Jeff Smith

I have a ’69 Camaro with a 454. I went to fill it with gas on its first run for the spring and drove it perhaps 20 miles. After stopping briefly, it would not restart. The engine sounded like it wanted to crank but turned over slowly. The battery tested 12.8 volts and its only

Hi, I was wondering if you could help answer a few questions and doubts I have about moving forward with my E85 build. I know there’s a lot of hype about E85 being corrosive and I know there are measures to take to make that less possible in the fuel lines, pumps, and filters but

This may sound like a simple question, but what is cylinder wall glazing and how is it created? I hear about it all the time when people talk about piston rings not sealing, but I’m not sure what it really is. Thanks. – T.D. … Jeff Smith: Great question! We did a little digging and then

How do I tell the correct heat range spark plug for an engine? – Mark S. Jeff Smith: Simple questions sometimes require a bit longer answers. This is one of those cases. Let’s start with a typical street engine. For a stock engine, the answer is simply to use the recommended plug for the application. Clearly,

I did a LS2 swap in my ‘54 Belair. The engine came from an ‘05 GTO. It has a modest stereo system operating on a 10-amp fuse. It has a 16-inch cooling fan that operates on a 30-amp fuse and it will blow a 20-amp fuse if I try one. It also has Vintage Air A/C and all

I’m asking this for a friend and I know you will have suggestions. He’s building a ’71 El Camino and has decided on an LS swap. He wants 650-700 hp with an automatic. The LS9 is 635hp to start but no auto is recommended. As a crate engine, the LS9 would cost about $21,000 plus

I just bought a used 5.3L iron block engine out of a truck. I’ve decided to put new replacement pistons and rings because I found a set of cheap take-out pistons on eBay. The cylinder wall looks really good as do the bearings so the engine probably doesn’t have a ton of miles on it.

You did a tech answer around two years ago which was about adding a set of Vortec heads to a small-block Chevy. How much of a horsepower gain could you expect from porting these heads using the cam and everything? — R.B. Jeff Smith: We wrote about Vortec heads in 2016, and that article spawned

I’m confused. I see all kinds of opinions about iridium and platinum spark plugs versus the normal copper plugs. Some say they’re good while others say not to use them because they’re only for late model cars that are concerned with emissions. I like the idea of spark plugs that could last longer. I have

I recently purchased a’71 Camaro with a small-block and a 700R4 overdrive trans. The guy who I bought it from said the trans has a lockup converter and that everything worked great. But driving it now for a while, I don’t think the converter is really locking up. I have a buddy with a 700R4