That Lopey Idle Means He Got It Wrong | Ask Ed 15 | Ed Smith with Barry T

Ed Smith, legendary racer and engine builder, is back with Barry T answering your questions and comments. This one opens with cam specs and turns into something bigger. Ed's position is that lift and duration mean nothing until you know the compression ratio — the two have to be matched, and when they are, a big cam runs as clean as a small one. He tells it through a jet boat customer who couldn't start his engine, couldn't get past 4,000 RPM, and kept blowing the centers out of his spark plugs. Ed sold him the biggest camshaft in the shop and the problem went away. Which leads to Ed's opinion about that lopey idle everybody chases. A little lope is fine. But if it's bucking at idle and can't pull enough vacuum to work the power brakes, the guy doesn't have his combination together. He also gives up a shop secret. Ed paints the inside of his race blocks — the valley, around the lifters, sometimes up in the heads — so the oil sheds and drains back faster. And he never paints the outside, because that acts like an insulator and holds heat in. Also in this one: what you're really buying with a billet block and why Ed says the OEM casting is the least precise block made, why Cadillac 500s are so sensitive on oil pressure, how a Lincoln could show no ridge at 200,000 miles, whether you need a girdle under a supercharged 454, the night Ed found all his main cap bolts backed out a quarter inch, and the Mickey Thompson hemi heads sitting on a Ford up in Prescott. CHAPTERS 00:00 Welcome 00:57 Cam Specs, Lift and Lobe Separation 01:57 Why Cam and Compression Have to Match 03:00 The Jet Boat With 400 Pounds of Compression 04:14 Fixing It With the Biggest Cam in the Shop 04:48 Big Cam and No Compression — the Opposite Problem 05:09 Why 180 Pounds Cranking Compression Is the Target 05:23 The Racer Whose Car Starts on Half a Turn 06:07 Why Ed Doesn't Bother Degreeing Cams 07:19 Checking Piston to Valve Clearance 07:47 Why the Piston Overruns the Valve 09:29 James Asks: Billet Aluminum vs Cast Iron Blocks 10:07 What You're Actually Paying For With Billet 10:48 Why Cam Bearings Aren't Always Aligned With the Crank 11:11 The OEM Block Is the Least Precise Block Made 11:40 Casting Density and Where the Good Metal Ends Up 12:40 Does Ed Work on Billet Blocks? 13:39 Can You Even Rebuild a Billet Block? 14:08 Daryl's Confession: Dad's 1969 Coupe DeVille 14:45 Why Ed Loves the Cadillac 500 15:45 Cadillac Lifters, Valve Springs and Rocker Ratios 17:13 Why Cadillacs Are Sensitive on Oil Pressure 18:14 How the Lincoln 460 Compared 18:38 The Lincolns With No Ridge at 200,000 Miles 19:34 What Actually Fails in a Top Speed Run 20:08 Ed's Secret: Painting the Inside of the Block 21:22 Why You Never Paint the Outside 22:01 John Asks About COPO Engines 22:37 Ed's Aluminum 427 and the Heads He Still Has 23:44 Fraser Asks About a Girdle on a Supercharged 454 24:19 Why a Supercharger Has No Forgiveness 24:45 Broken Main Caps and the Nitromethane Night 25:26 What a Girdle Actually Is 26:31 Hemi Heads on a Pontiac or a Ford? 26:47 The Mickey Thompson Hemi Heads Up in Prescott 27:47 The Early Chrysler Hemis and the Baby Hemis 29:19 Don Garlits and Why That Block Held Together 29:42 Two Plugs, Two Magnetos, Different Timing 31:14 When Every Car at the Track Was Different 31:34 Thanks for Watching Got a question for Ed? Send it to AskEd@BarryTsGarage.com — the questions you send are what keep this series going. EVERYTHING IN ONE PLACE — www.BarryTsGarage.com Newsletter signup, the channel, and the store. Start there. Shirts, hats and more: store.BarryTsGarage.com Want to support the channel? Join here:    / @barrytsgarage   #BarryTsGarage #AskEd #EngineBuilding