I’ve been a Motörhead during virtually all of my 69 years. I am in the process of a cosmetic restoration of my ‘78 F150 short bed 4x4 that I bought new. In the early nineties before I had the resources of this forum I built a mild 400 for it. I had no reasonable solution at the time for building a decent compression ratio into it. In addition I cammed it too mildly.

At the time, I bored it .040, stock dish pistons and stock heads milled .060 and the thinnest gasket I could find. I ported the heads and did a three angle valve job. I used a 204@.050 intake and 214@.050 exhaust cam, an Edelbrock performer and 600 Holley that I dialed in very well. The chassis is tough to get headers into, so I have stock manifolds and turbo mufflered 2 1/4” dual exhaust. It also has an MSD.

Fast forward 25 years and I am nearing completion of the restoration, getting down to trim and interior and replacing all fluids. It runs well, but with modern parts availability there is much room for engine improvement. I have carefully calculated the compression to be 8.7:1. With the long stroke it could take a good bit more cam without giving up any bottom end. Four tube into one headers would be a great improvement as would an after market hydraulic roller.

Currently the plans for the truck is Sunny weather errand running, parades and local car shows on the square or at the park. When not involved in such activities it would be stored cozily under a cover in the back corner of my hangar.

I am fighting the urge to tear it apart and pump $3,000 to $4,000 into it, only to drive it around occasionally and enjoy knowing that I have a great engine under the hood. I have built enough engines over the years to know that the fun and challenge of the build itself is a massive part of the satisfaction. I can, in no way, justify this build, but it keeps calling out to me.

So,..... will I end up heeding it’s calling out to me, or just enjoy putt-putting around?

The companion thread regarding the truck restoration is:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...finally-2.html

I will do all of it, or none of it. IF I do it at all, the biggest question will be how I go about raising compression. The second biggest question will be the cam, which will be determined by whether or not I decide to hack up the fender wells for a decent set of headers. As most people who read this sub forum know, the compression solution choices are: Aftermarket aluminum heads, Aussies, or TMI pistons. Within each of these choices is the CR calculations.

What I currently have is probably the optimum for a low dollar warm over.

Careful calculation shows that 60 cc heads on my current short block would give 9.97:1. If they were aluminum heads, that may be a workable CR.

I can get Trickflow heads completely assembled for $1000 each. They are 62 CC which would give about 9.7:1. Once I start down that road, I need headers and more cam. About 220@.050 for my street motor. Those heads with headers would make it work okay with a single pattern cam. I don’t think you would then need the extra duration like you would need for many of the poor flowing Ford exhaust ports.

Thanks for the comment Head Forest!😊

I don’t understand though. What is the difference whether you take the volume from the deck clearance or the combustion chamber as long as you get the desired compression ratio?

Again, thanks for the feedback and I look forward to the explanation.😊

Okay Head Forest, I did some research and understand the concept. Don’t know if I am willing to do both pistons AND heads for this particular application, but your point is well taken.

Thanks again!

Yep, you’re right. My knee jerk interpretation was from “Jaeger Meister,” which is the game warden and supervisor of the forest, so I thought it meant “Forest Master.” It makes since that the term would mean Hunter Master.

I spent two years in Germany as a young man and I deeply regret the fact that I didn’t come away fluent.

If I were to go the piston route, it has been so long since I built the engine, I don’t remember if it’s bored .030 or .040. Changing pistons without fitting as when the machine shop goes through the boring and honing process would be iffy.

My heads already have the studs and guide plates. I did a good job of porting them too, even if I do say so myself.

When I start thinking about it, I have the original 351M block and rods in the back of my old shop. If I had another 400 crank I could build a short block and then just change it out. Hmmm.... I haven’t had any machine work done in a long time. Machine shops with quality Equipment are not as plentiful as they used to be.

Head Hunter how bad did you have to hack up the fender wells for the headers?

Thanks head hunter! That answers my question perfectly. Since I am going all out to make the truck appear as it did the day I took delivery 41 years ago, I will have tothinklong and hard.