Guys, thanks for the input and experience you have lended. I think until I breakdown and get the beast dyno'ed i'll never know for sure. What you have given me is similar buildups and that's what I wanted to compare with. Thanks for this forum, it's awesome. What I do think is odd is that the new desktop dyno's don't account for the compression ratio's and c/chamber cc's of the yesteryear motors. Could it be that hotrodding is going to the next level with multipoint fuel injection and such? Maybe it's already there and I just refuse to accept it or something. But what I do know is that with a good 'how to' manual and a decent set of tools, a bonehead like me can pull 400+ ponies out of a 'nastolgic' big block ford whithout a single gigabyte or keyboard to do it for me.

Later, Steve.