Read the whole article before you decide to buy or not buy parts....

Like I said in a previous post a lot of people are disappointed in their projects because they read snippets of a magazine article or read some quote from some "expert" on the internet and then spend money-or worse yet-don't buy parts they need because they didn't read the whole article. Here's some examples of why taking one paragraph of an article is a bad idea.  # 1. High-Performance Pontiac magazine did an article called "Junkyard Jewel" about building up a 455 that they bought from-duh-a junkyard. It came out of a '76 Gran Prix. It had 7.6:1 compression and was factory rated at 200 hp. They did some baseline testing on the stock engine and then started throwing parts at it. The first thing they did was put a set of headers on it. This showed exactly no gain on the dyno. Then they put an Edelbrock Performer intake on it. This also showed no gain. They were perplexed. Then they put a hot cam in it, and it LOST power! This further perplexed them.  Then,one of these geniuses figured out that with 7.6:1 compression and the lazy "smog" cam-the engine didn't breathe enough to NEED the headers and the intake upgrade. And that the "hot" cam effectively lowered the static compression ratio to like 6:1-which killed what little power it did have. They added a set of 87cc Edelbrock Heads. In addition to the better breathing the much smaller ( stock was 114cc ) combustion chambers bumped the compression from 7.6:1 to like 9.2:1. With the stock iron intake and stock manifolds it gained almost 100 hp, but was all done in by 4,400 rpm. After re-installing the headers and the Performer intake, they gained another 100 hp. And it pulled hard to 5,700 rpm!  After fiddling with the timing,carb jetting and distributor curve-they ended up with 440 hp and 467 lbs ft of torque!!  A gain of 240 hp!! Not bad for heads, cam, intake and headers on a junkyard motor!!  The '76 intake had the EGR valve intruding into the throttle opening, which severely restricted power above 4,000 rpm!! After this article came out I talked to a guy that had a disco-era T/A. I told him the three biggest improvements he could make would be a Performer intake, headers and dual exhausts and swapping the 2.56:1 gears for some 3.42:1s would make it really rock. "Maybe I'll change the gears, but I read in High-performance Pontiac that headers and the intake didn't help" Arrrggghhhh!!!!  I told him to read the WHOLE article-that the intake and headers did help immensely-just not on an engine with the wrong cam and 6:1 compression!!  # 2. This guy bought a set of headers for his truck and was aghast because it ran better with the stock manifolds. He'd read in Hot Rod that Hooker Headers with 2 1/ 4 inch primary tubes made the most power on a big block Chevy. Except the test mule was a 12:1 compression, 720 hp 572 inch stroker with a .714 lift solid roller cam!!  And even on the monster 572-these only showed a gain over 2 inch tubes above 5,500 rpm!!  Obviously, these huge headers killed the bottom-end and mid-range torque on his otherwise stock 454!! I told him-engines need some backpressure to run properly, and that he'd be much better off with 1 3/4 inch headers or 1 7/8 max, even if he added a bigger cam and intake!!  He went to 1 3/4 headers and was happy as a clam-the truck had noticably more power all through the range, and got better gas mileage too!  # 3. I had two disco-era T/A's back in the day. One had a 400 Pontiac and the other had a 403 Olds. My 403 Olds T/A blew the doors off many other surprised T/A  owners, including the owner of a 403 DKM "Macho", and a 400,4-speed Pontiac model. The way I did it was mine had headers and real dual exhausts, and a Holley "Street Dominator" intake. This vastly improved power, but it still wouldn't rev over 4,700 rpm. "Experts" in magazines said the 403s had a "lazy" cam, and that I'd have to change the cam, lifters, and valvesprings and get an adjustable valvetrain and roller rockers to do better, and that without a big cam change, the intake and exhaust upgrades wouldn't help. I figured out that 403s used AC R46SZ plugs which had an .080 gap. ( A longer spark burns cleaner and makes less smog ). Even GM's mighty HEI couldn't bridge an .080 gap at high rpm. By simply changing to R45S plugs-a .040 gap-the engine pulled hard to 5,400 rpm!! A gain of 700 rpm on the top end! This made a huge increase in performance. ( Obviously-I didn't need to change the cam and whole valvetrain! )  I also had a TransGo shift kit that would automatically kick down to low gear below 15 mph. So if another T/A and I were coming up to a light that turned green and we punched it-I'd be in low, and he'd still be in 2nd. All other things being equal-who's going to accelerate harder?  Then factor in the intake, exhaust and ignition changes-and you can see how I'd smoke supposedly "faster" cars. I simply maximized the performance of the car without spending a ton of money. 403s were rated at 185 hp stock. Mine dyno'd at 260!! An increase of 75 hp!!  I proved all the "Experts" wrong who said hopping up a 403 was a "waste of time" because of the 8:1 compression and "lazy" cam!!  # 4. A friend of mine was building a "Street Stock" claimer circle track 350 Chevy engine. Everyone told him you "Gotta Have" "2.02" heads. I gave him a set of '81-86 305 heads. The 58cc combustion chambers ( opposed to 76cc 350 heads ) bumped the compression on his L48 350 from 8.2:1 to 9.6:1. The 305 heads have 1.84 inch intake valves ( as opposed to 1.94 on standard 350 heads or 2.02 on hi-performance heads ). I told him the huge power and torque boost of the added compression would more than offset the slight loss of airflow of the slightly smaller intake valves. He was amazed at the power bump these "free" heads gave him. This left the money he would have spent on a set of heads to go for cam, exhaust, intake, and ignition. And he was still under the $1,500 rule. He won quite a few races beating people who had spent way more money on their engines-even though they'd lose it if someone excersised the "claim" rule. The point I'm making is, do some research and make sure you have ALL the information before you spend your hard-earned money, or discount a part or a procedure as a "waste of time." Mastermind