Not to bring up old subjects but these seem to be two conflicting statements.
MACHING THE DECK
If the Animal rule for pop up is .005” there are shops that will machine it to .0045” and charge plenty for it.
The bottom line is that if you are allowed to do any machining, no matter how insignificant it may seem people will do it and charge you for it.
The Super Stock is an alternative to that in that you aren’t allowed to do any of it.
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The importance of compression – Animal engine
It is documented from dyno and track testing that for every .005” dimensional compression change its equal to .1 HP and .1 second lap time on a 1 mile long road course race track. This was validated years ago by the 2 most winning WKA Gold Cup racers, Gary Lawson and Brett Farmer. So don’t under estimate the importance of max piston pop up and min head thickness as it relates to compression / HP and track lap times!
As i already said above.........If milling is not allowed what you end up with is the top racers and engine builders sorting thru blocks and heads to find the best ones that will give you maximum compression.
.1 second lap time
How important is .1 second lap time in Sprint Racing.
Lets for example consider a 1 mile long sprint track with an average speed of 45 MPH. So for every lap that you are .1 seconds faster than you competition you will be 6.6 feet in front of him. For a 15 lap race that puts you 99 feet in front of your competition.
On a side note..........do you think even 1 HP is important in a 500 mile race with a 850 HP Nascar engine, let me just say the Cup engine builders would kill for another 1 HP!
It might be on a smaller scale but that's why the top engine builders are passionate about paying very close attention to detail and precision when building kart engines!