Let me give you some background. The pre-midlife crisis began about a year ago when I declared I was going to grow out my hair (think reverse SlantsixDan - clean shaven) and build a hot rod. I told my wife it would be a father and son project (to help ease the blow) and remarkably, I am still married. My son has of yet to show any interest! The car will be a 27 Ford T roadster ( I hope to buy a kit in the next couple of years). So far, I have only acquired the engine, rear diff, and some odds and ends. I've only spent about 100 bucks! The goal is a 200 to 225 HP Slant for a street driven weekend cruiser. Here are my ideas so far (Feel free to add yours):

72 225 slant/6 (Dodge Dart) BH Block
Bore - 20 to 40 over
Head milled 90 thou
Block milled 10 thou?
Cast flat top pistons (Manufacturer?)
Head equipped with oversize valves
Port polish gasket matching
340 valve springs
Erson 270 degree cam
Aussie speed/pentastar parts - long runner intake (hope to have by the end of May)
Edelbrock 500 cfm AVS carb
Dutra duals (Y pipe - H pipe with duals or x pipe?)
All the ARP goodies
904 (or if a complete 4 speed falls from heaven) stall? I have no clue!
96 GM S-10 Blazer rear end limited slip 3.42 gears
To be installed in 1500-1800 Lb. roadster

Please help with your ideas. I am slowly acquaring parts, but when I buy, I want to be confident I am spending my money wisely. Thanks - Wayne

Polish the heck out of the exhaust runner's till you can't hold the grinder anymore. Other than that it should be a nice little engine, I don't quite know the specs on that cam, but don't be afraid to have plenty of lift. I would suggest anywhere from .47-.5. One thing I'm starting to do more often is balancing my internals to get less stress on the parts and higher revs.

The cam has 465 degrees lift. Did I mention Electic fan and (of course) getting rid of stock dist/points?

Alot of what you are describing will enhance torque. This could get you in trouble with such a light car. I would suggest a lot bigger cam, with short headers, and a short runner intake. The small cam, long runner intake and DD manny setup will give lots of torque. Going the other route will not loose lots of torque if done right but still it will soften it up a little. This will help get the power to the ground instead of overpowering what I would expect to be somewhat on the small size with tires, even if not the light weight will make it hard to get the power to the ground. Port size on the intake side can be very critical in how the power curve works, in both the head, and intake runners.



Jess

You'll have to measure the head CCs and the piston deck height before you know how much to mill from either. That Erson cam will work well at 9:1. Feel free to bore the engine +.060". Even +.080" pistons and rings are available as stock replacements. The Enginebuilder oversize valves are fine. Get retainers to match the 340 type springs. I like the Comp Cams stuff as the Crane retainers, as least the ones that comes with springs for LA motors, don't have much clearance to the guides. I would use headers myself, but Dutra Duals work well. The exhaust depends upon the sound you want. True duals without a crossover is a more vintage sound. For performance I prefer 2-1 single exhaust. The only money I would spend with ARP is for rod bolts. At this performance level anything more is just lost money.

The 904 will work fine. Call a torque converter builder like Midwest with all the car and engine specs and they can build a good converter. Light cars can use a lot of stall without hurting anything except maybe your wallet.

And I think a Holley 390 works better than a 500 Edelbrock due to the smaller primaries. A 400 CFM AFB if you can find one would be a good choice.

_________________
Joshua

i would reverse the deck numbers and take .090 off the block and just true the head surface you should be close to 9/1.(stock pistons -.180 down the bore ) on the converter, a 904 trans with 2200/2400 stall should fit with a .450 to .470 lift cam.with the head at lease a 3angle job and clean and blend the pocket after the last cut.

Keep an eye on the cam overlap event... the wider it is the more reversion occurs in the long ram intake (will goof up your wet manifold fuel delivery...)... Looking for more of a good mid-range torque... split the intake plenum in half (weld in a plate) this will also make things really easy when tuning the 'two banks' of cylinders (1-2-3 and 4-5-6)...

You should have no problem leaving scratch in all gears...

-D.Idiot

Guys, thanks for the advice! My head is swimming!!

Aggresive Ted-your a torque meister care to weigh in?