Waking Up a Turd

Mile Maker said
Im In Medicine Hat AB. 2260 Feet.
This engine was built more than 25 yrs ago, And also sat for 20. I suspect there was some rust on the cylinder walls.
As i was first driving this truck, and doing some tuning, There was more blowby than i wanted to see. I did a compression test at that time.
I averaged 130PSI. with 2 cylinders at 125, and one at 140.
Since this compression test, i think some of the blowby has cleaned up.
This winter i want to open it up, and at least put some new rings on it, with a fresh hone. Im also debating on some of the oiling system mods, as described in this forum. Drilling out the passages, and slotting the bearings. If nothing else it will make me feel good.

its been a couple of weeks since i raced, But i think it just shifted to 3RD at the finish line. I recognize that i might shave off some time with improving my launch, and shifting a bit higher.

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I wouldn't do the oil mods especially at your rpm there meant more for endurance 7000-8000 rpm plus. I wouldn't overly worry about port volume, speedmaster is probably the best deal if you want to step up, if your heads are fine condition I would just reuse maybe with a little port bowl clean up nothing fancy. Just cause you got 10:1 piston doesn't mean you got 10:1 if the guy that built it didn't do the right steps in getting it like zero deck right gasket thickness right sized chambers. If you go speedmaster or other closed chamber heads you'd probably need different pistons especially if stepping down in cam which you should cause CR will probably be too high.

Didn't hear anything about what stall your using ?

Is your truck hooking up well ?

Since you got to tear into the engine at least to freshen it up, At least choice a better cam for your application, something that works well in the 1500-1800 to 5000-5500 range hydraulic roller would help to keep bottom end while extending top end. Moving up to 408 will make you more power in the 1500-5500 range, A good stall will help a lot, I'd leave gearing to last to fine tune plus 3.23 to 3.55 isn't a huge difference and might not be as helpful if you have to shift out of 2nd. Even a small shot of nitrous would help cause you'd pick up speed without the need for more rpm therefore lowering the gear ratio needed. Overdrive would be also be a good thing allow optimal gear choice with acceptable highway rpms.

Trick with a street engine is to extend the powerband rpm far as possible but try keeping and/or try not to scraffice too much 1500-2500 rpm to gain 4500-5500 rpm, .09-1:1 hp per cid is streetable muscle car type power peak should fall around 4500-5000 rpm, 1-1.1:1 hp:cid is more hot street 5000-5500 rpm peak power after that it's more serious street strip and deep gears and high stall and everything else that goes along with it.