I say stay at least 8.5:1 compression if not 9:1... Compression makes horsepower and bottom end torque which is good. How much boost do you plan on running?
I ran 8.5-1 in my 331 for about a year before adding my blower. Even with that compression and AOD with 55's my car ran good. Plus even had the AFM-b-31 cam in there, but that cam worked well in NA form too... With my car set up for a blower and the AOD I ran the best of 12.78... Grant-it I had a 331 but, I thought thst was good considering what my motor was set-up for...
9:1 compression is a good choice if you are using head studs and good head gaskets. I run 15-20 lbs. of boost with my built stock block and I have 9.25:1 compression with no problems. Just make sure you tune it correctly and keep an eye on timing and the plugs. I run this car on the street, almost a daily driver.
Myke86GT, glad to here your good story. Im buying an engine off a good friend of mine, new 302 shortblock only 3000 on all these parts, with 8:5:1 compression pistons, edelbrock heads, and new cam. I wont be adding a supercharger for about another year though. Do you think with my new engine in the future and my mods listed below, i can hit 12s? if not low 13s i guess whould be ok, but im really shooting for the 12's. The supercharger is just going to be a basic 6lb of boost kind, but ill upgrade later
Myke86GT, glad to here your good story. Im buying an engine off a good friend of mine, new 302 shortblock only 3000 on all these parts, with 8:5:1 compression pistons, edelbrock heads, and new cam. I wont be adding a supercharger for about another year though. Do you think with my new engine in the future and my mods listed below, i can hit 12s? if not low 13s i guess whould be ok, but im really shooting for the 12's. The supercharger is just going to be a basic 6lb of boost kind, but ill upgrade later
I don't see why you couldn't hit the 12's with that set up. Depending on the weight of the car , traction and suspension I think you could. My car was 3450 at race weight and had Lakewood lift bars and Morosso front spring and that is. My mph was in the 106-107 range with that time of 12.78...and the 60' was 1.86. Plus these were run on Nitto DR's on chrome Ponies.