RustyRatRod's Guide To Hot Rod Bliss
I agree with 99.999% of what you say- except I do have an interesting experience with exhaust testing regarding the 2.5" exhaust and stuff. Now- I don't have much expereince with /6s, and this is my first build on one in fact. I was around a speed shop, my uncles, in the early 80s and we did a ton of exhaust testing on SB from stock to crazy, and same with BB. Even with stock exhaust manifolds, we increased HP and torque with bigger exhaust pipes, and even ran straight stock exhaust manifolds open with no pipe. We had to ad short "stubbies" on them, but even with, I think it was about 2' if I recall, straight pipe exhaust off the stock exhaust manifolds, we developed torque earlier and better peak HP across the board.