Jon, you're spinning your wheels- - - - -'My mind is made up- - - - -don't confuse me with facts!" Hotrodders are kind of like Marines- - - - -they have a tendency to believe their own propaganda, and any effort to suggest that they're not 10 feet tall and bulletproof isn't even considered! There's a very profitable industry based on the idea that factory designers are a bunch of dummies, and installing the latest version of digitally designed doohickey (which I just happen to have on sale this month, BTW) will triple your power and double your gas mileage! P.T. Barnum is alive and well, and he's selling hotrod parts these days!
Jerry

"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!