A while back, we started a video podcast with Vinny Costa of Street Muscle Magazine. While the show itself is aimed at all things automotive, occasionally we have a tech-heavy cast, like in episode 10 with Richard Holdener, or episode 22 with Jeff Smith. This past week, not only did we have Jeff Smith back on to talk about his recent articles, but we also had the head camshaft guru from COMP Cams — Billy Godbold — on the show as well.

If you’ve been following Jeff and Billy’s latest work together, you’re aware that COMP’s new Low-Shock Technology is a popular subject. To that end, no only does Godbold discuss some of the history of how the new LST camshaft lobes came about, but also some of the projects which were integral in the development and refinement of the technology — namely, Ben Strader and EFI University‘s Project Spinal Tap, the 11,000-rpm LS engine.

In one of our favorite roundtable discussions to date, Smith and Godbold’s discussion ranged from highly technical to pure bench-racing, with tons of good information contained within the casual conversation. Also discussed was an issue that stemmed from the Spinal Tap articles, and that was the misunderstanding of how rod side clearance actually affects oil pressure and flow.

While it was a commonly held belief in decades past that excessive side clearance would lead to a loss of oil pressure and a need for a higher-volume pump to make up for the extra “leaking,” We now know that’s not the case at all. In addition to explaining the science behind that, Jeff also discusses how he tackled an article that refutes some of the biggest names in engine building and some widely held beliefs.

Whether you want to learn something, or just kill an hour and a half, this episode is definitely worth a listen.

This photo led to a lot of discontent. Jeff Smith discusses some of the technology behind this photo, as well as what it takes to break a commonly held belief, which is demonstrably incorrect.