Is there ever "never any more" ???

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318willrun

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A set combo, with no major changes. "Wow, you did good for your combo! You got the most out of it!". I don't believe that the most has been gotten out of any combo. Not the engine. Not the TC/Transmission. Not the suspension/body. Hidden in all the components, there is tenths..... or hundredths... or even thousands.
 
Start with the obvious. The engine compartment. But the engine is the forest. Now we have to look at the trees that make up the forest, and this is where most stop. But branches make up the trees. When I look under a hood of a car I am tuning, I see per say a distributor. But not just timing. I see initial/ramp/total, phasing, delivery, consistency, etc. If every component (tree in the forest) is broken down by it's branches, then we begin to realize how much time it takes to tune. It's exhausting but fun and very rewarding. Very few will do it anymore, much easier to buy more performance parts.
 
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So ask yourself, "How fast can my car really go?". The answer is "we don't know, because nobody has ever reached the end of the road". But wherever you are at, that ET can be whittled down, because I highly doubt every single component of every compartment including suspension has been 100% maximized.
 
I agree on all counts. There's always something left on the table. The thing is, to build the car how you want and not give a **** about it.
 
I agree on all counts. There's always something left on the table.
And it pushes me to wondering.... "how fast could a simple combo really go?". Somebody runs 12.50's with a car and most think it should go 12.9's, so he has done well. But what about 12.3's, is that in it? So 12.3's is reached, why not 12.10? Is a 11.99 really in that combo? By then, nobody believes it is what it is, but it actually is ... lol. So is there a stopping point? Who knows... But I do know it cost hours and hours of a person's life and some money test'n'tun'n to try and find out!
 
And it pushes me to wondering.... "how fast could a simple combo really go?". Somebody runs 12.50's with a car and most think it should go 12.9's, so he has done well. But what about 12.3's, is that in it? So 12.3's is reached, why not 12.10? Is a 11.99 really in that combo? By then, nobody believes it is what it is, but it actually is ... lol. So is there a stopping point? Who knows... But I do know it cost hours and hours of a person's life and some money test'n'tun'n to try and find out!
The key is just don't care what anyone "believes" and do your own thing.
 
And it pushes me to wondering.... "how fast could a simple combo really go?". Somebody runs 12.50's with a car and most think it should go 12.9's, so he has done well. But what about 12.3's, is that in it? So 12.3's is reached, why not 12.10? Is a 11.99 really in that combo? By then, nobody believes it is what it is, but it actually is ... lol. So is there a stopping point? Who knows... But I do know it cost hours and hours of a person's life and some money test'n'tun'n to try and find out!
This is why......as you know the engine is actually the LEAST of the package. The rest of the car is far more important.
 
How much time and money to throw at it.

And best ET fans will sacrifice drivability or mileage and those are real things. Depends on the intended duty and use of the car.

How much weight are you removing?

Remember a magazine that dismantled a 64 imperial to see how quick it would go?
 
A set combo, with no major changes. "Wow, you did good for your combo! You got the most out of it!". I don't believe that the most has been gotten out of any combo. Not the engine. Not the TC/Transmission. Not the suspension/body. Hidden in all the components, there is tenths..... or hundredths... or even thousands.
That's true, I think " the most out of it " could just be someone's level of their build, but there is always more I think left in a car.
 

Supposedly, the math doesn't work out on what a modern Pro Stock car runs as opposed to the hp that a modern Pro Stock engine produces. That's probably the best example of tuning an entire car to maximize the performance. It's so much more than just "the sum of the parts."
 
How much time and money to throw at it.

And best ET fans will sacrifice drivability or mileage and those are real things. Depends on the intended duty and use of the car.

How much weight are you removing?

Remember a magazine that dismantled a 64 imperial to see how quick it would go?
Drivability and milage lol...this is the RACERS FORUM.
 
Start with the obvious. The engine compartment. But the engine is the forest. Now we have to look at the trees that make up the forest, and this is where most stop. But branches make up the trees. When I look under a hood of a car I am tuning, I see per say a distributor. But not just timing. I see initial/ramp/total, phasing, delivery, consistency, etc. If every component (tree in the forest) is broken down by it's branches, then we begin to realize how much time it takes to tune. It's exhausting but fun and very rewarding. Very few will do it anymore, much easier to buy more performance parts.
Total agreement, but performance parts need tuning as well
 
Supposedly, the math doesn't work out on what a modern Pro Stock car runs as opposed to the hp that a modern Pro Stock engine produces. That's probably the best example of tuning an entire car to maximize the performance. It's so much more than just "the sum of the parts."
Yeah, it's WHICH parts. LOL
 
I had a friend years ago who had an all original 70 Nova. It had the original untouched 270 HP 350. Just a stock motor with a quadrajet. All he did was put big tube headers on it with 3" exhaust to the rear end with turn downs. I helped him put 4.10 gears in it and tune it. He ended up getting that car in the 12 teens. Course that was with slicks and the trunk emptied out, no carpet and no back seat. We did put new rear springs on it and some yeller cheap Lakewood traction bars. lol He even left the original points ignition in it.
 
I'd love to try that with an early A and a blueprinted 68 340 with the 71 intake, TQ and big tube headers. With everything as "right" as possible.......11s?
 
I know someone who found the limit on a factory 360 block, well atleast that blocks limit. 750 HP, split the block and totalled a brand new built race car on his last licensing pass.
 
Getting a combo to run "good" is very easy and done a quickly. It's chasing the minimal that eats time and trials. That's why most just "up the cubes" or "better heads", or whatever.....
 
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