Don Terrill’s Speed-Talk

Interesting that GM had developed an 8.0L, (in 2010), that seems to be a tall deck version of the 7400, even the port layout is same. Perhaps a revised version of this, with yet again with more stroke !? (4.27" X 4.25" @ 8.0L ) The rumor/speculation in the above links is 8.8L. The 8.1L Vo...

GM actually did sell the production Chevy big block tooling. There's a company that produces them for industrial uses, and sells spare parts, it is not Mercury Marine. Yes, there is a trend toward smaller engines. But NOT in one ton and medium duty trucks. Ford is not introducing a 7.0 liter pushrod...

Walter, do a search in the 8.1L intake, you'll find people modify it, there are a ton of pics. There's a guy who will modify it for you for $800, which is probably cheaper than you could do the full Dart deal. I doubt the Dart would do anything for fuel economy. He'd probably get a lot more out of a...

In some 40 years, I can count on the fingers of one hand the times that I've seen the roll pin or distributor gear fail on its own. Of course, there are situations where people have jacked up pressure or volume, or both, and worn out the gear. It's not ideal, but it's not terrible, either. It's plen...

As to the original post, what is wrong with the big block as a TRUCK engine for TRUCKS with a GVWR of 10,000 pounds or more, needing instant torque at as low an RPM as feasible, and maximum power at no more than 5500 RPM? Actually, not much. The crank case on even the old Mark IV is wide enough to c...

Walter, you got me on that one. GM has a recent 8.0L big block engine with symmetrical ports?? Oh I am catching on now you mean that 8.1L 496 iron boat anchor beast that was basically a lightly modified 454 Vortec. That engine was short lived, barely met modified emissions, to heavy, drank oil and ...

Well,if the gas cost 4.2$/gallon what would you drive? When gasoline was $4.00 a gallon, I drove my 8.1L Vortec powered 3500 crew cab dooley (when that model was launched 40+ years ago, Chevy called it "the big dooley). And often drove it to the polls to defeat the idiot politicians causing ga...

Morgo wrote: ↑Fri Mar 01, 2019 3:05 pm The gasoline is too cheap in US..

We call it the law of supply and demand in relatively free market capitalism.

Gasoline here is not "too cheap", rather it is fairly and correctly priced according to the market, albeit the federal gasoline tax of $0.38 per gallon is a bit high.

Natural gas and propane are notoriously hard on engines. Initial cost is higher, so is repair. They might be good fuels, but they're a hard sell. And then there's fuel logistics. Those fuels rarely appeal to anyone outside of fleets. Realize that fleet sales generate woefully small per unit profits,...

The 8.1 is not that heavy. I suppose if you want to knock 60 pounds off you can put aluminum heads on it. Any cast iron block of similar displacement and durability, in a truck, is going to weight what the block weighs. That displacement requires a given bore and stroke, and a given deck height to g...

Exactly. Rules. But the Total Seal Advantage system isn't two light rings in the same groove. The spacer is nothing like an actual piston ring. It is merely a spring steel groove filler that does not move appreciably, and doesn't tough the cylinder, but rather is tightly squeezed by spring tension t...

Entirely pointless and not cost effective to reinvent the wheel. An update to the old 8.1L Vortec is all that is necessary. If you can take a stock long block 8.1L to well over 400HP and 500 lb/ft of torque, with no durability issues, and decent fuel economy in a 10,700 pound GVW or larger truck, ev...

The spacers have a significant amount of tension that holds them IN to the groove. They're a very strong spring steel, and they're narrow enough that they're well inside the ring groove, and pressed hard against the back. They don't come out or expand.

How does double rings or a ring with a spacer work? The inertia from the bottom ring will unloud the top ring just as if there was only one thick ring. The gas pressure cannot work on the second ring. One thing with thinner rings is their radial thickness. Less thickness makes the ring conforme to ...

As stated up thread, I get 5-6 uses out of a set of Cometic gaskets by using Permatex spray copper after the first use. Up to 13.5:1, on big and small block Chevy engines. And honestly, nothing special about the surface,the machining is done on an SV 85B, sharp and well adjusted, with variable trave...