Don Terrill’s Speed-Talk

Just pick a reasonable ratio and let Mr Jones do the rest- why complicate?

Seeing no other data- can the engine sound alone tell you it's on point or conversely not making power.....or a great sound engine that is a dog? Sounds so crisp on the dyno.

I may be wrong but, I have witnessed that a thermal barrier coating on piston crowns don't change compression ratio and barely help for increasing much power however, they drastically do decrease oil temps. Heat barrier coatings on intake valve faces seem to help power more. There's a thread on her...

Just a general comment from what I've seen on the quality of employees 2018+, you have to assume they don't give a shyte and don't be surprised at what's in the box. Used to be a one off mistake, I expect it now- especially on lower quality parts.

For decent rpm- what heads will feed it.....18deg?

Anybody find a decent mom and pop shop that does rebuilds and minor mods (torsion bar). Been down the Lee road with less than stellar results, not interested in redhead or blue top, if it comes to it- looking at a new borgeson unti.

My Accord was a POS, Hawk pads and EBC rotors fixed it but good.

Years ago I knew guys who did this with the so called HO heads. I thought the point of the exercise was to bump compression on smog blocks. That was prior to all the heads available today.

I've had a 383, 406 and 427 SBC. All are (were for the 383) in street cars and all have tunnel rams. The bigger the better. The 383 was ok but seemed lazy compared to the 406. The 406 is a great engine until I got the 427. At a minimum no less than a 406. The 427 is a SHP block. I still like drivin...

... and blew it beyond repair, I'd be stuck trying to find another. Aren't some the current offerings in a 4.125" bore a like for like replacement for the OEM 400? FWIW, if I were to go the big inch route, it'd be aftermarket all the way. It's an easy workaround to the cracked stock blocks tha...

Not a BBC guy but I would think a few boxes would need to be checked before a generic X:1 can be stated:
- material of the head.
- how modern and octane tolerant is the piston/chamber design.
- efi or carb

Sourced a set.

walbro 255

If you can find a competent guy locally for a 'hands on' tune- even with the old computer would be your best bet. I've been down the road(s) with '89 K1500 vortec: - original heads only conversion with eddy tbi intake. - eddy mpfi conversion (wish I had the EBL back then) - tpi 383, afr vortec, EBL ...

We still miss Joe Sherman and seemingly he took his signature 406" with him when he left us. Today, I get guys wanting a nothing-special-strong-street-build and think I'm doing them a favor by offering one of the 400" blocks we've ratholed. They all look at me like I'm trying to screw the...