Ok, I'm good at problem solving, fabrication, and general fiddling. What I'm NOT good at is numbers and theory-crafting.

I am going to get off my ass as soon as the company sends my tax paper and get my return on the way so I can get some shit done. I need to finish the top end of this engine ASAP so I can get the carb jetted and tuned.

So, my plan:

Gonna get the new cam and send it in for a higher duration grind and install roller rockers. I would LIKE to go ahead and purchase a set of Starion stainless valves (1mm bigger than stock) and send my head back to Rick's to port the new valves in and put in some stiffer springs. When I put the new goodies in, the head gets studs instead of bolts, and I plan to purchase one of the copper billet head gaskets one of our members linked a while back.


The conundrum:

I want to keep and generate maximum torque with this engine, Hp is nice, but not the focus. Were I to go with a thicker head gasket and increase my displacement a bit, would that drop the Hp a bit and bump the torque? I'm no engine builder, despite being capable of dangerous things with an engine (mostly leading to dead engines). If I were to go thicker, how much? How would I calculate the changes, and how do I determine what the outcome would be?


So, obviously I'm mostly clueless as to what I'm doing. I know what I want to happen, just not sure how.