[MidOHasp]

V8-

I'm surprised nobody's busted out the "no substitute for cubic inches" adage...

HP is HP, but it is easier to build 500 of them out of 400 cubes than 351. Building a motor closer to the 400 cubic inch mark will get you the HP you are looking for. But as much as you keep asking about HP, my guess is you're going to be more satisfied w/ torque.

No matter what the technical argument is on the rod length, and who is right or wrong, a 6.2" rod is definitely overkill w/ a stock stroke. That being said, the stroker cranks aren't THAT much more than a 3.5" stroke crank. I DEFINITELY recommend the hydraulic roller cam for maintenance free power. My 408 has Comp Cam's XE 282-HR cam (can get you specs if you want) and the car will sit and idle at 400 RPM, rattling every single window in the house. We're running 10.25:1 on aluminum (AFR 185cc) heads and run CAM-2 because it smells good. It runs fine though on Sunoco 94.

Also be careful w/ the Octane booster and its "claims." They claim to raise your octane "up to" a certain amount - but that's when you use it on a very small amount of gas. I've heard some people say it takes several bottles to raise your octane even a couple of points.

Bottom line - having just gone through massive amounts of research wrapped up with a glorious day at the dyno - you just can't go wrong w/ cubic inches.

You are going to feel the torque - which unless you are trying to see if you can get your car into the 160mph range - is about all you're going to feel.

It sounds like with the heads you have, you would be super happy with a 393, hydraulic cam (look at the XE 282-HR or some a little milder or hotter), and 10:1 CR. You'd probably be making about 475HP and even more torque.

On a side note, I just ran my motor through desktop dyno. Amazingly, it is within 1 horsepower of our actual dyno run. It says 509. Although ours makes it at 5800 and this says 6500. But oddly enough our torque numbers are WAY off. We dyno'd at 544, and desktop is saying around 450-460. Wonder why...

OK I'm just rambling. Somebody pull my plug!!!

JP