It is in a 72 F100 2wd, backed by a C6 and a 3.50:1 gear on ~26.5 tall tires.
So background i built a 390 from a 360 and lost a bearing, i rebuilt it as a 445. It also has a Holley Terminator Stealth EFI and Hooker headers.
When i originally built it i had the stock C8AE-H heads extensively reworked with CJ valves and so forth but this brought the combustion chamber down to 65-66cc I also used a FPA aluminum CJ intake (i think it is a rebranded Blue Thunder) this of course creates a port mismatch. I also put in a Crower solid roller it is a 280R "street roller" and Erson rockers, it has HIPPO lifters. I reused all of this on the 445 build.
I'm pretty happy with the cam and build except that the adjusters on the ersons keep wearing rather dramatically and the idle needs to be higher than i would like. It does sound nice. However i no longer really care if it has any lope. I suspect the spring pressures (which are very high are at least partially (if not entirely) responsible for the wear on the rocker adjusters, plus i really don't want to adjust them anymore.
The original build was at 10.6:1 with 1020s and the 445 is at 10.6ish with the thicker felpros. it is somewhat sensitive to total advance over 34ish and ping.
I had it chassis dynoed as a 390 and was pretty disappointed, however we do now know that it was sick at the time...
I am now here looking for ideas about how to proceed with some modifications to the build with the goal of simplifying the whole thing, i and thinking hydraulic roller, i'm really not seriously opposed to changing the heads but if i could get the DCR and idle under control with the existing ones that'd be nice. Cost within reason isn't a huge issue.
I'm also thinking of using a stock "S" intake (i have it) and the (dismal) factory exhaust manifolds. I just want to put it together one last time and forget about the engine part of the project. I have even considered a flat tappet and stock rocker arms.
So what are the collectives ideas about a very mild rework for an automatic truck? How bad power wise am i going to shoot myself in the foot with the factory manifolds... can i get 350hp out of it?
