Sometimes "Low Tech" is the way to go.....

Still hearing from people saying I'm a "Techno-phobe" and too "Old school." I'll say it again-I have nothing against technology-if it offers the most performance improvement for the lowest cost. Let me re-iterate the Article from High-Performance Pontiac magazine-they tested an aftermarket fuel-injection system on a stout 455 Pontiac engine. It made 558 hp, and cost $3,800. The Edelbrock Performer RPM manifold costs $249 and the 850 Holley carb cost-$499. This combo made 573 hp-15 hp MORE than the fuel injection setup. Explain to me why I should spend an extra $3,150 to make LESS power?  If the difference was only $100-200 then the "Cool factor" might swing it-and let's face it-on a 550+ hp engine your not going to notice 15 hp one way or the other. But a difference of $3,000??!!  Think of this-if your building an "Ultimate" Street / Strip or Pro Touring car- 3 grand will buy you a complete with shifter, crossmember, driveshaft yoke, speedo cable, everything-Tremc 5-speed overdrive transmission set-up. Or a complete Currie 9 inch Ford Rearemd with a Posi, GM mounting points and any gear ratio you want from 3.08:1 to 5.14:1. Whether it's a Chevy, Ford, Mopar, Olds or Pontiac-three grand will buy a complete Edelbrock "Top-End" kit-which includes Aluminum Performer RPM heads, a Performer RPM or Torker II Intake, a Performer RPM cam, lifters, timing chain, and all the bolts and gaskets to install it. That's what I'm saying-the "Bang for the Buck" factor is wildly in favor of the $750 carb and intake combo as opposed to the $3,800 injection system. Here's another example-Hot Rod magazine wanted to get more power out of the ZZ4 350 Chevy crate engine in one of their staffer's '34 Ford street rod. If you don't know-the ZZ4 is pretty hopped up in stock trim-10:1 compression, hydraulic roller cam with .474 / .510 lift, aluminum heads, Z/28 / LT1 aluminum intake, 770 cfm Holley "Street Avenger" carb and a performance curved HEI distributor. Their rated at 355 hp and 418 lbs of torque by GMPP. What makes them such a great street engine is the fact that it makes more than 350 lbs of torque from 1,800-5,200 rpm. Anyway-the guy wanted more power than that-so they started throwing parts at it. A single plane intake and bigger carb gained them 28 hp. A hotter cam gained them another 27. Right now they've gained 55 hp for $400. The guy had the bigger carb in his garage, and the intake was roughly $200 and the cam was roughly $200 through Summit Racing. 55 hp for 400 bucks and a few hours work is a worthwhile investment if your looking for extra speed. Then they spent $1,400 on a set of  215 cc Trick Flow aluminum heads. Here's where they hit the wall of diminishing returns. The "Antiquated" 163cc GMPP L98 heads were within 5 hp and 5 lbs ft of torque at every rpm level up to 4,500!! In fact-the Trick Flows didn't show a noticeable gain-i.e. at least 20 hp-until 4,900 rpm. And in all honesty-how much faster is a car with 400 hp going to run than a car with 380? Not enough to notice in the seat of your pants or in a timeslip. Be honest. In your street machine / weekend cruiser how often are you going to be above 5,000 rpm?  Finally at 6,100 rpm the Trick Flows showed a 40 hp gain. Think-40 hp in an 1,200 rpm window. In an all-out drag car that might be worth 3-4 tenths. But in a street machine? Honestly how much faster is a car with 440 hp going to be than a car with "only" 400?  When you factor in traction, gear ratios, converter stall speed, shift points, driver skill, air quality, track conditions,-it's a crapshoot. Either car could win. They didn't say anything about the cars drivetrain, tires or suspension. If he was running a Powerglide certainly spending that $1,400 on a B&M or TCI TH350 and performance converter would give him a massive performance gain. Way more than the heads. If he was running an open rear end and street tires- investing in an Eaton posi unit, some traction bars and some drag radials would substantially lower his e.t. for less than $1,400. For less than $1,400 he could add a well-planned 200 hp Nitrous system-i.e. with an auxillary fuel pump, throttle-position operated solenoids, with MSD or Jacobs ignition so he could adjust the timing by turning a knob on the dash. 200 extra hp at the flick of a switch would make him a lot faster than that 40 hp above 5 grand.  Here's another good example- Super Chevy tested a GMPP 454 HO crate engine. Same thing-425 hp and 500 lbs of torque wasn't enough. They started throwing parts at it. An Edelbrock Performer RPM intake made 20 more hp than the GMPP dual plane. Then they switched to a hotter cam and picked up another 40. Now tantalizingly close to that magic 500 hp number with very little work-they put some 1.8:1 Crane Roller Rockers on it. It actually lost a ton of power and had valve float as low as 4,000 rpm. They attributed it to the stock heads "zero lash" setup. They put in regular 1.7:1 factory stamped steel long-slot adjustable rockers and studs. GMPP sells these kits, and they can be easily installed on Gen V / VI Rat motors without machine work. The power level came back to normal and it pulled hard to 6,200 rpm. Then they swapped on some aftermarket heads and an even bigger cam. Now it pulled hard to 6,600 and was well over the 550 hp mark. They tried the roller rockers again and even on the aftermarket heads-they lost 100 hp and had valve float at 4,400 rpm. Why?  Because the roller rockers made the valvetrain too heavy for the hydraulic roller cam and springs they were running. They put the stamped steel stock rockers back on, and the power came right back. The lesson learned- #1 If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The stock rockers were working fine with well over 500 hp-why mess with them? # 2. The high-tech 1.8:1 Gold Roller Rockers were too heavy and just didn't work on this engine. Now if it had been a MKIV with a traditional solid-lifter or hydraulic flat-tappet cam-the high lift rockers might have added as much as 30 hp-because the valvetrain would have been much lighter. On the Gen VI-with a heavy roller valvetrain-no dice. I'm fine with "High-Tech" if works better than something "Low-Tech". I.E-I much prefer Tuned Port Injection to a throttle body-they make way more power and torque and are much more tunable, and will feed a 500 hp engine with the right components. The 470 cfm TBI can barely feed an 8.5:1 305 and they really choke off even a 9:1 350. So if I buy an '85-92 Camaro or T/A and swap a 383 into it-I'll use the TPI instead of a carburator. Hope that clears things up. Mastermind