[Cliff R]

"They are dynoing it with their carb and distributor and their headers not my sniper and dual sync so will the numbers be accurate with my final setup?"

Yes, correct timing and fuel curves are the same no matter what method you use to get them. So basically not one ounce of power improvement from an electronic TB vs a carburetor, and sometimes they actually make less if they don't have enough CFM for the application or the MAP isn't quite ideal and still needs some additional work to get it there.

As far as doing an engine build yourself vs hiring it out, at least if it isn't up to par in all areas the only person to blame is the owner.

From what I've seen with this sort of thing over the years (general comment) is that folks locate and hire a machine shop to do their machine work and assembly. They assume that just because a guy works in, or owns and machine shop and is also an engine "builder" is that he will know what parts to select, engine parameters (compression ratio, camshaft specs, etc) and it will be a great end result. In reality very, and I mean very few engine "builders", especially those very well versed in racing engines will really know what parts to use to come up with a good end result with your Pontiac street or street/strip engine.

Case in point. Several years ago (and I have dozens of these stories) a customer trailered his car here from quite some distance after having a very expensive 455 built for it by a very well know Pontiac "guru" who also owned a machine shop, had a website pretty much dedicated to Pontiac engines, and even posted on the Pontiac Forums.

The engine was a complete TURD even though it had very good flowing iron heads and pretty decent size HR cam in it. Before it was brought here, quite a few other very knowledgeable folks in the owners area took a stab at making it run better, with little to no improvement.

We did the carb and distributor for it, and they even made two trips back here with nearly everyone on their end claiming they were NOT up to par for this engine build. On the second trip back here I actually took the carb and distributor, installed them on my 455 and went to the track.......and they were FLAWLESS.

The car shows up after the long tow, we fire it up, idles OK, drives OK, but when you went to heavy or full throttle it just wouldn't go. Felt like there were potatoes stuff in the ends of the tail pipes, just a big TURD.

I did a compression test and pulled the drivers side valve cover to take a look around, glanced at the timing marks and watched the intake valve open, etc. Compression was much lower than it should have been, intake valve didn't seem anywhere near opening where it should have.

We pulled the timing cover and there was a Rollmaster 9 keyway set installed. It was advanced two keyways on the bottom sprocket, but still lined up "dot to dot" on the top sprocket instead of up one and back two teeth to establish a correct relationship (early Rollmasters were poorly marked for this).

Anyhow, put it all back together and it was fine, made the power it was supposed to and still working fine for the customer far as we know.

What I suspect happened here is that the "builder" degreed the cam at the "dot to dot" position, then advanced it 2 degrees incorrectly and didn't re-check it. Surprising because this particular builder had been doing this at least 10 years longer than I have and very well known in the Pontiac "community". Anyhow, the story isn't meant to degrade anyone, or boost my abilities, just to show folks that even with the best parts and efforts put into an engine build, unless you are doing it yourself there is a chance things will not go as planned. I could put up dozens of similar stories up here on the same topic......Cliff