Rick, yes I went in between rough and totally wild. I wanted something just on the edge of streetable. I don't road race, point A to B (1/4 mile apart) before the other guy is my thing. I don't baby it by no means, but I don't severely over abuse it either. Sometimes it only takes an "Idle in" to put doubt in someone's mind. I could have gone bigger, but streetability would have been compromised too much. When you can still hear the cam over 1700 its plenty big for the street. Too much of an rpm upshift in the power band doesn't work well with stoplight to stoplight traffic. There is a limit to somewhat "reliability" and "drivability" on the street.
I do bounce a 7K redline. I might not hold it for a sustained periods of time which a road race motor would, it needs to be over fast. If adjustments are becoming a persistent issue, I stand fast to my statement that something is up. I don't care if its a road race, drag, or an old spud truck motor. If your constantly making adjustments to the valve train, you should evaluate and determine why. Maintenance/checking is a separate issue. Spud truck, hmmm... Now that would make an interesting Drag rig, huh? I wonder if anyone has done that before.
Aluminum block, yes. Heads, I already had cast so I compromised with myself. Future upgrade is the plan when/if I get bored with what I have and/or I'm starting to look for hard tenths and want to shed some weight. Aluminum TP heads are a bit more $$ than I want to spend on right now. I need to concentrate on paint before I start tearing into the motor for upgrades or my wife is gonna kill me or not let me have my balls to go out and play with from time to time. I'm a bit perplexed and still thinking about the heat sink issue with aluminum heads as well. Higher thermal conduction rates lowers combustion gas expansion, of course the same could be said about the blocks. I'm still out to lunch on this one.
There is attention to the assembly on the top end as you are well aware of. FE intakes can be interesting to get "located" for good port alignment, push rod clearance, and that magic interface between the intake and head which leaks. Everything needs to be flat prior to assembly, another overlooked area. Too much/to little
oil restriction and a path back to the pan (pumping everything to the top end) is a bad thing as well. I'm kind of straddling the fence between a 1/4 mile and street motor. If I wanted every pony I could get and only drove it a 1/4 mile at a time I'd be concerned with the
oil I'm letting down there right now.
Oil down to the top of the crank is lost HP/torque. Every little detail does add up, but also has an effect on other aspects (wear).
HV, 75 cold, 45 to 50 hot @ idle feeding the lifter galley. This is my first aluminum block and was a bit spooked on plugging or restricting the lifter galley due to possible block wear issues, so I left it open. Lifter life was also a concern. Thought about bushings, but the dollars invested were already over the top for me. I figured maybe next time or during a freshening up and toss in a stroker kit to hit that 511 mark. But, I like the throttle response of a shorter stroke. There has to be some optimum in there somewhere. Wish I had a budget and a shop that would let me tinker and find it.