Don Terrill’s Speed-Talk

Big Joe, What kind of peak power and what rpm are you hitting it at on that 434 with 360CFMs on that engine? What is the most compression you get away with on crappy pump gas even if it is Chevron or Shell 93? I was thinking 9 or 9.5 and that allows addition of a turbo later ( just to show of Shop F...

CNC, Not sure who I need to get in touch with out of that group, I was just trying to help out 3v getting in touch with my buddy Del. Don't mean to Hi=Jack but just answering a couple questions that came up. As far as a wait list on machine and how the numbers don''t work out, not sure what that mea...

I'm with Dave, I use leak down testing as an engine health Barometer as it is a measureable that will tell you a lot about your engine. When the engine is fresh it should be in the 95-98% after a proper break-in. If you know what your doing with rings and valve seats you should be able to make it a ...

Pretty sure too much pre-load can cause bent pushrods if the lifter tries to pump that last ..070"-.080"" if not that the valve might hang open. I have not met a single hydraulic lifter that did not like 1/4-1/2 turns ( 2-3 flats on nut ) from just snug, maybe .020"-.030". I...

I never had any 867's go 800hp as almost all of mine were used in Nascar All-Pro applications that were 9:1, 358" Smalll Bore, with a 390 carb and we started off making about 550hp and 3-4 years later we were at about 650hp. Marty Zimmerman out of Mikey Chapmans shop had one of the slickest and...

Does a Ford make decent power with a 2P manifold? In Nascar LMS we always scalded the Fords until Nascar approved the 9N head and matching open manifold. If they allow a Macfarland manifold I don't think there is much out there that could outrun that deal with a set of ported Small Chamber vortecs. ...

Well, that's not a problem standard porting was what they had when CUP cars were making over 700HP on Crane Fireball heads built out of stock GM Castings before Bowties came along. Got a couple sets of them sitting on my 401K pallets. As far as the Fords go, anything is possible. The port volumes on...

I am like F-Bird eh...born in Regina brother, and still love the Leafs. Not really sure what "Standard Porting" means but I think it is a mis-print in the rule meaning "standard ports only", I would check that before I sunk a ton $$$ in some ported heads; That being said, I don't...

Ron has some good ports and does a pretty good job on CNC. Whats it take to make 3300# go 9's??? You talking 9.90 or 9.20's ? I'm thinking 750-850HP
What do the heads flow?

Mark@AlienChassisDYno

What are the actual rules pertaining to the heads??? The 305 - 450 casting is decent for compression as it is a small chamber with a decent port, but for stock later model chevy heads I think the 487x is still the one to go with if the earlier model 186's are not legal. I think our best legal smog h...

Jed, One of the tell tale signs for me on valvetrain harmonics, highly polished and hammered up pushrod balls/radiuses and rocker arm pushrod cups, valve lock groove wear, mushrooming valve stem tips as well as very common chatter marks ( same place ). When you are worried about Zero Lash - .020&quo...

Ne-Smith is 100% in line with GM Yellow Tech Manual. Differences are; aftermarket stock style rings, aftermarket stock style bearings, and spring shims allowed to hit legal spring pressures with sinking valves on valve jobs. Other than that 100% stock gm parts in rebuilds. You also have to similar a...

Road race engines usually take a dump on downshifts/deceleration so that is what u have to factor in on your reliability requirements. As an engine builder I err towards conservative and go for heavier bolts and rod beams and go light on clutch, balancer, wheels, tires etc that have 100 times the ef...

John I am most concerned with valvetrain harmonics so I try and minimize it at every point of head building that I can. When I work with a new set of heads I like to make sure my spring package ( spring height ), will enable me to find a rocker stud that will accommodate the rockers I am using and a...

Just throwing this out there for Head Re-builders and Engine Builders, as I am curious if you check your flow numbers before and after seat replacement in your performance heads and what if any flow increases you are seeing.

Mark@AlienChassisDYno