I'll actually reply to that. The rest of the replies have been making me laugh.
The thing that gets under my skin is the constant assumption that I didn't start learning about engines until I signed up for this forum. Being treated like an incompetent bafoon puts people on the defensive really fast, too. This site is too closed-minded to new people. Once again, nobody bothered to ask me what I know they just assumed that I don't know anything. The assumption is that I read a post and thought I was a master builder. None of you have a clue how much time I've spent talking to these guys because I don't have enough posts to matter. Fuck that bullshit. The truly funny thing is that people consider me to be pretty knowledgable outside of this site and that includes professionals I talk to face to face.
Here's the point everyone seems to be missing. You can run lower compression with a properly ported head and full timing on pump gas while getting the same power as you would get at higher compression and pulled timing. The trade off is that your engine is more efficient and less prone to detination. The porting of the cylinder head puts your engine at or above 100% VE before even adding the compression into the equation. You select your RPM range, find CID per cylinder, and then figure out how many CFM you need to reach your horsepower goal. From there you match the IM and TB then select an appropriate cam. Power is in the head and tuning not in the block. This and this alone is my point. When you get right down to it, high domed pistons can disrupt flame travel and hurt power that way. This is where you build an engine as an entire unit instead of trying to poor-boy piece it together. Quite obviously, I did just learn this yesterday, have no practical experience, and I'm really just talking out of my ass. You guys need to climb down out of your fucking trees and stop treating all newbies like they're here to troll your message board with B-Series crap.
