Don Terrill’s Speed-Talk

As a precaution, before this discussion had continued, I changed that relatively fresh oil (nice and hot too) and filter and filled it with Mobil 1 5w20 full synthetic. While on stands (and the transmission stuck in some forward gear) I got the oil up to 180°-190°. And there it sits (outside under ...

So, now there's a new question to ask. Is there a risk to putting an engine into storage while still full of break-in oil? I did an oil change after the first 50 miles of road testing and before I could back to the next 500 miles, it appears the transmission has become uncooperative and the project...

So the bit of over spring will cause this? Should we shim down to say 150 lbs @ seat.? Funny, I called comp. Guys said this rocker is for a 5/16 pushrod tip. I had also emailed earlier in the day. This was the comp tech email guy's (a different guy) response. "Our 1830 rocker arms can be used ...

Just as important or more important than the inlet shape is the air path to the carb. Any kind of bend will hurt flow and power, no matter how big the pipe may be. A general rule for me is the intake pipe should be 1.5x the throttle inlet diameter. For example, an 850 carb with 4x 1-3/4" throt...

Maintaining exhaust velocity is one thing. Attempting to speed the exhaust wave back up after its lost momentum is a whole different scenario.

What oil was used?

Just as important or more important than the inlet shape is the air path to the carb. Any kind of bend will hurt flow and power, no matter how big the pipe may be. A general rule for me is the intake pipe should be 1.5x the throttle inlet diameter. For example, an 850 carb with 4x 1-3/4" thrott...

Less refined conventional base oils have a certain amount of aromatics in them. Aromatics have a cyclic bond, think of the atoms connected in a ring. This is opposed to linear bonds of most base oil molecules. images_large_ma2c02020_0002.jpeg The cyclic bond has more surface tension which adds a bit...

have read credible break-in reports of ROLLER lifter's WITH High spring pressures --- wheels Sliding across lobes instead of rolling --- because Synthetic oil too-slippery. This was during break-in, not after. True? Old wives tale ? I dunno, I wasn't there. I lean toward camp 1. FWIW, many GMPP/CPP...

Going to be running in / breaking in a new engine on a Dyno before to much longer, so the huge decision on which oil to use is on the brain. The parts used will be Darts Iron Eagle block, Total Seal .9mm steel top ring, .9mm Napier 2nd ring, and 2 mm low tension oil pack. The cylinder finish i beli...

Driven BR would be my choice out of those. Lucas and RP are good too, you wouldn't be wrong in choosing one of them, but I personally don't do business with them for ethical reasons. Amsoil's break-in oil is also one to consider, as well as Penngrade's and HPL's. HPL dialed theirs in for breaking in...

A few hours isn't a problem.

Maximum dynamic pumping viscosity...

0W-xx = <6,200 cP @ -35°C
5W-xx = <6,600 cP @ -30°C
10W-xx = <7,000 cP @ -25°C
15W-xx = <7,000 cP @ -20°C
20W-xx = <9,500 cP @ -15°C

Yes, though it's often difficult to distinguish given other variables, namely the weather. The colder the engine runs, the more power you'll find from a lower oil grade. The thinner and lower tension the rings, and higher the rpm, the better it'll respond as well. In something like NHRA Pro Stock, t...

Because of the shallow SLR, some of these combinations will knock at low RPM in traffic, where an auto trans would not. What is SLR? Starting line ratio. For a manual, it factors in first gear ratio, rear gear ratio, and tire height. He's saying your total gear ratio to the ground is low in first g...