As someone that put a Corvette engine in my 1986 Toyota 4Runner I have little room to talk about doing stupid things for no reason. In my defense, I was in college and was young and dumb. My first degree was in Aviation Material Science and Technology. I cast my own adapters out of aluminum with sand molds. Prior to that, I was running a 22RE with a stroker crank, cam and valve springs that would run up to 9500 RPM's. I used the Toyota Alternator, AC compressor, Power Steering etc....I built a 700R4 with 9 or 10 clutches and steels, kevlar band full welded, reworked reverse valve body, no lock up torque converter, B&M Rachet shifter with reverse lockout Marlin Crawler Dual Transfer Case......So I fully understand more money than brains. I would litterly watch the needle on my fuel tank drop under full Wide Open Throttle. Oh and I had a first generation Taiwan RCI2950 w 2 MRF455 ABunder hood amp and 102" whip, 12,000lbs. winch 240amp welding setup with 2nd alternator and multiple commercial batteries with isolator. Suspension lift with custom-made leaf springs and torsion bar's.
That all said I would never install a TS Sweet 16 in it. Not once did I ever run into a situation where I could not talk to someone because I did not have enough power. I did run into a situation where people between me and my desired contact would key over me with insane power and sometimes a base antenna. The really funny thing was that 75% of the time my audio made it through with enough intelligibility that my target audience could still hear me and understand me. I was always grateful for overmodulation, super swing, NPC mod's and hifi type audio and more amp than a vechile could support because if those idiots keying over me had not done those modifications my little 2 pill would not have gotten through! LOL People always thought I was a base station which made me laugh with my tiny amp and no gain 102" whip. I never turned my rf power up past 12 O'Clock on AM and only for pile up's did I turn it up for SSB.
Key mod's better voltage regulator, higher voltage capacitors, switchable crystal filters, SP1-a compressor, schocktty diodes. Pressurized cabinet for amp and fairly large heat sink. Hand picked MRF455 with tripple digit gain. One of my job's back then was to sort and match the bulk transistors and tubes that the shop ordered every couple of months.Since I used an small amp I never modified my gear for more power but for cooler more stable operation. Once a year I aligned my gear.
Between weak electrical systems, shitty coax and connector termination and butchered modifications seldom do you need to do much to be heard if you do the basics right! If you do not do the basics right nothing else matter's it is like having a big block in pisk up truck with no weight over the rear axle and skinny tires it does not matter if you have insane HP and TQ if you can not put it to the pavement! Smoking tires do not get you to the finish line first and big powerful amp will not get you heard if you fail to feed it properly or cannot get it out into the world efficiently without much loses!
I am opinionated but I am also right!