commando cam .. how much will it take with stock specs ?

toolmanmike said

Yes if you're comparing performance between a 273 and a larger engine. We weren't comparing performance were we? Your quote is incomplete but that was what I was commenting on:
"Don't forget about gearing and stall. Small engines need a lot more gear than larger ones." A stock or near stock 273 is perfectly happy with a stock converter and a 2:97 gear.

Click to expand...

True
Guess we all see things slightly different. To me if you build anything smaller than a 360 it should be built to keep up if you did build a similar 360 kind of a goal post.

When I joined this site I wanted to build a 400 hp 273 probably with 4.88-5.13 gears.
Instead I have 380hp create engine and plan on running 4.10-4.36. But even with its 2.94 gears its still fun even though leaving a lot of potential wasted.

The OP dont have to run deep gears but it one of the best things you can do for these smaller engines or any engine.