That could very well be. You approach things with a more scientific method than I did. Once I got into doing mods. I went for everything I saw that made since to me at the time. So I wound up with aftermarket head, decked jug, piston ramped at exhaust and transfers, skirt raised at intake.
Matched intake, exhaust, and jug to case. Knifed transfers at entry and cyl. window with removed castings. Opened up intake and exhaust ports. Added a delorto carb and expansion chamber. By jumping in head long some of my mods, may be hindering the benefits of the others.
I really should retrace my steps one at a time to eliminate misdirections.
Me too over the years Gary, or even worse, following blindly the advice of magazines or forums.
Magazines are nothing but a sales platform designed to sell parts to the largest advertizers. These advertizers only spend a tiny portion of their advertizing money on a page, the rest goes into wining and dining the editorial staff and giving event, dyno and parts access for the stories to get written. Some of the worst motors I put together were following a magazine formula of "add parts and stir".
Forums (like this) may or may not be as bad. Most are simply a chorus of well intentioned guys repeating what they heard and take as truth. Some forums are run as a marketing tool also, and intend to sway opinion toward purchasing. My son is on a Banshee forum that will tear you apart if you make it yourself rather than buy it. "That's whats destroying American business". What is destroying American business is not keeping up. Briggs vs Honda, know what I mean? Look at shifter kits. Once invented, hard to keep the copycats at bay, but if you keep improving! They cannot keep up. More rugged, easier to install, lighter, which will YOU buy?
Ah, I'm on a rant, aren't I?
Yup, I used to do it "all at once" too. Often on V8 motors with thousands of $$$ at stake.
It was my wife who pointed out that it was the motors I spent most on were the the most problematic.
The motors I build one part at a time evolved, refined, grew to work amazing.
This is a great example:
Started with a 1973 351C 4bbl motor, one part at a time, raised compression to all it could stand, just enough camshaft to allow a bit more, went bigger and then smaller on carbs. This car could spin tires to just shy of 100mph on the low octane that was available in 1978. It was a daily driver 145mph car that got reasonable fuel mileage. One step at a time. I later built a smallblock Ford that was almost undrivable following a magazine formula, because I had the money to do it. More money than brains.
So, these Chinese motors have given me the chance to double check everything I thought I knew. And you know, Some of it has been wrong.
There are authors not motivated by greed, but a thirst for knowledge, who have given away jewels of knowledge to anyone who could think. Ak Miller, Smokey Yunick, Larry Widmer, and of course Gord Jennings. Read, learn, experiment, learn more.
My tea is gone, break is over, back to work.
Steve
