Was 'the engine guy' and 'the Holley guy' for a SoCal speedshop '76-'81.
Later was 'the engine guy' for a SoCal auto shop that wanted to be a hi-perf place '86-'93
-shakes head- .. prolly put together a hundred or so motors and spec'd out a few hundred more for owners to build up.
I am all over 'stupid tricks' to make things easier
There are some cars/engines I refuse to work on.
289 Ford is one. Guy comes in and wants to know how to make his '65 Mustang faster, I told him to put a Chebby in it.
He put a 454 in his '65 Fastback, single 850 Holley .. 9's in the quarter first time out.
Of course the car was built up to take the heat .. 14" slicks an all.
Wasn't a street car after a few years, but he had a blast tweakin the purists.
Bullit had nothin on him
As far as learnin, never went to a school for automotive anything.
Read Car Craft primarily, they had more meat an potato articles that actually taught what worked
than Hot Rod and others, their article on tunnel-ram tuning back in the day is what prompted me to do the deed.
I also invested in some killer books for their time 'How to Hot Rod a big block Chevy' by Peterson Publications was my bible.
Among others. Chilton's manuals helped a ton in my early days.
I always did the research for my projects .. read extensively about A-body mopars before/during/after buildin my 440 Duster.
Chose the Duster over a Dart because the Duster has a shorter wheelbase, among other things.
I understand there are similar books out now for the LS motors -very evil grin-
-Frank