67 Cuda: disappointing dyno numbers, need some advice!

Lets get this "swirl port" thing laid to rest. According to Larry Shepard hisself (who helped write the MP engine book and lots of other stuff) they found that the "standard" open chamber small block heads were in fact swirl port. That's nothing more than marketing, really. Most if not all heads exhibit "some" swirl anyway since the cylinders are.....oh....I don't know........ROUND. So lets just sweep that little piece of info under the rug. Now, there were some later heads (the 308 castings) that were actually marketed as swirl port, but, they really are "not much different" than any of the rest.

Now onto your engine. How does it RUN? Do you like it? Are you happy with the power output? IGNORE what you found on the dyno when you answer. I agree with the rest. No way you have 11:1 compression. I'll tell you how you can "guesstimate" compression. RUn a compression test. Since you know what camshaft you have you can report back with the compression test numbers and we can give you a REAL GOOD" idea of about what your compression ratio is. I'm guessing under 9:1. You don't have to have an 11:1 motor to run strong. Plenty of stock eliminator engines have broken records at 8.5:1 compression. Low compression engines can haul *** when properly matched.

As mentioned, your combo "ain't bad" for what it is. "I" would not be disappointed. Can it be improved upon? Sure. But that's up to you. If you're happy with it, leave it alone. The ultimate judge is you and no one else.

Yeah, I mostly agree. The biggest thing with the “swirl port” deal is that all kinds of people misapply that label anyway.

The guy that ported the 308’s for my 340 said the exhaust port floor looked better than some of the earlier heads. It wasn’t a huge difference but the 308’s did flow better on the exhaust side than the J’s.

I don't know, maybe it's just me. I would pop the heads and measure chamber and cylinder cc's so I knew what I have before selecting a cam.

It may come to that, but a simple cranking compression check will tell you some things without tearing all the stuff down first. Like Rusty said, we know the cam, we can ballpark the cranking compression to the static.

yes 308's I believe tho I haven't seen the casting number. I do have some pics of them without valve covers on if that can help identify them. What cylinder compression would indicate anywhere near 11:1?

With "that" camshaft, I would say anything "above" 180 PSI.

My 340 has a static compression at 9.8:1 and cranks between 175-180 on all cylinders