"drop in" small block
.060 down it the hole just means leave the stock cam in it or one with a similar ICA. That's no big deal.
And that's no big deal either if you have hi-way type gears in it.
Try this on. You take that 85 teener with it's stock Scr of say 8.0, and its stock cam of 240/248/112. The Scr on this comes to 7.04@135psi cranking cylinder pressure.135 is a good amount of pressure to pull those 2.76s, even with a 1700 stall TC. Right? You probably know what that feels like.
Peak torque in a pre-emmissions rating was 320ft lbs at 2400rpm; right where a streeter needs it . The same year 340 was also rated at 320 ftlbs, but at a much later 3200, IIRC.So the teener is no slouch to at least 2400, and gear for gear, is waiting for the 340 to catch up. Somewhere between 2400 and 3200 the 318 torque will be dropping as the 340 torque will be rising and then they will become equal. Lets say for argument's sake that this happens at 3000 rpm.Withe both cars having 2.76s, this happens at; Heehee, 36mph!
So from idle to 36mph the teener is out-torquing the 340. And by definition out-torquing is out-powering.
So that is why I say no big deal for most streeters to have a lo-compression teener with the right stock-type cam.
But if you put just 6.5% more gear into it, say 2.94s, your teener will feel like it grew that same 6.5%, so it will pull like it was a 338cid.
But most 340s autos came with 3.23s,so to pull like a 340 you will need 340/318 x 3.23= 3.45s. Well 3.55s are the nearest size.
So now, with that same factory cam and at that same 3000rpm, versus the 340 with the 3.23s , you will again be even. This is now happening at 28mph. And you still have that little teener cam in there.
So the next thing is to upgrade your TC to say 2800. The factory 340TC was about 2250. So now you are really gonna waste that 340 to at least 3000rpm, but Ima thinking probably to a little higher mph.
In any case you can see what is required to keep up with a 340 car to somewhere around 30mph. Basically, since a 340 is 6.9% bigger, you will need that same 6.9% more torque multiplication, and a bit more TC to help you launch. After 30 mph, the gap begins to grow as your cam and compression give up.
Now, if you put a 340 type cam into your teener,and pump the compression up to handle it, then you will get a 340 type torque curve, moving the torque peak up several hundred rpm. To get back the low-rpm torque you have to keep pace with the compression.With that 2800 TC, and still in first gear you will be blowing that stock 340 into last Thursday.And the reason is cuz you are putting more FTLBs to the pavement.
Without power-curves to work from, I have no idea how long this will continue, but I think all or almost all the way thru first gear, or until your heads give up.
So once again, .060 in the hole can be worked with, and actually looks pretty good, as some of those teeners were about .150 (IIRC) down in the hole!
So now; if you can marry those 302s to this 85 short and put in just the right cam,TC,and gears,then, you can still make a great streeter; at least thru all of first gear..