People dropping FI setups like hot potatoes
I'm not saying that you're wrong here...but as you know, this is contrary to the standard wisdom for most setups, especially engines that make their power at lower RPMs, especially with automatic transmissions.
So what does it mean to do it "correctly?"
"Standard wisdom" has been wrong for decades.
I've posted this before, but I will give just two examples of how this works.
The first engine I did was in high school, for a kid from a different school. I had no idea what to use for parts to get what this kid wanted. He wanted a low 13 second 318.
So I called my local Direct Connection dealer to find out what I needed. I told him what I had to work with, and I wanted. We had a 318 and a duster. And an 8.75 rear with 3.55 gears.
So...I was told to buy the 284/.484 cam, put it in straight up. Use a Strip Dominator and Hooker 5204 headers. A 4777 Holley with the choke tower milled off. Get a set of 1.88 valve 360 heads. And change to 3.90 gears.
So I went to my local parts store to order the headers and intake manifold. After a long grind on how stupid I was, and how I must have misunderstood what I was told, and that if I used those parts, the car would be so slow it wouldn't pull a hat off your head. So they made me call the DC guy back.
And I did. And he said the parts guys are ignorant. That's what you need. Tell them to F.O. and order the parts. So that's what I did. All the idiots laughed and said we don't want any crying when the thing is a pig.
It went together and it ran like mad. We never did get the 3.90 gears in there. But it didn't matter. It ran just what he wanted.
"Standard wisdom" was wrong.
My brother bought a 69 Dart that had a fresh engine in it by a local guy. It had a Torker on it, and some purple cam, I forget which one. At any rate, I knew the Torker was a porker and I wanted to change it to a Strip Dominator. All the "standard wisdom" fools wanted him to use some junk dual plane intake. So I made him a deal. I'd do all the work and we would use a SD and if the car went slower, I'd buy the SD from him and put on whatever intake he wanted.
We went to the track and made a bunch of passes for a base line. The car, with street tires you could leave at 3200 and work the clutch and the car was in the 13 teens.
All I did was add the SD and back to the track we go. With the SD the car is now running 13.30's and my brother is not happy. I can see what's happening, and I want him to work through it, but he was blind to "standard wisdom". He couldn't get through his head that it was his driving that was killing his E.T. and not the SD.
So I told him go out and leave at 2000 and work the clutch and see what happens. And guess what?? The car dropped into the 12's.
The SD made so much more power in the 2500-3500 RPM range that it was knocking the tires loose and killing his E.T. Again, with an intake manifold that "standard wisdom" says is a high RPM only intake.
I can recount dozens more examples of replacing DP and inferior single plane intakes on cars with SD and similar intakes and never once did they lose power or driveability. Not one.
And since you asked, I'll tell you what correct is not. It's easier.
If you think you need hot exhaust gases under the intake manifold to make power, you should follow "standard wisdom".
If you think a cam with an LSA of less than 110 isn't a street cam, you need to follow "standard wisdom".
If you think a cam from a catalog is better than a cam that is custom ground, then "standard wisdom" is better for you.
If you think putting a bunch of corners in an intake tract makes more "torque", then you need to operate on "standard wisdom".
If you don't understand how an ignition curve and intial timing affect driveability as much, or more than than a QUALITY single plane intake, "standard wisdom" is what you should follow.
If you actually want to make power and clean up distribution issues and have driveability then you need to cam accordingly and NOT blow the LSA out, rather than reduce intake duration, add exhaust duration and then blow out the LSA to try and get your RPM back. That is the biggest killer of low speed power and driveability there is. Even the much respected (and he earned the respect he is given no doubt) Billy Godbold of Comp says the same thing.
The intake manifold gets blamed for just straight junk cams and cam timing. And yet, like a dog returning to his own vomit, guys keep buying these junk grinds, handicapping their engines with them, and then blaming the intake manifold for cam issues.
"Standard wisdom" is wrong.
