My experience has been........ there’s rarely a good way around just trying things in the car and seeing how it responds.

Converters for example........ you could have two(or more) that have the same stall speed, yet run different ET’s.
Only way to know which is better in your particular combo is to test them both.
Not fun....... but when you’re looking for every thou...... that’s what it takes.

It’s more about figuring which parts interact the best with each other, rather than one part being “better” than another.

SLR for my friends stocker is about 15....... on a 9x30 tire.
Best 60’ of 1.41....... with ET’s around 10.50.