The car is all original so I don't really want to hack it up. I ran the car on what I think is the stock motor and it didn't do very bad; 15.67 at 91 mph. This is with exhaust manifolds, cast iron intake, and 2:73 gears. I think the engine has been overhauled mainly because of how clean it looks. It runs beautifully and revs nicely. Even the stock quadrajet doesn't miss a beat. I think that someone may have installed a small cam, say a 260 duration, just because the car does pull pretty hard around the 3000 rpm range. I think that I will add a set of 3:55 gears, a small street converter, a set of headers and an aluminum intake. Most of these are bolt-ons and I'll bet that that will alone, bring me down to the 14.40 range. Not really worried about cost( i have a very undrstanding wife). But I would like to do as much with what I have. The compression may be higher than stock and unless I pull the heads, I have no way to know. I have air and power brakes so 108 LDA on the camshaft is out of the question. I would like to get the car around the high 13 range but more importantly, I want a good sound with some lope...since it is a showcar. I may pull the eng and or just the heads to see what's under there. I don't drive the car very often so I don't mind higher compression or steeper gears. The camshafts i have been looking at are: a crane 226/236 534/553 112 LDA , comp xe 268, 224/230 515/520 110 LDA and comp 274 xe 230/236 552 lift. A friend of mine has the crane grind and it sounds really good and is somewhat vaccuum friendly.
I have always been a pontiac guy and really don't know much about chevys. From what I have been told, it doesn't take much to build these up to powerful mills, even the 402. I appreciate any info as well as criticism you can give. thanks