More tips from the vault of vast experience...

Here's some more tidbits I've learned over the years that may save people some money or grief when restoring a car.  # 1. I don't like Holley carbs. Other people have had great success with them, but in 40 years I have never had much luck with Holleys. The power valves blow,the floats sink, they bleed over. The double-pumpers get horrible mileage even by musclecar standards. When I bought a ZZ4 GMPP crate engine a few years ago it came with a brand new 770 cfm Holley Avenger carb, supposed calibrated specifically for the ZZ4 by GM and Holley. It worked for about three weeks. Then the car became very hard to start when hot. I would have to crank and crank the engine to get it to start. Thank God I had a strong battery and starter! It also developed a stumble at low-speeds. I replaced it with a Jet Performance Quadrajet and the car ran flawlessly and started easy cold or hot. I've had this experience on many cars owned by me, or my friends or my customers. I have had great luck with Carter AFB's, with Edelbrock Performers, with Quadrajets, with Carter Thermo-Quads, and Demons. I'm not disparaging Holley Products-I'm just saying that I personally never had much luck with them. That's why I always recommend Edelbrock carbs-I've never had a problem with one of them.  # 2. I don't like Champion Spark Plugs. I've had great luck with AC, Autolite, and NGK plugs in domestic and import cars and motorcycles over the years. Champions seem to foul a lot. And it doesn't matter how rich or lean the carb is. I've had people with cars and bikes that ran horrible. Swapped the Champion plugs for Autolites or NGKs-ran like a champ. Again-other people swear by Champions. I swear at them. Just my experience. # 3. Don't use Auto Parts store Ignition components. I don't care if it's Autozone, Pep Boys, Napa or whatever-these "house brand" points don't work. They will close up, they'll bounce over 4,000 rpm won't hold a dwell setting. The rotors burn up, the caps arc between cylinders, the stuff is terrible. If your running a point-type distributor use Genuine AC-Delco points, condenser, rotor and cap on GM stuff, Motorcraft stuff on Fords and Mopar Performance stuff on Chryslers. Or use Accel, Mallory, or MSD parts. These premium brands have brass contacts instead of potmetal or aluminum, and the plastic is higher grade. Ditto for wires. The house brand wires break, they jump fire between cylinders, cause static in your radio, etc.  If your not using Delco, Motorcraft, or Mopar wires then use Borg-Warner, Accel, MSD, or Mallory. You'll get much better performance and reliability with the premium components. # 4. Use Hooker or Hedman or Doug Thorely Headers. These three brands have given me many years of trouble-free performance on various vehichles. Whenever I had a customer with major exhaust leaks, warped or cracked headers or constantly blowing exhaust gaskets, they invariably had some "off brand" of headers like Blackjack, Flow Tech, etc. When they switched to Hooker or Hedman, no more problems. They use a higher grade of steel to start with, their machining is better, their contact surfaces are straighter. If your going to put headers on your car-spend the 300 or so bucks for these. The $129 specials will give you nothing but grief-ill-fitting, leaking, cracking, etc.  #5. Don't use "House Brand" cams. I have never had a problem with Crane, Lunati, or Edelbrock Cams. People who have bought Summit cams, Chet Herbert cams, Howards cams, etc-have had them go flat in less than 3,000 miles, backfire through the carburator etc. Stick with the name brands. They flat work. Crane and Lunati offer exact replicas of classic musclecar cams both solid and hydraulic if you want to go that route. They also have some that are computer optimized and actually make more power and torque and retain good idle quality. Think-do you want a 1964 camshaft profile or a 2016 one?  Anyhow-I'm not disparaging certain products, I'm just stating what I've had good and bad luck with. And hopefully that will save people some money and hassle. Mastermind