Still more on the path of most resistance....

Got a bunch more questions after the last post about projects that would be expensive at the least, and practically impossible at the worst. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to ridicule people for asking questions-but when I explain in detail why something isn't a good idea or would be so costly in dollars and time spent that your better off going in another direction entirely and they persist with their "Impossible Dream" it pisses me off.  And the people that come-up with these hair-brained ideas are never professional mechanics or engineers-a mechanic or an engineer would know better!!  These are always people who have no experience whatsoever working on a car, and they want to take on some huge project that requires a ton of money and or custom fabrication. And when you tell them their plan is not a good idea, or isn't even possible, they get all huffy and indignant. Here's a few that will amaze you. # 1. Home-built induction systems. I talked to two people who actually suggested casting their own intake manifold. The first one had a '64 Olds 442 that he wanted to put tri-power ( 3-2bbls ) on like a GTO. I explained that neither Oldsmobile or Edelbrock or Offenhauser or Weiand have never offered a tri-power manifold for the 330 / 350 / 403 Olds engines. I further explained that the late '50's / early '60's J-2 tri-power setups on the old 394 V8s wouldn't fit the later 400 / 425 / 455 engines because of the difference in deck height and that the '65 and later engines are a 39 degree bank angle which is different than the older ones, which is why the heads and intakes don't interchange. I did say that Oldsmobile did offer tri-power on the modern 400 for one year only-1966-but they were extremely rare, and it would be hard to find one for sale at any price. He wonders if someone would lend him their ultra-rare L69 1966 Olds Tri-power intake so he could take it to a foundry and they could fill it with sand and make a mold to custom cast him a replica. I replied that if you know someone who has an L69 442 and is willing to pull the intake and let you fill it with sand, then more power to you, but none of my friends are that accomodating!!  He then suggest getting a Pontiac tri-power intake, cutting the top off it, getting a 4-bbl Olds intake, cutting the bottom off it, welding the pieces together and taking that to a foundry to cast an aluminum intake. Well, first off-I say either factory or aftermarket Barry Grant Pontiac Tri-power intakes are not cheap, and it would be very hard to cut a cast-iron one in half and even harder to weld it back together, and you can't really weld aluminum because it melts-I know there's very specialized shops that CAN weld aluminum-but are they going to be willing to mess with some guys ill-fated home-built intake manifold project, and how much are they going to charge?  I just don't see how it's feasible in any way shape or form, either mechanically or financially. He calls me a "naysayer". Ok. Had a similar conversation with another genius that had a small-block Chevy. He wanted to know if you could adapt carburators to an '82-84 Cross-Fire Injection manifold. Why? I ask. If you've got a Corvette or Camaro / Firebird that has that induction system-you can use larger 454 truck throttle bodies and with a little tuning that setup can handle 350-400 hp reliably. If you want dual-quads-Edelbrock makes excellent dual-quad intakes for small-block Chevys. He says "Yes, but their inline" "I love the Cross-ram look". I reply that it will probably be pricey-$1,500 or more- but if he's "Gotta Have" a cross-ram setup to check Hemmings and the internet-that occasionally you see someone selling an original Chevy Cross-ram intake and 600 holley setup that was optional on '67-69 Z/28s and that Chevy dealers sold over-the-counter to racers. This guy then wonders if anyone makes adapters to mount carbs where the throttle bodies go on the Cross-Fire intake, or if it would feasible to try to cast your own-if you could find a '69 Z/28 Cross-ram intake that someone is willing to let you pound sand into and around to make the mold!!!  I know marijuana is legal now in most states-but what strain are these guys smoking??  # 2. Mid-engine "Kit Car". This guy had a friend who was selling an old "Manta Ray" kit car. They were popular back in the '70's and '80's. Daniel-Hugh Kelly drove one on the TV show "Hardcastle&McCormack". They looked like a Can-Am racer. A lot were VW based, but they also sold some custom frames that could use a V8. I know three people that built them. One guy used a 327 Chevy mated to a Corvair transaxle. That one worked pretty good. Another guy used the Corvair transaxle, but he'd adapted it to a 215 inch Aluminum Buick V8 out of a '63 Skylark. That worked pretty well too. The third guy used a 455 Olds and a Toronado transaxle. Since the car only weighed about 2,300 lbs it was ungodly fast. I suggested either using the Small-block Chevy / Corvair transaxle setup or the Toronado / Eldorado transaxle with a 400 Pontiac and aluminum heads to keep the weight down. "What about an aluminum 427 Chevy?"  he asks. Ugh!!  "Well, I know GMPP is selling 427s with aluminum blocks and heads, but they cost about 20 grand." Plus-a Corvair transaxle is barely strong enough to stand up to a mild 350-a 427 would break it the first time you got on it."  "The Toronado transaxle is tough enough to stand up to a 455 Olds, or Pontiac-but the bellhousing bolt pattern on Chevy engines is totally different from BOPC ( Buick, Olds, Pontiac, and Cadillac ) engines." "The Chevy won't bolt up." "Trust me, even an 8:1 bone-stock '77 400 Pontiac would run 12s in that ultra light car." "Does anyone make an adapter kit?"  "To mate Chevy engines to BOP bellhousings or vice-versa?" "No!!"  With millions of factory and Lakewood bellhousings and millions of TH350 / 400s  out there why would they??!!  I then suggest if he wants to save money and be cool that he go to a junkyard and get a Supercharged 3.8 V6 and the wiring harness and the transaxle out of a Buick Riviera or Pontiac Bonneville SSEI. 240 hp would make the 2,300 lb fiberglass wonder a rocket, and get 25 mpg. "But Can-Am cars didn't have Buick V6s or Pontiac V8s, they had big-block Chevys!" He sneers. "But your not restoring a Can-Am racer-it's a kit car." "It's a replica anyway." "I'll find a way to run the Rat motor." "I'm not trying to be rude-never mind cost-I don't see how you can." "Nobody makes a transaxle."  "You just don't understand." He's right, I don't.  Mastermind