..... Long story short, the sweet spot has been found. The ride saturday was awesome. Throttle response was crisp, roll ons were great, and the best part was the 48 mpg mileage figure I discovered after the first fill up, and I am running Steve's "power" jet kit. My point of this post is to say that the sweet spot is out there, and sometimes its hard to find, but keep looking because it "is" out there. And when you find it the rewards are well "sweet".
I was so happy with results on intalling SISF's kit that I've really not touched it, but maybe it'd be fun to get into chasing this optimization. For me, the variable would be limited to the intake air .... I'd not touch the jets as setup with Steve's kit and I'm locked-in on my OEM headers with Staintunes.
Seems that making and adjustable plate would be the place to start. I'm thinking it should have a leg bent into the snorkel & fitted to act like a 'plug with thickness' like the foam, as opposed to a sharp-edged thin-plate restrictor at the face of the opening. Air flow and volume at varied RPM will be very different through a plate restrictor vs a plug restrictor of the same width(all else being equal), correct ?
Jim, have mileage calculations and your Butt Dyno been the primary instruments in your research? In your ventures as you've pursued this, did you ever reach a point of concern about over-lean damage? Have you noticed that engine temp at the dash gage is any help in tracking this? How 'bout doing cut-and-read of the sparkplugs?
Sorry I missed meeting lots of the SCA folks at the wildflower run but I had a CMRA race to work this weekend .... looking forward to meeting everyone at the National!
TIA