10. It only takes 1/4 turn of preload on hyd roller lifters. Too much can affect your idle because the lifters can pump up and cause the valve to not fully close.

9. I'm better off doing most jobs myself than paying someone. I've been displeased in some way with at least 80% of the work I've had done.

8. The world is full of naysayers who will only wreak your confidence and ruin your momentum when tackling a big project, let them live in their sad little world and don't let them drag you into it.

7. 80% of the parts I've purchased need modifications to fit... no more point in getting mad about it, its just reality.

6. High volume oil pumps are not needed on street cars

5. The stock oil system uses a oil filter bypass when pressure is too high. This can be defeated.

4. Tappet cams suck. The lobes of tappet cams can go flat. Roller cams rule.

3. The combination of number 4, 5 and 6 cause ground cam material to go through your motor and eat all your bearings and the crank.

2. Those chrome water necks suck. The upper radiator hose can slip off at high rpm... this blows all the coolant out of your motor, causes the motor to overheat and ruin your block and pistons and warp heads.
Subnote, 2 gallons of sticky coolant sprayed all over a chassis dyno room can throw the dyno calibration off

1. Tuning is the #1 car skill to master and should be mastered first. With our cars even in stock trim, some of your largest gains can come from tuning.

 

I agree with all ten. Amen to #8.
If everyone listened to nay sayers nothing new would ever be developed.

My lesson is, buy quality the first time. It is cheaper in the long run. Why? Because eventually you are going to through away the piece of junk and buy what you should have bought in the first place. Case in point. When I saw that the price of brand name headers was in the $350 range, I bought some cheap Pacesetter headers for $225. I torched, bent, and beat on them trying to get them to fit, which they never did. I couldn't send them back "modified" so I through them away and bought Hooker super comps for $350. Now for $575 I could have had SLP stainless headers and change. Ouch!!! Worst part is I knew better to start with.
Same lesson applies to tools.

 

I agree. I like # 4 and 7 the best...

 

When people look at your track times no one looks at mph

I agree with #1 though, totally. I finally started on my fuel tables yesterday and its made a world of difference after only like 4 hours of working on it. Its almost a new car.

I also learned that if you're having a really hard time with something and you're getting pissed off, walk away and cool down. You'll end up breaking it before it goes in if you're mad.

 

How might someone learn more about #1?
I have no trouble reading, just point me in the right direction

 

Totally agree with this one.

#10 I used half a turn after 0 lash, do you guys think I may have tightened them too much? The engine is still on the stand so it would not be too hard to change.

Also, when installing/fixing something take your time or you will be doing it over because you forgot something.

 

#10. This is something that Pablo tackled in a tread about a month ago. I think he said that stock was like 3/4 of a turn and that some extra horses could be had by only going with 1/4 turn. I'll try and find the thread later on today, but if somebody has it bookmarked (or if Pablo sees this) feel free to steal my glory here.

I'd like to add that projects are allways more costly than originally expected. I had figured on about $800 for my exhaust and when I'm finished with the electronic cutout I'll have about $1150 in it. When you start a project, make sure you have more money available than you initially expect it to take to finish, else you'll find yourself with no car to drive, and nothing to show for the money you've already spent.

Later,
Harry

 

N/M I was gonna be lazy, but I found it quickly.

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=169855

 

#1 is the biggie.

Learning to give the engine what it wants, not what you think it might need.
Especially now a days, there is no reason to settle for quirky drivibility problems, poor starting etc.. While it takes a fair amount of time, you can even get to where you see the errors in the oem stuff, or should I say compromises.


Also applies to the universe in general, but I degress.....

 

The application staff refers to those as "features"

 

Yes this is very key. Like last night my very first time racing at a track I pulled a 15.99 but it was at 92mph.

 

Power may be nice, but unless you hook, it's worthless...not like I have that much power, but I utilize the power I have because of my suspension setup rather than using the power to spin one tire half way down the quarter.

 

#9 own3z all

 

Double/Triple check everything, including part numbers. Specially on parts that are hard to visually separate (like having multiple cams laying around).

 

and ALWAYS lable parts as you take them off, and if you can take a photo of how everything is supposed to look like. because no matter how smart you think you are, or how good you think your memory is, you are going to forget how something was supposed to go back together.

been there, done that, got the T-Shirt.