Good point, Larry- - - -dual carbs, dual exhausts, and a lot of the other popular modifications are just stovebolt eye candy- - - -once the carburetion is up to par (use a Carter carb) and the ignition is optimized with the proper timing advance curve and a good-working vacuum advance for fuel economy, just drive it. Electronic ignition is nice, but don't go overboard with an ultra high voltage coil. There's a reason the people who designed the HEI system went with BIG wires and a large-diameter distributor cap and rotor. Most of the purists who want a stock-looking system ignore the possibility of flashover and try to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
It takes a lot of very sophisticated modifying to hotrod a stovebolt, with a lot of money spent for a relatively modest high speed power gain and a huge loss of low-end torque.
However- - - -I am in the midst of gathering up the bits and pieces to build a 6K RPM 230 engine with 3 side draft carbs and a low-restriction exhaust to run in an Excalibur roadster I've got under construction. The valve gear, intake and exhaust ports, and 7 main bearing lower end of the 194-292 series of engines lends itself to hotrodding much better than the early stovebolt engines.
Jerry
