I recently installed a NOS Cheater nitrous system on my car and we took it to a chassis dyno to test the system. The jets were rated at 150 hp but when we tested it, it only delivered barely 100 hp. The guy who runs the dyno said my fuel pressure was okay but the
I finally collected all the parts to assemble my small-block Chevy 350 but when I torqued the head bolts, one of the holes stripped. I’ve heard there’s a way to fix this with a thread insert kit, but I’ve never done it before. Do I have to take the engine to a machine shop to
My buddies and I got into a discussion the other day about why all the new car companies went with individual coils for each cylinder as opposed to sticking with a simpler distributor. And if a CD (capacitive discharge) ignition is so great, why isn’t that on new cars? D. B. Jeff Smith: Let’s start
Okay, I keep reading about there is a difference between detonation and pre-ignition but it seems that whenever I ask anybody about this, they agree but don’t know the difference. The typical answer I get is “It’s really complicated.” So, is it really? J.M. Jeff Smith: This really isn’t all that difficult to explain. Detonation
In the ‘80s, GM used a 4.3L 90-degree V6 in many different cars. I know that this engine is basically a small-block Chevy with two cylinders removed. This got me to wondering why they haven’t built a 90-degree V6 using the 5.3L or 6.0L LS engines? M.S. Jeff Smith: This is a great “what if”
I hate to admit that I’ve been working on cars for more years that I care to admit and yet I still don’t understand all the different things about ignition advance. Every time I ask my friends who say they know all about that – I get a different answer. Can you make it simple
I have an all-steel ’41 Willys with an all-aluminum 498ci Keith Black HEMI with a Don Hampton 8-71 supercharger and an EFI system using electronic fuel injectors located under the hat. The engine makes killer power and it has a TH-400 trans behind it with a 9-inch rear and a spool. The car cruises down
I recently read a story in a national publication that struck me as interesting and worth dissecting. The story tested the addition of a tall, long runner EFI intake manifold versus a production LS1 intake. I’ve recreated the curve in the charts and graphs included here. The test showed that the baseline combination using the
I have a small, 12-ounce bottle of DOT 4 brake fluid that’s been on the shelf for at least a couple of years. I was going to use it but two things got my attention. First, the plastic bottle had collapsed–almost like it was sucked in. That made me wonder if the fluid inside
[portfolio_slideshow id=32476] Drum brakes have their place—just not on any kind of performance car that’s driven with enthusiasm. In our experience, drum brakes are good for one and perhaps two aggressive stomps on the brake pedal from speed and then, like Douglas MacArthur’s old soldier, they just fade away. That’s why Summit Racing offers an
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