What are you learning?

   The world of hotrodding is changing quickly in many ways. Some ways are good and some not so much. In some ways it desperately needs to change but isn't. I recently embarked on a new challenge that i might regret. My first LS engine buildup.  Magazines have been pushing these things on us for more than ten years. I've heard of and seen a few JY swaps running in the eights with boost. This sounds cool and entices kids to scour the internet and wrecking yards to grab their LS cores. These motors have very strong blocks with cross bolted mains and excellent flowing cylinder heads. To bad GM didn't design the heads with the same head bolt configuration as an old school small block. Also something to note is that boost works on any engine. Not just LS motors. For my buildup i've contacted a few cam companies to see what they recommend. After giving them all the very same data, its amazing to see the huge variation between the cams they suggest. Most of the cams have specs that are so far out in left field from what i would choose that i'm wondering if the company was looking in a crystal ball or throwing darts at their catalog. A few of the companies (probably old guys) gave me specs that were right in line with what i would choose for a typical serious first generation small block chevy.
  Who's in the LS game? Go to a few LS specific forums and read the posts in the "lounge" area. You will see posts like "whats your favorite video game machine" and "do your parents charge you rent". This should give you a clue. Go to some muscle car forums or engine building forums and you will find "have you had your prostate checked" or "project car buildup with son" in that same lounge area. I feel a little sorry for the kids jumping on the LS band wagon (like me at the moment). They aren't near as cheap or as easy as you are lead to believe. An oil pan is in the 4-500 price range. They have junk powdered metal connecting rods, You have to take the heads off to get the lifters out, they don't bolt to an older tranny without an adapter, The valve train is non adjustable. Have you seen the wiring? I'm dreading it. My HEI takes one wire to make it run!
   I would like to see more young guys building nice 350's and 454's to get their feet wet in the drag racing hobby. Learn how to properly build an engine, learn how to choose a cam and put together a combination that works. Ask questions from guys that have been there. Ask your dad to do it with you! Find a group of friends and have a friendly competition to see who can go the quickest with a given car such as a g-body or fox body.  One thing that needs to change is the whole rat rod trend. When did not doing something right become cool? Wasting money on junk and calling it "patina". Or buying up every piece of junk car available because its cheap then spreading your money over them all. This will end up in a whole bunch of unfinished projects of which none are you proud of. I see guys all the time who would never spend $3500 on a good set of CNC ported high quality cylinder heads but will spend $10,000 on 20 different vehicles and only one ever becomes roadworthy and its still a half done heap. My advice here is to set goals, focus on the goals, do it right. I hate buyers remorse which comes from buying the "cheaper" part.
   This all leads me to my current spiritual lesson. Who are you listening too? Read 2 Peter chapter two in your Bible. The wrong advice will in fact cost you something. God is a God of Wisdom, Order and he invented common sense. He is not the god of foolishness, Confusion, and cheap experiences. Young people listen very closely. God has commanded all men everywhere to Repent because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness. God is Holy. God is Just. The earth is the Lord's and everything in it. Jesus said "everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house upon the rock". Suffering and trials will come, but do you have a foundation like the rock? Or will you be swept away? Don't believe everything you hear or read. Find mentors who have withstood the test of time and who's lives bear fruit for God's kingdom. Do they just want your money? Or are they also setting a trap for your soul? False teaching sounds enticing because they leave out repentance, sin and humility. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Do you think you can manipulate God with magic words and he will give you what you want? Does God need your money in exchange for a miracle? Do you think that the "faith healer" has God under his thumb to do his bidding? Jesus down played his miracles but the Charlatans I see brag about them and are proud of what they should be ashamed of. Educate yourself my reader. Pray for discernment. Its in short supply at the moment.