More on overkill on Magazine Project cars and Reader's Rides.....

In the same vein of the last post-I don't know why people spend untold amounts of money on beef that they don't need. Some more examples-# 1. Why does every car featured in a magazine have to have a custom 9 inch Ford rearend? I mean honestly-In 40 years I have NEVER,EVER seen anyone break a Chrysler 8 3/4 rear under any circumstances!! I have a friend that has a Duster with a 505 inch engine with nitrous that runs low 10's. He's never had a problem with the rear end. Does that 1/4 inch on the ring gear really make that much difference? Ditto for GM cars. And I'm not talking about the vaunted "12 bolt" that was in late '60's and early '70's models. I'm talking about the 10 bolts with an 8.5 inch ring gear that was used from 1970-81 in Camaros and Firebirds, from '68-82 in Corvettes, and from '71-77 in "A" bodys and '71-79 in "X" bodys. I have had 455, 4-speed Trans-Ams that I popped the clutch at 4,000 rpm on regularly and never had an ounce of trouble with the rear end. I know guys with L88 427 'Vettes with a 4-speed and 4.56 gears that drop the clutch at 4,500 rpm and shift at 6,800-7,000 and have never broke the rear end. A buddy who lived in San Francisco and had a '70's Z/28 Camaro and lived on a hill would roll backward out of his driveway-and with the car still rolling backwards, drop the clutch at 3,500-4,000 rpm and smoke the tires all the way up the hill!! I know a guy that has an LS6 454 in a Nova with 5.14 gears that runs 11.01 in the 1/4 with drag radials and he hasn't broke the 10 bolt rear. You can buy C-clip eliminator kits that will keep the axle from coming out if it does break, but you'd have to have a mega-hp engine with wrinklewall slicks bolted to the rims,and traction bars and drop the clutch or release the trans-brake at 5,000 rpm or more to break one of these. It's nice that Currie builds these with GM and Mopar mounting points-if you have to have the best of everything-but unless you've got more than 600 hp-you don't really need it.  # 2. Transmissions. I know guys that have put 400 hp 383s in '80's Camaros with T5 5-speeds that lasted 13 months with him doing 30 hard passes a weekend at his local drags. If it had been a normal driver it probably would have lasted 5 years. I know guys with "5.0" Mustangs that are running 10s with nitrous and have not blown their T5 trannys that supposdly only have a 300 lb torque rating. I wouldn't put one behind a Rat motor-but for  the average 350 or 383 street motor-you should be fine. Buick Grand National racers run 11s with 200R4's. They like them because theirs not as much "drop" between 1st and 2nd gear. I know guys with RAIV 400 Pontiacs backed by 200R4s that run 12s with street tires. I know guys with 500 hp 351 Fords backed by C4s. I get tired of them listening to people that "Need" TH400s,727 Torqueflites, etc. # 3. Valvetrain and bottom end. I get tired of "Gotta haves". Yes if your building a NASCAR Nextel cup engine that has to go 7,800 rpm for 500 miles at Daytona, then yes, you need all the beef you can get. But otherwise-no. For example-everyone says you need screw-in rocker studs on a high-performance engine. I know guys that have run small-block Chevy and Ford engines in "Hobby Stock" "Street Stock" and "Super Stock" circle track and 1/4 mile classes for 20 years that have NEVER had a stud pull out of a head. I've seen broken pushrods and broken rocker arms, and broken timing chains, but I have NEVER seen a stud pull out of a head!!  The same with cranks. Bob Glidden and Dyno Don Nicholsen ran 9 second 351C powered Pro Stock cars in the '70's and '80's with stock nodular iron cranks, because neither Ford nor anyone else offered a forged crank!! Bud Moore and Bobby Isaac ran a 351C Torino in Nascar that went 7,600 rpm for 500 miles at Daytona with a stock crank. What I'm saying is-don't buy into the "Gotta Haves" that magazines push to stay in business-they have to sell their advertisers products. Mastermind