$2,000 for 30 hp? Like Ditka says-"Come on Man!"

I saw an article in High Performance Pontiac magazine about how they intalled a hydraulic roller cam in a 462 powered '70's T/A. It was admittedly a "Built" motor to begin with-429 hp and 544 lbs of torque on the dyno. They were happy that with no other changes, it picked up 30 horsepower. However-unlike later model small and big block Chevys, small-block Fords, and Mopar "Magnum" engines, Pontiacs never had roller cams as original equipment. Thus, all the parts for the conversion cost a total of $1,945!!!  Are you kidding me? 2 grand for a cam change?!  My brother and I built the 400 in his GTO for 2 grand from a junkyard core out of a 74 Gran Prix. On the dyno it cranked out 381 hp and 422 lbs of torque.  Another guy in his Goat club built a 400 that dyno'd 440 hp and 460 lbs of torque for $4,400, and that included $1,700 for aluminum Edelbrock heads!!  What are the editors thinking?  They should recommend parts that offer the most bang for the buck. A Performer Rpm intake manifold costs $219 through Summit Racing and makes 40 more hp than a stock intake. A set of Hedman Headers for a '70's Firebird costs $286 through Summit and ads 50 hp over stock iron exhaust manifolds. And they think 2K for 30 hp is worthwhile?  For 2 grand they could buy a balanced rotating assembly to stroke a 400 to 461 inches which will make a lot more than 30 ponies. As will the previously mentioned patterned after Ram Air IV Edelbrock Heads. I'd have stuck with a regular $300 hydraulic cam and spent the other $1700 on a high stall converter, some stiffer gears, a set of headers and new exhausts-( for some reason this car was built with stock iron exhaust manifolds) and maybe traction bars and drag radials to put all that power to the ground. I think these magazine writers say good things about certain parts because they stay in business off their advertising dollars. But they don't realize how stupid they sound sometimes. In another issue they said how great a fuel injection system was that cost 3 grand, and only made 8 hp and 17 lbs of torque more than the $600 Edelbrock Performer intake and carb combo it replaced. So do some research before you lay out your hard earned cash for some "State of the Art" thing that offers a minimal gain for a lot of dollar outlay. Mastermind