Don Terrill’s Speed-Talk

I'm considering purchasing a 2006 Cadillac XLR. A good friend in the car business told me to stay away from the Northstar engines. I am wondering if any of you all have any experiences with this engine, either good or bad. The main concern he had was losing water I assume into the oil. For what it's...

True weekend warrior racing. I love it. I wish you speed and good luck.

Haven't been for a long while. I got my first autograph at the last one in Indy before they moved to Orlando (2001?). I wanted some literature a booth had. There was a dragster in the booth and I guess the driver too. As I picked up the literature the driver signed a picture and handed it to me. I s...

I've had the privilege of working with a 2 stroke wizard but unfortunately he's gone. Calvin Pollett owned and operated Cast Precision Industries in Oklahoma and built some of the finest performance cylinders money could buy. Their Cheetah Cub cylinders for the Yamaha Banshee is a fine example. His ...

A long long time ago I saw the crew checking the timing on Bob Gliddens car in a hot Ennis, Texas sun. They had an old blanket they held over the mechanic to shield out the sun.

I had a friend who rebuilt a 1969 Ford 1 ton. Completely new from the tires up. We took the Ford distributor and cut the top off and welded and machined on the top off of a GM HEI distributor. It turned out very nice. Just one more idea to consider.....

Take a wooden 4x4 and turn it to fit in the main journals. Then you can stroke down and bump it without the drill trying to remove your arms from your body.

Hatfield Racing Engines
Joplin, MO
Tony Hatfield

I knew a guy that made a "cap" that would go on the LR hub, where the drive flange bolted up, he had a shop rag over the cap, then duck taped around it as if it was a "secret" drive flange. If that was a LM, that that had to be Bill Frye and IIRC was about 1995 or so. That inadv...

I built an aluminum flywheel for the 2.3 ford I raced. A competitor (used loosely) and coworker (looser) broke into my toolbox and stole my prints. He payed another guy at the shop to build him one too. When I found out I called and talked to the one building it. I told him I installed mine and it s...

Long shot guess here but I had a '70 challenger that did the same thing. It had a bottom radiator hose collapsing due to no spring in it and being old as dirt. I'd speed up to get more air thru the radiator and it would get hotter. A new hose fixed it.

I am going to build some off road spindles for a buddy. The vehicle is heavy, 6000 pounds or so. It will take a lot of abuse such as drops and side loads on the wheels. The spindle body and steering arm will be welded up from A36 hot roll. It's easy to make it thick enough to hold up. The spindle sh...

I think your results are acceptable. Top priority should be the top half of the cylinder is straight and on size, and the bottom half is NOT too tight. Should work fine. If the thicker part of the cylinder near the bottom is going big, then seems like you'd want more clamp on the thin part, right? ...

Yes, valve length does effect the follower ratio. It changes the contact point on the follower either towards or away from the valve. Think of this as the pivot point on a lever. I used to know the ratio of valve height to valve lift error but it's hidden in a dark corner of my brain. Your valves ar...

Spending too much time in the middle of the part being honed, irregular wore stones. There's a bit of an art to hone a straight hole. The worst is pretty terrible in my opinion. How long are these bushings?