Keith,

I totally agree with what you are advising.

In my own case I used the following logic...

The intake port is visibly larger than my old SDSS stage 2's and as a result I went even deeper in porting my old Vic 340. There's little point in putting more head on a motor if the intake can't keep pace, (at least up to the limits of the cam/ flow window). Additionally, to me the standard Edelbrock port is too small for a 414 and though the torque is phenomina, the top end power above 5800 or so seemed to tail off. I needed more flow up top and I figured another 500 or so RPM of flash would help get to the sweet spot sooner with no downside.

I also went from a standard gear 904 with 4.56's to a low gear 904 and 4.10's....the SDSS2's wouldn't pull to the stripe without nosing over. To be fair this swap was in the works before the Airwolfs anyway. I do most 1/8 mile here so mathematically the 1-2 is still close for 1/8 mile but the taller top gear works better in the 1/4

I also went to the rear sump Milodon dragster pan with a built-in windage tray to replace my old 318 truck pan with no tray.

But on the cam, one interesting thing about the Airwolfs is the flow ( based on published numbers anyway-2 different benches of course) for the Airwolfs exceeds the peak flow of the old heads by around only .430 lift and by only .550 lift they flow 96% (306.5 to 319) of what they do at .800 lift, so even with my mild lift .585/.570 gross 261/267 @.050 duration solid roller there's still much to gain (though not everything). I may go to 1.6 or 1.65 rockers later but with a stock block 414 600-ish is already pretty close to the limits of where I'd take it anyway.

I also only have 1 5/8 headers (since I know they fit the Rocky's "unique" engine bay) but I did weld in a 3 1/2" collector and 3 1/2" to 3" Flowmaster long reducer over the winter. Not as good as a "proper" size header set but...it fits and it's what I have

Bryce publishes a 322 peak flow but that is at 1.00" lift and to me, anyone running anything much over .700-.750 is going to want to run a bigger race port offset runner head (like a SDSS ported W9) anyway.

I'd like to see what these would do with the pushrod pinch removed and an offset rocker!