torque_is_good

Some of you will appreciate this. After I finished loading my tune and installing the CAI which took about 30 minutes total including setup, clean up and opening the packaging, I sat and spoke with my son (yeh I'm a coot). I said, heck, we just added a bunch of HP in less than 30 minutes and then I went off into one of those back when I was a teenager speeches (as a parent you get to do that).

Do any of you remember what we would do to replicate what we now do in 30 minutes and for $500-$600. This might put an end to the deabte of should i get a CAI and tune.

We would

remove the carburetor and intake manifold and replace them with an Edlebrock manifold and Holley or Carter carb. Cost, if you got a deal was about $500 in yesterdays dollars when minimum wage was less than $3 per hour. Do the math so you know how much we sacrificed to modify our cars.

Then, since all exhausts were these cruddy pipes and exhaust manifolds with about 1/2 inch diameter pipes (OK, I exaggerate but you get the idea) so we needed to install headers and then everything else and nothing was built for our cars, it was all bend and flex using flexible pipes and lots of gaskets, torches and hangers. Oh, nothing was stainless steel so we had to use torches, lots of bloody hands and fingers to remove everything and a tap and die set was a must for all those bolts that just wouldn't come out and we needed to drill em out and tap in new threads.

Now we just slap on a pair of axle backs

Then, we would need to tune our cars. No dyno tuners with computers, or hand held programmers, you break out your distributor wrench, timing light, feeler gauges and dwell meters and you go about advancing the timing, changing the dwell of your points and then maybe even replacing and changing the gap of your plugs. of course, no carb was adjusted properly so you might need new jets or just to adjust the carb.

OK, an entire weekend later ( if you were lucky) you have a car that might be running and spent a bunch of money and you gained......about 30-40 WHP.

So, every time I see a thread or speak with someone and they ask............

Should I get a CAI and a tune and how hard is it, I'm nervous etc etc, I just smile and want to take that person, shake them and yell...DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW EASY IT IS TODAY AND HOW WONDERFUL THE AFTERMARKET PARTS ARE????? Should you do it???? OF COURSE

30 minutes for 30-40 WHP....any more stupid questions?

noober

In today's world, it's not a matter of how, but a matter of which. Trust me, I wish I could have done all the stuff you did to modify and supe up cars, and I'll show it by restoring and building a hot rod in the future.

But as you've said, there are so many after market parts that literally define the word "bolt-on" that we just don't know which.

NickSezz

Ahh I miss the old days...I wish.

Bluestar

I remember my first Car and the "Mods" I did. 1949 Ford Club Coupe', Flathead V8, 3 speed on the column.

1. Put shifter on the floor
2. Offenhauser aluminum heads, w/thin head gasket set. The heads on a Flathead were changed in like 30 minutes.
3. Exhaust cut-outs
4.Cherry Bomb Muffler
5. Two stromberg 97 carbs

Then the cosmetic's .....Nosed/Decked, Primer painted for a LONG time.

I remember the Day I bought the Car, I told my Father (Rest in Peace) about it, the original owner wanted $25.00 for it........My Dad got it down to $15.00.........GOOD TIMES!!!

Bluestar

Oop's forgot the Mallory Dual Point Distributor....

landon.moss

that's what i love about my mopar tho...tearin into it...little tweaks that have to be so precise...not as simple as new cars where it's all about computers...and if something does go wrong...very easy to fix


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