Also, keep in mind if you have 2.76s or similar, and an automatic, is that if the engine can't spin the tires, the secondaries may not open until 3000 rpm or later, which may be as high as 35 mph. If only one tire spins, that doesn't mean yer fast,lol.
You will get way more performance from more stall and more gear, then you ever will by adding a 4 bbl to the anemic low-C teener with a factory TC and hiway gears,and that pitiful exhaust system.
Your A/C system is heavy all right, but what is it actually costing you in terms of performance? It probably weighs less than my wife did on our wedding day. So time a zero to whatever mph run empty, and then load 100 pounds into the passenger seat and repeat, to the same speed. What you lose in ET is about what you might gain.
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My 73 teener liked a 2800 and 4.30s,lol. But it wasn't all that bad with 3.55s and an A998 with the 2.74-1.54-1.00 ratios. It also liked a freeflowing dual exhaust with a crossover. But the Thermoquad was not a big deal.I mean really how much power can it add to an old teener,lo, even if it was freshened up! But it sure sounded like it was making a lot of power,lol.
Just so you know; 3.55 x 2.74 =9.73 starter gear; about same as 3.97s with the standard 2.45 ratio. And a 2800 bumps the teener into an rpm zone where there is, or very soon(with a 9.73 starter gear), will be, a generous amount of power.......for a 318.
If your budget is really really tight, I highly recommend the TC as your first purchase.
Of all the things you can bolt onto your old girl.....this one will make the biggest difference...... followed almost immediately by an LSD,lol.Then some timing changes and valve springs. Then exhaust. And finally, the 4bbl.
If you get to thinking about a cam, IMO, by itself,that's a bad idea. There's just not enough cylinder pressure there to work with, and the lower rpm will immediately go soggy. Thank goodness the 2800 is already in there. The stock cam is IIRC 240/248/112. And the ever popular 268 will drop cylinder pressure like a teenage girl , oh never mind. Forget that cam; it wants a lot of complementary changes that add up to a lot of money. The best cam for that engine in it's factory condition,is already in it. It will do pretty good with some 5500rpm springs, and the preceding changes........
No you won't be shifting at 5500, I don't think, but Mine did really well, being shifted at 5000 to 5200, which was 40mph with those gears. But it couldn't hardly spin the 295s back there, so I installed some studded winter tires,lol. Yeah she was my winter engine, from September-long/October 10th, to April/May-long, about 7 months a year.
Happy HotRodding.
