is there really no replacement for displacement?...

britdart said

hi FABO, i've had my '70 swinger for almost a year now and she's absolutely wonderful. But she's only got the stock (yet extremely clean) 225 /6. i've always driven faster cars, and although the low end torque is nice, the high end torque simply doesn't exist. She's a brilliant engine, (she lasted 400 miles and back upto lake shasta a few weeks ago) but i really need to get some more power. Is it worth me getting a 2 barrel carb, header exhausts etc (and possibly even a turbocharger) or is it best just to find a 340 to throw in? i'm in no great rush, but if anyone has any opinion on the matter, that'd be great - thanks

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How fast do you want to go? A little more compression, some head work, 2 1/4" exhaust and a 2 bbl or 4 bbl carb will do a lot. I'll use my '67 Valiant as an example. Milling the head .080" got the compression ratio up to 8.5:1, put a used Holley 390 on a used Offy intake and had 2 1/4" exhaust run off the stock manifold. I ported the head myself and had the machine shop install 1.70/1.44" valves. I took over 2 seconds of my pathetic low 19 second 1/4 mile this way. It's still not fast, but it's much more fun to drive. I'm still running the original 1967 short block and cam. The column shifted 3-speed is interesting, but it would be quicker with a Torqueflite. If I want to go faster I'll up the compression a bit more and run a hotter cam, but then the 3-speed would really start hurting me.