Shop-floor talk for serious engine people.
Hidden Horsepower by Total Seal gathers racers, builders, and Total Seal voices around the details that decide performance. Episodes move from piston rings and bore finish to drag racing, off-road durability, marine engines, restoration work, and the old stories behind new speed.
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Hidden Horsepower by Total Seal is a technical motorsports show centered on the places where power is found, lost, measured, and misunderstood. The conversations favor engine rooms over grandstands. Guests talk in the language of cylinder walls, ring packs, surface finish, torque curves, blow-by, crankcase vacuum, and parts that look right until they are checked properly. That practical streak gives the show its identity. A new set of heads is not just a purchase; it is something to verify before it becomes a costly second build. Blow-by is not just a problem signal; in the right hands, it becomes a tuning tool. A dyno sheet is not a trophy. The broader shape of the torque curve can matter more than the headline horsepower number. PRI 2025 episodes widen the frame without leaving the shop floor. Chris Straub talks block work, sleeves, and careful checking. Gary Stinnett brings blow-by numbers, ring choice, and cylinder-bore thinking into focus. Josh Hart connects top fuel racing with restoration, crate engines, and the hands-on culture around Bernie's speed shop. Keith Simmons adds a sales perspective on Total Seal customers and the value of deep product knowledge. Charlie Fisher brings sprint car, drag racing, Indy car, and engineering stories into the same conversation. Bob Teague moves the discussion into offshore and marine performance, including whistler testing and compression-ratio questions. Adam Wick brings off-road durability, air filtration, and ring material into harsh real-world conditions. Scott Shafiroff pushes back against peak-number obsession and argues for the whole engine package. The show suits listeners who already know enough to enjoy the details, but it stays conversational enough for builders and racers still sharpening their instincts. Its appeal is not polish. It is proximity to people who have tested, failed, adjusted, and kept notes.
Made for: Built for racers, engine builders, machinists, performance-shop regulars, and mechanically curious motorsports fans who enjoy detailed conversations about why engines make power and why they fail.
What sets it apart: The show stands apart by treating piston rings, cylinder finish, blow-by, and bore geometry as central performance stories, not side notes. It pairs Total Seal technical knowledge with working builders from drag racing, off-road, marine, sprint car, and restoration worlds.
Keith Jones from Total Seal Piston Rings and host Joe Castello interview the world's most knowledgeable engine builders. Technology, tips, and information about how to tackle challenges when building high performance engines and finding that "Hidden Horsepower".
A gapless ring faces the whistler test, and your inner garage skeptic gets actual receipts.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A practical shop-floor conversation about machining checks, ring finishes, and horsepower found through better honing.
Engine performance gets a grounded machine-shop pass as Chris talks through resleeving LT and LS blocks, large lifter bores, cam tunnels, sleeve work with Silver Seal, and a cylinder-head shop busy with CNC porting.
Gary Stinnett turns blow-by readings into a practical read on ring seal, bore shape, and engine condition.
Gary Stinnett makes blow-by feel less like a stray reading and more like a window into what the engine is doing. He connects the numbers to ring seal, hone quality, piston rock, and bore shape, then grounds the point with specific examples: an aluminum block without gapless…
Charlie Fisher shows how crankcase vacuum gave a small engine shop a practical read on power and ring consistency.
Charlie Fisher's PRI 2025 conversation treats engine tuning as practical judgment, not mystique. He moves from go-karts to sprint cars, drag racing, and Indy car work, then gets into the shop-floor value of crankcase vacuum pressure: a way to chase performance while checking…
A marine engine builder tests a ring-and-whistler claim directly instead of repeating shop talk.
Bob Teague's offshore-racing background gives this single-episode review a useful spine: do not just pass along an engine claim because it sounds plausible.
Cars, explained from the garage outward.
Driverless mobility, argued from the road up.
EV arguments from the performance garage.
Engineering breakthroughs, translated without the lecture.
Future shock, made practical.
Shop talk from the people on AERA's tech line.
Chris Straub discusses his shop's current projects in engine block work, cylinder head CNC porting, and new partnerships at PRI 2025.
Gary Stinnett discusses the importance of measuring blow-by with a blow-by meter instead of relying on leakage testers or compression gauges for accurate engine tuning.
Josh Hart discusses his new role as a John Force Racing driver and his automotive restoration business at PRI 2025.
Keith Simmons and Keith Jones discuss their expertise in piston ring technology and engine building at the PRI 2025 show.
Charlie Fisher, a legendary sprint car engine builder and engineer, discusses his passion for motorsports and his work with Total Seal Piston Rings at the PRI Show 2025.
Bob Teague says Teague Custom Marine builds 850-to-1,450-horsepower production marine engines on 91 octane, and the bigger builds switch to Bryant parts above 1,000 horsepower.
Joe Costello and Keith Jones introduce a discussion on high-performance lubricants and honing oil with guest David Ward, emphasizing the importance of proper lubrication for engine sealing and performance.
Preview of the 2024 NHRA Gatornationals with tech talk from Total Seal Piston Rings, featuring hosts Joe Costello and Keith Jones discussing the upcoming racing season and industry growth.
Joe Costello previews the NHRA U.S.
Mark Malburg discusses advanced surface finish technology and making complex engine concepts accessible at the 2022 PRI Trade Show.
Antron Brown discusses his first win in a suspended door slammer at an outlaw grudge race, highlighting the learning curve and differences from Top Fuel drag racing.