Looking to cam up

You would be right Rusty but a couple things come into play... one I reside around 6000' above sea level, two my engine is a proper "quench" build with zero-deck pistons and .040" head gasket thickness I cc'd the heads myself and actual static compression was 10.42:1. I actually run mid-grade (87 octane up here) on the street and there's no pinging unless I really try to; timing is 10* idle with around 32* all in by 2200 and I think it could use a tad more for max power.

Good point OldmanRick I will definitely consider a converter but I do have ultimate plans to convert my car to a 4/5-speed stick depends on how much money I start making over the next couple years lol... I do have a "mystery" torque converter (~2600 stall) I recently swapped out for a stock unit because the slippage got on my nerves.