Comments were not directed at guys that WANT to use older parts or build that style motor. They were directed at guys who HAVE opted to buy much better parts, yet are not getting the performance from them they should be.

If you HAVE a set of ported 906s or Stage5 heads lying around, by all means use them. But me, I sold all that old stuff off. So these days, spending the money to "trick out" a set of older cast iron heads makes no sense monetarily. Better alum heads can be bought for less money than you will tie up in those cast iron heads if starting from scratch.

So lets look at some other parts. So you have plenty of sets of LY rods lying around. At minimum, they will need to be resized and new bolts installed. Depending on what you get that done for, you are likely going to be money wise very close to a BETTER set of aftermarket rods. So which do you trust your new build to, recon 40 year old rods, or new ones for virtually same money. And if you are buying rods, a little longer costs no more. On pistons, I haven't bought a set of forged TRWs in 20 years, so I have no idea what they cost now, but man those things are heavy. Many companies have a much nicer shelf piston these days that won't break the bank.

On other stuff, a cam costs what it costs, lifters and other parts. So no need not to go modern unless you are raiding somebody's old parts pile for cheap. But myself I have seen those "old" parts need enough work, that you could have bought new. Example, a local guy had a nice .030 over block ready to go. Found the proverbial "smoking" deal on some .060 over used pistons. By the time he bored and honed block, bought an odd ball ring package for the "good deal" pistons, it cost him money over just buying .030 pistons and being done.

The bottom line is you need a "plan" and stick to it. Just buying parts willy nilly because they are a "deal" always ends up costing you in the end, because seldom do the "deal" parts work out like you need them to. Also remember that old heads, intakes, etc, may have been cut within an inch of their lives and chances of that stuff bolting together without more machining, spacers or whatever, is slim. Nothing wrong with a budget build, but with used parts, it NEVER works out as cheap as you have it figured in your head

In some recent posts, a lot of our long time racers have been reminiscing about their 70's, 80's, ext combinations. I really find the old combos interesting and impressive and it always makes me think, what if some of you guys who are still doing this today could essentially recreate your motors from years past with a few new parts; what would the combination be?

For example, still use ported 906 heads or 440 Source heads at the max. TRW pistons or a modern day equivalent, still use a flat tappet cam, maybe the lowest cost cast steel or equivalent rod (scat or something along those lines or would you still trust 40+ year old re-conned rods?), any intake available today and any carb available today. If you guys could wring high nines out of these things in the 70’s or 80's, what could you do today with a similar combo but, with new cam, intake and carb tech and the additional knowledge of 30+ years?