Realize the difference between what sells magazines and what works in the real world!!

As hot rod enthusiasts we are constantly bombarded every month with new products, and more and more expensive, radical project cars. This doesn't mean were behind the times, or inadequate, that's what they have to do to sell magazines. Look at it this way-You bought a "Maxim" magazine because they had a layout of Eva Longoria ( "Desperate Housewives" ) barefoot in a bikini and talking about how she likes being tied up in bed!  If the photo shoot had been her in a down jacket, jeans, and ski boots, and the interview about her recipe for Christmas cookies you wouldn't have bought it!!  "Guns & Ammo" has former Police officers Evan Marshall and Masaad Ayoob writing about their gunfights with drug dealers, not how to reload .22 ammunition and save five bucks.  It's the same with the Car magazines. They have to feature radical, blown, nitroused, slammed cars on the cover to get your attention, and they have to run articles about fuel injection systems and six-speed transmissions and aftermarket rack&pinions and their wonderful benefits. If the writer actually said-"Yeah, it's cool but I wouldn't spend $3,500 to drop 600 rpm in freeway cruising speed." or "The 850 Holley / Edelbrock Performer RPM combo actually made 15 MORE hp on the dyno and cost $650 compared to $2,995 for the injection"  Their advertisers would want to kill them and they'd be out of business pretty quick. So you need to keep this in mind when you start laying out a project. Do you want to go really fast or be state of the art?  You can do both, but it's very expensive. Most of us would rather go really fast and save all that extra money to use on paint and bodywork, or a truck and trailer to tow it with or maybe even a boat or a motorcycle. That's where today's advice comes in. Here's a few good examples of how to save tons of money and grief, and still go really fast. # 1. Just because it's possible doesn't mean you have to do it. Yes, you can put a 460 into a Fox-bodied Mustang but why would you want to? I know plenty of people that run in the 11s, or even the 10s with the 302 that came in the car, or a 347 inch 302 based stroker. The 460 conversion is an SOB to do, costs big bucks, and ruins the handling of the car by by making it way nose-heavy, and honestly doesn't go any faster than you can with a 302. Yes, I've seen the 460 / 514 conversions in the 9s at drag meets. I've also seen 302 / 347 'Stangs in the 9s as well, so that dog won't hunt. There's personality types that have to have the biggest of everything no matter what, even if it costs more and doesn't perform as well as something less obnoxious or ostentatious.  # 2. Sometimes "Low Tech" is better. Edelbrock, Holley and Accel all sell aftermarket fuel-injection systems for most popular musclecar engines. Yes, once you get them dialed-in, they work great. Except most of them cost between $1995 and $3895 depending on application and accessories, and don't make any more power than a simple $600 carb and intake combo. Personally I'd rather have the extra 2 or 3 grand to spend on heads, cam, gears, exhaust, tires and wheels, etc. This also applies to aftermarket aluminum heads and roller cams. Yes, Edelbrock and Trick Flow and Dart all make high-performance heads for most popular engines. The downside is for anything other than a small-block Chevy they cost nearly 2 grand a pair or more. If your restoring a 400 Trans-Am, your going to get a lot more performance gain from spending that 2K on a cam, carb and intake, exhaust, and maybe some stiffer gears than you will from the heads alone. Even for small-block Chevy builders-you can buy a pair of brand-new iron Vortec heads ( which breathe better than any factory head and many aftermarket ones ) from GMPP for $650. You can't hardly get your old ones refinished at a machine shop for that, and that's way less than the $1000 on up that everyone wants for SBC aluminum heads. If your building a 1987-up small-block Chevy or Ford that had a roller cam from the factory, your in business. But roller cam conversions for anything else run up to $1,800. That's a lot more than the $300 that the average flat-tappet hydraulic cam kit costs from Crane, Comp Cams, Isky, etc. And again-the power gain-if any-doesn't justify the extra expense. But it sounds cool to say you have a roller cam.  # 3. Unless you have Donald Trump's bank account, stay away from Nitrous. And even if you do, then just build a bigger motor.  Forget the "Fast&Furious" movies, unless you spend a ton of money-all nitrous does is turn your engine into a grenade. Here's why: When you force nitrous oxide into the combutstion chambers you lean out the fuel mixture drastically which raises the tempurature of the combustion chamber, causes detonation, and can turn the spark into a laser-beam that can melt your piston crowns in seconds. To run nitrous properly you have to have an auxilary fuel system-i.e.-separate fuel pump and lines, and solenoids to kick it on at the proper time, and manage the extra fuel flow properly. You'll need an upgraded ignition like a Jacobs or MSD, and an adjustable control box. that lets you change the timing from inside the car. Why? For every 50 hp of nitrous you need to retard your timing 2 degrees. That means a 200 hp shot needs the timing backed up 8 degrees. You can't drive around like that off the bottle, the car will run like shit. And you can't pull over and open the hood, and adjust your distributor every time you want to jump some fool from a light. You'll also need to have it set up electronically to delay nitrous delivery for a few seconds. If you get full-throttle and full nitrous right off the bat, all you'll do is blow the tires off.  That's a lot of money and engineering and honestly-how often are you really going to make a run with nitrous? I said it best in an article I wrote about building a hot small-block Chevy a few years ago. I recommended cast pistons for almost any application. I said I would only recommend forged pistons if you were planning to run a blower or nitrous. My question then is-If you have that much money and need to go THAT fast-"Why aren't you building a 454 instead of a 350?"  # 4. If your not running the car in a Nextel cup race at 8,000 rpm for 500 miles at Daytona, then it doesn't need to be built like you are. Why does every car in a magazine regardless of make need a custom 9 inch Ford rearend?  In 35 years of driving and racing, I've never broken a GM 10 bolt rear end and that includes 400, 4-speed Trans-Ams that I popped the clutch incessantly on. I have friends with 440 4-speed Chargers, and one with a 505 inch Duster that have never, ever broken an 83/4 Chrysler rear. I know Mustang racers that run in the 10s with drag radials and never had an ounce of trouble with the stock 8.8 diff. Ditto for brakes-Why does every car HAVE to have a Wildwood or Baer 4-wheel disc setup worthy of a Formula 1 car? The stock front disc / rear drum or 4-wheel disc system on most '70's and '80's cars isn't adequate to stop the car safely in daily driving or on a weekend trip to the drags? Like Ditka says-"Come on, Man!!"  Think about the "Bang for the Buck" your getting and you'll save thousands of dollars, and have a more reliable, better driving car. Mastermind