hehe ! I agree my friend. After a lot of searching & forethought, this cam is great. A buddy owns a chassis dyno & the numbers are good for me. It's also great to dial in motor, timing advance, fuel system ect...rather than on the street. I gained 40 + hp just by the new cam & fine tunning. The guy at Comp Cams was trying to get me to buy one off the shelf that was basicly....made for a old muscle car weighing what, around 3,800 lbs. After he got it into his head, he agreed a 2,400 lb car needed a different cam profile. I was not after a tire shredding all low torque/hp motor. I was not, telling him that I was more knowledgeable !, just that these Cobras are light, short wheel based cars. With his new (lightend... hehe!) approach we came up with this cam. I beleive......it's in their new catalog as a "cobra cam". Have to check. Anyway, remember that with aluminum heads, you can step up the compression, you will not get the detonation that steel has. 10.5 is very safe. You also don't have to worry so much about the exhaust side as the scavenging is accomplished buy porting & polishing. Good head work (it's expensive if you don't feel comfortable) can gain you a tremendous amount of hp. When I've said that the heads on a motor can cost 3k-6k, some guys
think I'm crazy and are shocked. Ya, our high octane is also only 92 but, it's better than paying for racing gas. Since we race sprint cars, I did think for a while of buying a alcohol carb. The hp, cooling and the cheaper cost for fuel would be great but, we do like to travel a bit so, where would I get it !
I did go overboard on the appearance of my block, I actually sanded it smooth, hell, you can't see most of it anyway ! (think I'm still cleaning my nose & ears out after a year !) I did paint it the same body color though. Yes, the kirkham tank looks fantastic ! That's the only one I would go with since the originals tend to be weak & leak with all the vibration of the Cobra.
I like you, love the "flash" of a chromed/polished engine bay, not too much though, I don't particularly like the "Hot Rodded" look of a muscle car, like the Cobra. I may change my mind someday but, not today.
