My doomed 408 build

PRH said

Or...... you were running out of valve spring.

408 with 63cc heads, zero deck, 5cc pistons, .040 gasket.......about 11.6cr.

In any case, I hope it works out to your satisfaction.
When I was first getting into it many years ago, I did it the way I wanted.
Sometimes it worked out really well, sometimes not so much.
But that’s how you learn.

Click to expand...

408 63CC heads, zero deck, flat top pistons (unknown displacement) .039 gasket. Yep. about 12-1 is what Tim @ Hughes said. My builder claimed it @ 11-1 and I can run on pump gas NP... it pinged with 34 DEG timing. 32 not so much.
The first cam I had in it was a hydraulic flat tappet, one that should have been right where I wanted the springs.

I don't know if you feel that I am going down the wrong road with my game plan, What exactly would you do differently?

No matter what I do I will make more power with this cam and the correct valve springs. I am hoping to get it to run on pump gas with the new cam. I really would like to get my 4000# Roadrunner down the strip in the 12's
I am hoping to run the engine more than say 30 miles or at least 30 minutes before another major malfunction with the engine or transmission happens. I have so much cash and time into this thing, that at one point not to long ago was about to tear it down and sell it all off for parts.