AL, your comments is timely and I'm running dual Weber 44s. My muffler tail pipe points straight down and I don't like it, but at the time the decision served it's purpose given I wasn't sure what type of exhaust I wanted. The tail pipe is only a few inches from the ground and in some cases it blow dirt and debris up into the air especially when starting from a stop. The issue is compounded when reversing. Yesterday, I started the car after I got coffee and it was parked in a fairly dirty and unswept parking lot. It goes like this: Start engine and dust and dirt and debris (DDD) gets blown up and into the air. Back up the car and more DDD get's blown into the air and I drive through it. Going forward, I drive through the DDD again. I got around the block and the car sputtered, but recovered after a few miles. I never thought to check the seals at_the_bottom of the filter seal. I have a butterfly fastener to fasten the top piece - I'll check again.
On a separate note, my Pirelli Cinturato CN36s tend to pick up a lot of small stones and they get cast into the engine bay. I think they are coming from the front tires. As the pebbles and small stones dislodge from the tire, they bounce along the bottom of the car and find there way into the area around the tub area at the back of the car. Is this normal?
Unfortunately, I don't have the head flow nunbers - I wish I did. At a certain point, no amount of valve lift is going to increase the actual flow. I might have to use my butt dyno and proclaim 1.4 ratio rocker success! Certainly, not the preferred and scientific approach.
I suspect you are right on the money about how 'adding more lift (and a wee bit more duration)' would not detract from the current bottom and lower midrange. The first time I drove a Speedster was when I picked this one up at Greg's shop (Vintage). The engine was laying around in my garage for over a year and it was a temp engine for my 912 which is a heavier car by 300lbs or so (the 912 weighs 2237 lbs and with me in the driver seat). At the time, I didn't want a more radical cam because I wasn't planing on hitting +6500 rpm for the sake of longevity, heat, reliability, etc...Let me play around and see where to go from here.