I dropped everything off just before Christmas, and as expected, Brian was skeptical about some of the parts. We bantered back and forth about what I was looking for. Basically I told him I was looking for a 600+ HP tractor motor, that would put the Valiant solidly in the 10's, all the time, every time. Something I could drive on pump gas, but I would probably race on good gas. When talk came around to cam choice, and final compression ratio, he gave me an earnest look and asked, "Do you trust me?" He followed that up with wry smile and a quick, "And you KNOW I don't do tractor motors!"

And yes John, I could tell by the way he was eying the Airwolfs that one would be on his bench before I made it back to the AZ border...

A couple of days later, I received a detailed E-mail estimate for 4K+. I fired back an indignant response, questioning why he was condemning all my parts, and charging me such exorbitant labor rates. The next e-mail he sent me was all very measured responses, typed in red. I felt a pang of remorse for picking on him, as he had obviously missed the joke...but, it was fleeting. I really like Brian, and the one's I really like, get it the worst!

Last week, when he called to arrange the dyno session and pick up of the finished product, it was his turn to get a few digs in. "You know those heads didn't flow as well as Bryce claimed, right?"
"Yeah, Brian, I'm not surprised, I considered the numbers optimistic all along. The port volume, and the dyno numbers were factors in the purchase as well". I had to shoot him down quick before he got rolling, kinda like the guy at work who asks If that was your wife he saw at the club last night. You want to know, but you don't want to let him get under your skin, so you just roll with it!