What NOT to do..............

Unit 5302 · 03-16-2002, 01:36 PM

I don't blame people for making poor modification choices as much anymore. Seems like a lot of kids learn from their dad's on how to modify cars, and a lot of the dad's that knew exactly what to do back in 1970 now know very little about how newer cars work. Most of them don't even want to know.

Like Mr 5 0 stated about the magazine claims. 25hp here, 15hp there. Usually the claims are made on highly modified engines being held back by one stock part they replace, or the gains they quote are at 5800rpm where most stock 5.0's won't see in a drag race.

Lack of understanding in regards to how the newer EFI systems work, and engine dynamics in general have a large part in mismatched combos. I see mismatched combinations on this site all the time. Many times a thread made wondering why a car is running so poorly, or is so slow when the owner has thrown so much money at it winds up being a mismatch.

CAI, 73mm MAF, 70mm T/B, stock intake, X cam, stock heads, equal shorties, stock H, and 2.5" exhuast.

Combinations like that are painful to see because there is no easy or inexpensive way to fix the issues. I don't like telling people, "You've got a 14sec car with $2k in mods because you made the wrong mods. To fix this problem you're gonna need to spend $1500." Most of the time the combination was inspired by magazines, or their buddy, or sometimes just lack of research.

I love it when a new person pops on here and says they are thinking about the above combo because their friend said this, and the magazine said that because it gives the guys and gals on this site a chance to save the newbie from hundreds or thousands of dollars of useless modifications. There are just a ton of people on this site that know the ins and outs of building and racing cars that can set people straight or help out.

The final thing I can think of I've seen cause real problems is propaganda. Speed Density cars cannot be modded, camming the stock 5.0 will add power, o-ringed heads are necessary with any power adder, any heads/cam/intake combo will make 400-500hp on a 5.0, first gen 4.6L GT's are expensive and difficult to put into the 12's and 13's, simply slapping on a supercharger will make your 5.0 the fastest car around, removing the smog pump on a car with cats is a good idea, a 160* thermostat will make a stock car run faster/better, etc. The word on the street says a lot of those statements are true when guys who have done some research know them to be false.

Lotsa BS out there. Hopefully those kinds of posts will continue to decline.

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03-16-2002, 01:36 PM	#13
Unit 5302 Registered Member Join Date: May 1999 Posts: 5,246	I don't blame people for making poor modification choices as much anymore. Seems like a lot of kids learn from their dad's on how to modify cars, and a lot of the dad's that knew exactly what to do back in 1970 now know very little about how newer cars work. Most of them don't even want to know. Like Mr 5 0 stated about the magazine claims. 25hp here, 15hp there. Usually the claims are made on highly modified engines being held back by one stock part they replace, or the gains they quote are at 5800rpm where most stock 5.0's won't see in a drag race. Lack of understanding in regards to how the newer EFI systems work, and engine dynamics in general have a large part in mismatched combos. I see mismatched combinations on this site all the time. Many times a thread made wondering why a car is running so poorly, or is so slow when the owner has thrown so much money at it winds up being a mismatch. CAI, 73mm MAF, 70mm T/B, stock intake, X cam, stock heads, equal shorties, stock H, and 2.5" exhuast. Combinations like that are painful to see because there is no easy or inexpensive way to fix the issues. I don't like telling people, "You've got a 14sec car with $2k in mods because you made the wrong mods. To fix this problem you're gonna need to spend $1500." Most of the time the combination was inspired by magazines, or their buddy, or sometimes just lack of research. I love it when a new person pops on here and says they are thinking about the above combo because their friend said this, and the magazine said that because it gives the guys and gals on this site a chance to save the newbie from hundreds or thousands of dollars of useless modifications. There are just a ton of people on this site that know the ins and outs of building and racing cars that can set people straight or help out. The final thing I can think of I've seen cause real problems is propaganda. Speed Density cars cannot be modded, camming the stock 5.0 will add power, o-ringed heads are necessary with any power adder, any heads/cam/intake combo will make 400-500hp on a 5.0, first gen 4.6L GT's are expensive and difficult to put into the 12's and 13's, simply slapping on a supercharger will make your 5.0 the fastest car around, removing the smog pump on a car with cats is a good idea, a 160* thermostat will make a stock car run faster/better, etc. The word on the street says a lot of those statements are true when guys who have done some research know them to be false. Lotsa BS out there. Hopefully those kinds of posts will continue to decline.