Thread: Need some help and advice with this 327 I picked up.

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I picked up this 327 for my 46' International Harvester K3 Longbed. Truck is down to the frame. Jaguar XJ6 front suspension installed. The Jag rear will be someday, but for now I am gonna run a simple parallel leaf setup with a Ford Explorer 8.8.
So to help with my questions, it will run the 327 with a 700R4 overdrive. The 8.8 has 3.73 gears and Trac-Loc. So here is the info on the motor I picked up. It was an impulse buy, got a pretty good deal on it. Hoped it would be fine how it was built but the more I have asked questions about it, the more I'm told the compression will be too high for pump gas. I want this to be my everyday driver and would like to be able to run 87 octane. Already have to run 91 in my C5 Vette. Gas aint cheap.
Here is the info on the motor:

Rebuilt 63 Corvette Engine (casting #s match but who knows what it really came out of)

Block was bored to .060” over with new TRW pop up pistons with molly rings.
Double roller timing chain turns a new Crane Fireball cam
with advertised duration of 286°.
Block also has new cam bearings and freeze plugs.
Crank was turned to .020”-.020” with new Clevite rod and main bearings.
New high volume oil pump with hypo intermediate shaft.
Heads are angle plug Fuely Double hump with stainless 2.02” intakes and 1.60” exvalves. (dealer, over the counter only heads)
Heads are street ported (reworked bowls and gasket matched). Heads have screw in studs with CompCam guide plates with Hypo 3/8” pushrods.
Heads just redone with new guide bushings, perfect circle seals and perfect 3 angle valve job with LTI springs.
Valve covers are genuine Corvette highly polished. Intake is Offenhauser 360° equa-flow manifold that is gasket matched to heads.

Head casting #3991492 2.02/1.60 64cc Angle plug

I found some Stainless block hugger headers to clear the angle plug heads. Just picked up a new HEI distributor. And am replacing the Offy intake with a 69' Camaro Z28 intake (3932472).
600cfm carb?
So, in reading what the motor was built with, what direction should I go? New flat top pistons?
I have specs on the cam as it was new and got the box it was in with all the info. It's a vintage Crane unit. I'm sure there are better modern street cams that would be a better choice than this one. I would like to leave the heads alone if possible.

Any thoughts?

Any other info needed?

Don't know your compression ratio, but am running a 327 with 650
edlebrock carb and simular guts as yours, but my flat top pistons
are only about 10.50 ratio and a small 268 comp cam....Personally
if I owned a vette, I would not worry about 91 or 93 octane gas.
Make sure timing not to hi. Heck i'm running 110 octane in a 57
chev, but it not a daily driver. I know others will chime in later on.

If you buy new flat top pistons , you will have to match the size of your pistons ,or go oversize and hone to match .
The easiest and cheapest is to mill the domes off .. Everything fits , compression lowered , and no cost ..

Didn't know you could mill them down. Is it just extra material in the dome area? I have had guys tell me that 64cc chamber heads and pop up pistons will give you 11 to 11.5:1 compression.

On most TRW pistons the dome is just extra metal , A couple of quick measurements and a visual inspection
will confirm that . I have cut down a lot of the 11.5 327 Corvette type pistons and always have plenty of metal .

.

Any clue what that would put me at compression wise. I know its just a ballpark.

You should have about 10 .0 depending on the valve reliefs , deck height and gasket thickness ..

Giddy up. That should be good for a driver. Now I just need to figure out if it's worth running this old school cam or go with a modern grind. I would hate to give up extra power and maybe even mileage with a newer cam.
I also need to pick up a flywheel. My harmonic balancer looks like crap and I had thought about picking up a new one. Not sure what balancer or even flywheel to get.

The newer style hydraulic roller cams are made for the street!!! With the faster ramp rates and other design changes you can lay off the duration and still get a lot of lift without having to run the high pressure springs...

Think you might want to find out a bit more about your engine... What is the part # of the pistons, and what cc are the heads--need to know this to determine where you CR is at now to determine the best course of action to get it lowered to a level you can live with on the street...

Only way would be to tear the motor down. I lost contact with the guy I bought it from.

With a hydraulic roller cam, what other changes have to be made?

Never mind. Just read up on it. Too expensive right now. I'm better working with what I already have.

If you want a hydraulic roller, the most economical way is to get a later model core that has the valley machined for the holddown spider and the dogbones. Having said that----if you want to run a mech fuel pump you will need a core that is set up for it already or at the minimun has the mount bosses on the casting that can be machined---of course, then the cam core also needs the lobe for the fuel pump---

I'm gonna keep and enjoy what I have. Just need to get it set up proper for pump gas. How easy would it be for an engine builder to measure up my motor to figure out my compression, head cc's, quinch, deck height.... Basically any and all important measurements I need to figure out this motor and what would be the easiest and most economical way to get it set up? I could load it up in my truck with the heads off to run over to a builder.