i ran a jw th400 reg valve body w/shift kit bought it thru t/a yrs ago jw 4k stall 10 in converter,and a midwest 9 in converter also around 4k stall i ported my heads 2 x the first time i went from 13.40's to 12.80's the second time mainly focusing on the exh and the 90 it makes i went to 12.0-12.30 range i run a 0 deck height (take off .060) i think if i mill the heads i could raise the compression another point and p/u more horses,but never tried it yet a local shop does all my machine work i do my own assembly you can make that 401 rev like a 327 my uncle is dead now but he was one of the engineers on the stealth bomber he swore the 401 would never exceed 5k mark i proved him wrong many say why would you, but i have gotten alot of complients on how great my 455 sounds.well actually back then it was the 425 nailhead, it just ran like a 455 ken
hi yes my race heads 2 sets i ported myself,the first eng i ever built i forked out 1400 for ported machined ready bolt on heads done by a local shop, they ran really great but with stock .o4o pistons ,headers,singe carter 750 and a poston cam 2k-5500 power range on a 114 the car ran a best of 14.0@95 in a 65 gs 4sp convert w/355 gears,i still have that motor( in my 55 buick now)maybe theres more in it if you bump the compression and cam but i just wanted to keep it as is,its good enough for how it turned out.and i wanted to keep 1 really goon eng just for the street. but i wanted togo 12's so i did the other 2 sets of heads myself,just had all the machine work done after i ported them, then i assembled them myself,then stepped up to the bigger pistons 12-1 big dome,and the bigger cams,always bigger than 260 @ .050 anything smaller and the car was just a dog over 5k. 456 gears were great,i even thought about 488's but if i did id want the alumn. rods and some lighter forged pistons ken
FYI: 1) Longer rods have lower piston/cylinder side loads, hence less cylinder and piston wear. 2) Short rods have a higher axial loading, hence potentially more bearing wear. 3) Short rods produce higher torque early, less torque later . 4) Short rods produce a higher peak torque. More: [FONT=Arial,sans-serif]http://www.stahlheaders.com/Lit_Rod%20Length.htm Some interesting info! [/FONT]
