How To Decide What Your High Performance Engine Should Do
The trick with this is to know how you plan to use your car, you'll need to plan this carefully, or you won't be impressed with what you get, this is a critical stage of the game, do you want a factory stock engine for your car, or do your want a beast, the likes of which scares everybody.
If your looking for a daily driver, you probably want something in between , or maybe you want your car to be as close to original as possible, it's all up to you, but if you do what a high performance racing beast, you need to know a few things first.
The factory stock engine is alright, but not for those who want a little more from their, those who are hard to satisfy, those who have to have it just right, this is the way that I am with my own cars, I don't really want all factory stock, I like some of the new technology of the modern muscle cars.
My ideal idea of a muscle car, is the one the I don't have to race to prove that I can beat your car, the one that puts the fear of god in to people, I'm a person who like to be confident that my car is the one that will win the race, so confident that I don't have to thrash my car
This is exactly what you need to know about your car, what do you expect from it, what is your idea of the perfect car, and what will it take to make that idea a reality, would you like it to make a certain time in the ¼ mile, or to be a reliable daily driver.
There are a lot of differences between these two types of cars, most people prefer something in between, they'd like the best of both worlds, and with today's technology you can have the best of both worlds, that is what they are doing with the new muscle cars.
If your building an old muscle car, you have a lot of choices these days, you don't have to go through the pain of building a engine any more, all of the American manufactures have introduced high performance crate engines.
You can get these engines in about any configuration that you want, and if the factory doesn't have what you need, then it's possible that Edlebrock, Jegs, or Summit racing will have just what your looking for, just tell their tech what you'd like your car to do.
If you insist on building your own engine, you'll need to locate a machine shop that you can trust in your area, and be able to answer their questions about how you want your engine built, usually this is still a great option, but you do need to know how you plan to use your car.
It's possible to make your car do whatever you think that it should do, but be ready to spend time on the weekend tuning, and adjusting, when you'd rather be out for a ride, if you don't mind the tuning and adjusting, if you like to tinker, this may be just the thing for you.
I love high performance engines, but I have come to the realization that you'd better prepare your self for the little things that come along with high performance engines, I like the tuning and adjusting, so I'm not bothered by taking some time doing that.
You should weigh out carefully what you want from your car, choosing camshafts is what you need to pay attention to, a camshaft is the one piece of hardware that will make you spend the time on the weekends adjusting, when you'd rather be driving the car.
I would love to see more people restoring their cars, rather they take them to a shop, or do it themselves, that is what I write these articles, and maintain my web sites.
