I’ve been editing the next Ask Ed episode (#62) this week, and one question kept coming back to me long after we finished filming.
A viewer acquired a Bush Series V6 racing engine that has been sitting untouched since the late 1980s. It was reportedly put away correctly, but after nearly forty years, the obvious question becomes…
Do you simply try to start it? Ed’s answer wasn’t what I expected.
Ed’s answer wasn’t just about that engine. It became a discussion about patience, preparation, and understanding what happens inside an engine before it ever fires for the first time.
What struck me was how often the temptation is to hurry. After all, everyone wants to hear an old engine come back to life. But sometimes the smartest decision is spending an extra hour making sure oil reaches every place it needs to go before asking the engine to do any work.
That same philosophy seemed to carry through much of this episode.
We also talked about Ford 429 performance, ignition timing, dirt-track durability, camshaft selection, distributor setup, and a few popular modifications that Ed believes are more trouble than they’re worth.
One thing I appreciate about filming these conversations is that Ed rarely answers with “it depends” unless it truly does. Most of the time he’ll simply tell you what years of building engines have taught him—and why.
There’s usually something in every episode that makes me look at an old problem a little differently.
More coming soon.
— Barry