What part of "Bang for the Buck" are you people not grasping?

I get a lot of flack from people about the opinions I voice on here and most of the time I just ignore them. If some yahoo that drives a Dodge Ram pickup with a sticker of Calvin ( of the comic strip "Calvin&Hobbes ) pissing on a Chevy Bow-Tie wants to tell me that Mopars rule and Chevys suck then that's his opinion and I'll just forget it. Like one of Murphy's Laws-"Never argue with an idiot because people might not know the difference."  That aside, what really burns me up is people saying that I'm too "Old School" and I'm just against anything modern. Really? How many times have I recommended that people use "Vortec" heads when building a small-block Chevy or "Magnum" heads when building a small-block Chrysler?  How many times have I recommended that someone with a GM product should use an HEI distributor instead of a point-type? Or use the Petronix conversion that fits under a point-type cap?  How many times have I recommended that someone with a GM car that has a 2-speed Powerglide / ST300 trans should swap it for a 3-speed TH350? What I'm saying here is I always recommend stuff that offers the most value for the dollar-or as we always say "Bang for the Buck". For example I think aftermarket fuel-injection systems are grossly overpriced. They start at $2,000 in most cases, and for anything other than a small-block Chevy the price is often over $3,000-3,500. Why would you do that when an Edelbrock manifold costs about $200 for most applications and an Edelbrock or Holley carb costs about $400. For $600 "Joe Average" can bolt on his new carb and intake in a couple hours in his driveway with hand tools, and it will run like a champ. Or he can spend 3 or 4 grand and countless hours trying to get the fuel curve right, and it won't run any better, or in some cases not as good as the simple carb and intake!!  High-Performance Pontiac did a comparison test on a hot 455. The fuel injection system cost $3,895 and made 15 hp LESS than the Performer RPM / 850 Holley combo!!  Now why would you spend Four grand to make LESS power??  I think fuel-injection is great-if you have a car that's fuel-injected from the factory-say an '80's or 90's "5.0" or 4.6 Mustang, or an LB9 or L98 Camaro, Firebird or Corvette, ( or later LS models )-they run great stock, and Holley, Accel, Edelbrock, and Trick Flow offer ported manifolds, larger throttle bodies, etc that work in CONJUNCTION with the factory system. I wholeheartedly endorse those products. However I just can't bring myself to tell someone to spend $3,500 on a whole new fuel-injection system that doesn't work as well as a simple $600 carb and intake setup!!!   I know I gripe about people doing it all the time-but if you just ":Gotta Have" fuel-injection on your '67 Mustang-go to a junkyard and get the engine and wiring harness out a wrecked "5.0" and have fun. And this validates my point further-I guarantee the engine, wiring harness and T5 tranny from an '87-95 Mustang-won't cost 4 grand from a junkyard!!!  Another one that irks me is overdrive transmission swaps. Richmond or Tremec 5 or 6-speed conversions cost about 3 grand on up. So your cruising rpm at 70 mph on the freeway will be 600 rpm less? Honestly-if your car came from the factory with a 4 or 5-speed-why can't you just use that?  Or spend 300 bucks changing the rear-axle ratio, rather than 3 grand changing the tranny. Hot Rod did the Tremec swap on "Project Disco". Why? The Car was a '79 Z/28 Camaro. '79 Z/28's had either a BW T10 4-speed or a TH350. Nothing less than stellar to begin with, and either would have worked just fine with the hot rod LS engine they were using. In my opinion they spent ten grand on this car that they didn't need to. 3 for the tranny, and another 3 for the 9 inch Ford rearend. I've said it a million times-Z/28's have an excellent 8.5 inch ring gear 10-bolt Posi from the factory. I've had 400, 4-speed T/A's ( they use the same rear ) that I abused mercilessly and NEVER had an ounce of trouble with the rear end!!  Then they went for the Wildwood 4-wheel disc brake setup that cost another 3 or 4 grand. Again, why? 1970-81 Camaros and Firebirds have excellent brakes to begin with-11" inch rotors up front and 9.5 or 10 inch drums in the rear. I've said it before-I know circle-track racers that run Camaros and have run an 8-lap heat race,a 25 lap semi, and a 50 lap main event back to back to back on a 1/4 mile track  and the brakes never,ever faded, even with the rotors glowing red!  All we had to do was run Dot 5 fluid and semi-metallic "Police" pads! Are the staffers at Hot Rod saying that this system can't stop the car safely in daily driving or on a weekend trip to the drags??  No-they have to showcase their advertisers products to stay in business. That's what I'm saying- a lot of "Gotta Haves" you see in magazines are unnecessary.  Another thing is Roller cams. Most cars built since the '80's have roller cams from the factory. So if your hot rodding a small-block Ford or Chevy from '87 and later or a '92 and later "Magnum" Mopar-Edelbrock, Competition Cams, Lunati, and other companies offer high-performance roller cams for these engines at reasonable prices. But if your building an engine that had a flat-tappet cam from the factory the shoe is on the other foot. Often the parts alone to convert say a 400 Pontiac or a 440 Chrysler or 390 Ford-or anything other than a small-block Chevy- to a roller vavletrain cost $2,000 or more!! Why should you spend 2 grand instead of 3 or 400 for a cam, that isn't going to make any more power or be more reliable than the flat-tappet??!!  That's all I'm saying. Consider the cost versus the gain. Mastermind