@ Rusty, the velocity dynamic has me thinking... how do you figure cfm when you have a nice set of high flow high velocity heads? add the intake manifold flow on top of that and it seems that would render the the cfm calculator formula irrevelant
Cubic Inches x RPM divided by 3456 = CFM... It's just a decent guide line, not the gospal... many other factors will/can come into play, but for a basic performance modded street/strip car, a basic 2 cfm/per cubic inch, is a decent rule of thumb also... If you have high compression, long stroke, big bore/bore size period, big roller camshaft & what duration/what lifts, larger valves, longer rocker ratios, small combustion chambers or open combustion chambers, angle the valve is at in the heads, what type/style of exhaust can & will effect flow too{what goes in must come out}, Hemi or Wedge heads {even what material the heads are made of can effect flow/efficiency}, or even efficiency of the flow, raised intake or exhaust ports, shape of intake & exhaust ports, professionally ported &/or polished cylinder heads, ported intake manifold, dual plane or single plane intake manifold, what carburetor set up to be used, will it be a 2 bbl or 4bbl or 6bbl or 2x4bbls or 4x2bbls {like split Dominators} or injetected, then what type of injection mechanical or EFI, a TB or a hat on a tunnel ram or individual stacks etc., if a spacer will be used under the carburetor, how tall or even what type of spacer used, whether it's a tapered open spacer or 4 port & tapered spacer, whether it's on a tunnel ram or individual stacks like FI, that all can flow way beyond stock, the formula doesn't apply very well after that point,
you need to know, how fast you want to go, what is the intended usage, how to read your plugs & adjust the carburetor for altitudes &/or track & weather conditions {or street driving}, type of fuel delivery used, type of fuel used, type of base plates, size of squirter's, size/style of booster, size of venturies, polished or not, size of throttle plates & even the shaft sizes {all thes can/will effect flow/cfm}, whether you use a velocity stack or short stack, if it's going to be ram air/forced induction or not, what type of filter & what style of air cleaner base & top is used even, what power valve or blocked off & no power valve, the size of air bleeds, the type/style & size of metering blocks, size of jets, jet extensions, 50cc acc. pumps, different colored pump cams that affect the way the fuel is delivered... allot of trial & error allot of variable to factor in too,
way more than just cfm flow, I'm sure there are more things, like type of ignition, gears or trans type, weight of car, wheter it's a vacuum secondary or a double pumper used etc... My long winded post is basically meant to say, there's
no one formula, that is absolutely correct, for all combos... for drag racing, the wide open full throttle flow, is more important than just throttle resonse & throttle resonse is more important than wide open throttle on a road course car, no one cfm or carburetor style is ideal for everything...