Decent Slant 6 carb, intake, header setup

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My personal opinion, and many will not agree. It is more labor intensive, but most bang for the buck. Pull the head and mill it to raise the compression ratio. How much depends on whether you are OK with premium, or reguler fuel. Better fuel economy, and more power. No down side. Then after that, you can add bolt ons, as the budget allows.
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Mine is a 64 Val, 3-on-the-tree, 3.23, 225.

I mostly followed Charlie's recommendations. 100% engine rebuild, +.040, rebuilt head with hardened seats, pocket ported and gasket matched by me, .080 milled off the head, mild porting on stock intake and exhaust manifolds. Called Oregon cams with my info including usage and went with the milder of the 2 cams he recommended because it's a driver. Rebuilt the Carter BBS. Used SSD recommendations for NGK plugs, ignition parts and fuel line routing. Bought 2-1/4 turbo muffler, pipes and bends to weld up a single exhaust but lucked out and bought a complete almost new professionally bent 2" system at a swap meet for $40. Had a Thrush muffler welded into it. Sounds like a V-8 at idle.

I never had a chance to baseline it because the engine was locked up when I got it (in storage 31 years) but now have put about 2500 miles on it without any issues. Plenty of power to stay way out front of traffic and goes up hills just fine without downshifting. I got 23.8 MPG going to Carlisle this past summer on 87 octane cruising 65-70 MPH on the Ohio and PA turnpikes.

I've been collecting parts and have everything to go 2 barrel, 4 speed and disc brakes soon.