Before posting this question I hadn’t been checking this site regularly for some time. After searching this topic a little I now remember how controversial the idea of using a 194 head seems to be. I’m not a professional mechanic, racer, or engine designer but I am an engineer so I tend to pay attention to test results. Since I have to rely on product testing in my job I also have learned that the results seen in the test lab don’t always run parallel with what happens in the real world. In this case, I think that the dyno tests may not accurately predict what a driver would feel when driving a “street” vehicle under normal driving conditions because the tests are done at full load and WOT. I think that under normal driving conditions I probably never approach full load and most likely run around 25% or so most of the time. Again, this is just my opinion and I can’t prove it, but I think that the flow losses seen at WOT when the engine is trying to suck as much air as it can get may not show up at all at lower throttle positions. It would be interesting to me to see fuel consumption data a partial loading that simulates normal driving. I would like to know if the various modifications that are used to improve power at WOT also result in gained efficiencies at lower loading and rpms. This probably would not be of interest to racers and hot rodders but with today’s gas prices it would be of interest to me. As expensive as this hobby is it would be nice to be able to afford to actually drive my truck a little more often.
