Don Terrill’s Speed-Talk

You are good. I just measured the 400SB I have on a stand. It is "used" with about 5000 miles on it--it measures 11 ft.lbs.

GUNK brand Engine Brite, you buy it at the parts store to clean engines with, it comes in a spray can. I know it sounds terribly redneck, but it works VERY well for a hobbyist operation like me..... it really keeps the casings from rusting, and breaks down any oil holding grit in the block. you sti...

IMO you're making it a whole lot harder on installing it in the vehicle by downgrading the bottom end to sbc parts. Maybe in a retrofit muscle car type build it makes sense, but you're putting it in a vehicle where everything is already set up to use gen III bolt on parts - pan, trans, cranks, fron...

I was thinking AFR 210's and an Air-Gap. I have this set-up on my 400SBC and it runs, very, very, well(even with a Quadrajet). Plus, it gets 22MPG with overdrive.

Yes, some of the imports can put down huge Hp numbers, but with huge boost. For example, on the other side of the pond, both Subaru(Cosworth tuned) and Mitsubishi(FQ430) sold cars in the 430hp range right off the showroom floor. Right now you can buy a Mugen Honda (NA 2.0ltr that makes 280bph) in th...

Mike, thanks for the solid advice regarding his upgrade. Some of us appreciate an accurate answer without the "Sell, sell, sell" mentality.

Base Impreza right? Not the wrx?

You can buy these engines as new short blocks for about $1300-1500. $1800-2000 for the WRX engines and that usually includes a swap to forged pistons.

you gotta wonder whats the point .I get the unleaded deal.but 15% methanol/ethanol/whatever/ blended with unleaded race gas..whatever keeps the tree huggers happy I guess. It is not the tree-huggers. The methanol/ethanol mandate keeps the huge agribusiness concerns {misrepresented as farmers} rolli...

My second car was a Chevy Sprint Turbo(same as the Canadian Firefly). It had 70hp, but that was 27hp more than the base model. It beat walking in 1986....

If your willing, a camshaft swap would be my first choice. With your elevation, the carb is way oversized. I think a carb with vacuum style secondaries in the 700-750 range will do wonders--maybe even smaller if you don't rev the big Olds over 5500 rpm with is long stroke. I live at 6000' and work a...

Motul (8100,8200,8300...) are all very good oils that could work for you if you can get access to them.

grant6395 wrote:Tech line coatings. Look them up. You will want a ceramic for the top.300deg curing temp for 1hour .

The Tech Line stuff works fairly well. Follow the directions EXACTLY or you will have problems.

Are you talking about Thermal?

Look at the European, particulary, UK websites. The engine is quite common 'accross the pond." The best deal may be in the Polish websites as they offer the best exhchange rate currently; at least until the first if the year when they convert to the Euro.

I had the 1997 Vortec 5.7 in my truck. I used a set of AFR heads and a Comp Cam designed for a computer controlled vehicle and it made a significant difference. (maybe 30-50 hp/tq). I used the stock computer. I also tried a set of Vette manifolds, but it kept throwing a CEL, so I changed back to the...