesel and Comp Cams tell you to add up to 4* of advance when installing their drives to allow for belt stretch if you're degreeing the cam without the valve train in place. If valve train is...

I've been told it's ok on exhaust, but a big no-no for intakes. The sharp edges on the angles of the valve job help with shearing the fuel and keeping it in suspension, where a radius does not....that's how I understand it anyway..... My new heads have a five angle valve job on the intakes, three an...

Lashcaps have their place but are impractical/costly/unusable in a lot of applications I'd argue that. Anytime Ti valves are used, lash caps are a better way to protect the ends of the valves, regardless of application. I will agree Ti valves are not needed in all applications, making lash caps not...

Don't grind them at all....Don't get hardened tips on Ti valves...Use lash caps instead......the hardened tips can fail.....I know because it happened on my stuff.....never had a lash cap fail though....and that's all I run now.

Other than that Roush test I’ve never seen a SHRED of actual testing that showed the GD transferred more harmonics, cost horsepower or anything else. And you won't because it doesn't exist. Another myth perpetrated on the auto industry in an attempt to sell a certain product. If gear drives were so...

Lots of misinformation out there on gear drives. They are my preferred choice of drive for a cam in any application. Years ago Hot Rod magazine did a back to back to back test of a Mildon gear drive, Jesel belt, and timing chain. Gear drive made the most power out of all of them.....I ran a three ge...

Anytime...makes changing tires a breeze too.....

I run either BAM or Crower, both with pin oiling.....never had a lifter issue to date.....Isky are very good too but there can be sizing issues with them, best to bush the lifter bores and size them to the lifters if you go that route.

Dave B wrote: ↑Wed May 03, 2023 7:56 am Good luck Mark

Thanks! I'm moved now and getting settled in...

... not anywhere I ever hear of ... But I never saw a race track there when we passed thru during an epic backroads x-country road trip. But what we did see was very cool antique merry-go-round more properly carousel. We "floated" thru in a sweet old Lincoln TC. Julesburg is the oldest tr...

I know people running 1600 cfm carbs on small blocks...and no, not 10k rpm either. Carbs these days are not like the carbs of old. Newer booster designs, better metering block design/calibration makes what was once not possible, routine....and no, you won't always loose fuel economy or low speed dri...