While the engine is apart, what should I do?

streetstang67 said:

I've been wanting to be faster for a while now and I figured a cam was my missing engine "link". Well I started looking at cams and see that I'm going to need to replace the valve springs with the cam change which would require removing the heads (right??). Well if I'm going to tear the engine down that much, what other things should I do while its apart? Right now, I think I could run mid 15's all day long. I would like to be able to realistically run high 13's all day long (not just on a cold day with the wind at my back), or at least low 14's. What do you suggest I do while I have the engine torn down that much?

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Well, you don't have to remove the heads to change the springs. Do you know what cam you have in it? Do you know what stall you're converter is? What heads do you have? Are they stock or do they have oversized valves?

You can do the port and polishing yourself, its a good thing to know.

you will gain a small amount by milling the heads, but you will gain more by changing the cam, and puting a good exhaust and intake system on the car, and you dont lose detonation resistance. porting the heads is also a good thing, but if you are willing to spend the money, a set of world products windsor jr, or AFR 165 heads will gain you more power than you will get by porting your own heads.

clean up the heads and a nice cam should put you well in the 14s.

Port and polish the heads you now have maybe milling them .020 or so. Milling more will get you into issues with milling the intake too.

streetstang67 said:

I've been wanting to be faster for a while now and I figured a cam was my missing engine "link". Well I started looking at cams and see that I'm going to need to replace the valve springs with the cam change which would require removing the heads (right??). Well if I'm going to tear the engine down that much, what other things should I do while its apart? Right now, I think I could run mid 15's all day long. I would like to be able to realistically run high 13's all day long (not just on a cold day with the wind at my back), or at least low 14's. What do you suggest I do while I have the engine torn down that much?

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You have some nice components already like the carb, headers and gear. What you need to do now is fill in the missing parts that will complete the whole package and give you some real performance. If you don’t attack your combination from the “whole Package” approach you will be disappointed and wish that you had done it “correctly” the first time, prodding you to keep going back and tearing your engine apart to get it right. Been there, done that. Here is what I think you should do while you have the engine apart:

Get a good performance cam. Get a good set of performance heads with the valve train that is matched to the cam (valves, springs, roller rockers, hardware). Get a better intake manifold that will let that free spinning 289 reach it’s potential (Weiand Xcellerator or Victor Jr).

Definitely do the heads and cam at the same time. I don’t recommend working the stock heads because they usually require a lot of professional attention before they perform well and by that time a set of better aluminum heads could have been purchased.