440 problems/quenching?/advice needed
If for whatever reason you do wind up with a detonation problem you don't need race gas. Use a premium brand octane booster like Klotz , Torco or one of the other premium brands. Don't waste your money on parts store crap like Turbo 108 or other brands they have in Pep Boys or where ever. The of the shelf products are very weak and only raise the octane by points of a number as in .1 unless you use a very high concentration which is expensive. The premium brands are much more potent, better and easily raise octane by whole numbers. I use Klotz KL 628. I buy it off Amazon for $55 a gallon and mix it one ounce to a gallon. That's only 43 cents added to the cost of a gallon of fuel, much less expensive than race fuel including 100 octane unleaded some gas stations sell. My engine has over 11 to 1 and 210 psi cranking pressure. The Klotz works perfectly. Also you mentioned talking to Hughes Engines. I've never dealt with them but I will say that I've learned to be very careful about getting advice from parts vendors. Remember they're in business to sell parts so they will often tell you that what you have is no good and of course they have the parts to make it right. I'm not bad mouthing Hughes just stating the obvious. Good luck whatever you do and keep us posted on how things work out.
Thanks for the positive support!! I wouldn't have guessed that the parts stores octane boosters weren't any good.
With your comment about the vendors, you are ABSOLUTELY right. Some people will say anything they can to get your money. Unfortunately some people in our position have more money than sense.
So over the weekend I managed to get my hands on some goodies.
Got a set of 906 heads that have had a little work done to them. Bigger valves, new springs.. ect... I will refreshen them up a bit and get the prepped to install.
Now, everyone on here has mentioned that the cam that I have is by no means a big cam. In fact, it is a decent cam for my build. I have located a set of used adjustable rockers that I managed to pick up for $150 shipped to my front door. Upon inspection, they seem to be in great shape for the price. No pitting on the mating surfaces. I will gladly install these.
Now, I have been informed that while running non-adjustable rockers for the amount of time that I did, there is a chance that I smoked my cam. In the next couple of days I will tear it apart and inspect. If all is well, I will continue to run what I have with the adjustable rockers.
Now, I need advice on gaskets. Which head gasket company do you guys perfer for a thicker than stock gasket?