Truthful or embelish...?

For the last 30 years or so, this has just baffled me because .

These days ... People want engines built to be pump gas friendly and make 800+ horsepower  ... and every year this gets worse with people being outright lied to by others. I can't immagine that these other people talking to them are THAT ignorant.
When they describe the parts and work they were quoted somewhere else, that combination would be lucky to make 600 horsepower.  It seems they just don't realize exactly how much 800+ horsepower REALLY is.

An 800+ horsepower 521 which is pump gas friendly, with well behaved street manners and drive it to work and back on nice days just can not be done . Especially for the miniscule amount of money they have been told by someone else ... told by many others it seems.

When you tell them the truth, they just presume you have no idea what to do and go elsewhere to get screwed. Then, afterward when they realize the error of their ways; they are simply to embarrassed or indignant to admit that they were simply told the whole truth by you.

I almost feel as though I should start embellishing, stretching the truth, (a lot), and join the rest of this network.

RANT OVER ..............................

hey you can sale the same people a 347 ci small block and tell them they can get 800+hp out of that motor to! and they will believe that though! ha! ha! people are funny!  rmcomprandy keep doing what is right and tell the truth even if they don't want to believe it!

To answer your question in the title, stay truthful. The world is full of liars and people who are too lazy to seek out the truth. Whether it be engines,politics or whatever. I have a great deal of respect for you and your knowledge of engines. You have forgotten more than I'll ever learn. I ain't much on liars. Just my .02 ---RED

Stay the course, Randy. A reputation for being truthful is tough to maintain, especially when you're attacked for it.

We all know guys who perpetuate the b.s you're talking about. We also know that every squirrel with a clapped out 350 Camaro with a lumpy idle and shorty headers is making 600 hp.   They believe all the crap they trade with their clueless pals, and since they're the ones doing most of the talking, that's what most people hear. Unfortunately, it's human nature that we tend to believe the FIRST info we hear.

You reminded me of a day a the track years ago. Another racer (with a 355" iron head SBC powered Vega) had been watching me run the Ranger. He came by my pit and asked how much hp I figured the 514 was making. When I said, "Probably somewhere near 700.", he said, "Why so little? Hell, my engine builder says we got about 800 in the Vega!."

'Nuff said.

Keep telling the truth and you will be alright. I would also tell them customers that when they realize they have been lied to please come back and I will still take care of you honestly.

Another vote for the truth..... It's better to hurt feelings with 600 hp running fast than an unreal 800 that's slow!

I see that all the time also--guy says he has 680 rwhp in a 3600lb vehicle and he traps only 121 mph lol. I try to tell them that mine at 604rwhp trapped 134mph and they just explain it away with (insert excuse here).

It's happening in every profession Randy. A friend of mine in the House building profession is going thru the same thing. A customer comes to him with what they want built and he tells them what it will cost,they come back with(we've already had a quote of $50k less. He has built 2 different houses for me and he'e the honest one. Stay honest Randy.

double post sorry

Have to find a better way to sell what you have to offur. Lie's will burn a business sooner than later, but starving is starving..........

Word of mouth references are the best customers, they have an honest expectation of cost and value, unfortunately our world of those willing to consume at that level is small, and full of young dumb people that believe everything on the internet.

Best bet, if you have a dyno... offer a dyno print out, BEFORE their eyes if need be, x HP engine.

Randy the truth will always be the best, but I understand your frustration. Being in the building industry it's the same. I tell them what they need to do the job right......they tell me that "so and so" said that it just needed this. I have come to the point that I tell them to get "so and so" to do the work and guarantee it. I will sit home and watch cartoons. I have had people come back to me and give me the work and I have heard the horror stories about what happened when "so and so" did the work. I get a kick out of people who "build" a 6-800 hp engine on paper.....this intake is worth 65hp, this cam is worth 120hp, these heads are worth 300hp and so on never realizing what it takes to actually build a 6-800 hp engine. That is where all you professional builders come in, and reading these forums for years you can see how happy the people who had you guys build them an engine are. So keep at it.

What always gets me on this kind of combo is if the car is truly going to be a pump gas street driven ride, why do they even need 800 hp on tap anyway? Wouldn't you spend most of the time just babying it around town trying not to fry the tires off it every time you get in the throttle?

DILLIGASDAVE wrote:What always gets me on this kind of combo is if the car is truly going to be a pump gas street driven ride, why do they even need 800 hp on tap anyway? Wouldn't you spend most of the time just babying it around town trying not to fry the tires off it every time you get in the throttle?

i call it the 2.02 4 bolt thing. Few times that i went to car shows , chevy guys would say the valve size and number of main cap bolts. All about bragging rights.

btw, not one of those chevy dudes would show me the mains or valves

Always stay truthful.....need to sleep nicely

I've been to the track and had Import guys tell me the track can't handle their 300 HP at the flywheel turbo 4.   

As for the OP stay honest 30 pieces of silver didn't buy Judas anything in Hell.