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I am currently working on a 84 cutlass supreme brougham and the time has come to find a powerplant. The original 307 4v is long gone.
I need to strike a balance between power and economy.
What are some good ways of increasing power AND fuel economy at the same time. I only know of one and that is increasing your compression ratio.
Currently available pump gas limits the compression ratio you can run without detonation. About 9:1 with iron heads and 10:1 with aluminum heads is considered the optimum today.
This equates to somewhere around 170 psi cranking pressure. You may be able to run a little higher than that with a good, tight squish and piston/chamber massaged to eliminate hot spots.
porting the heads will also give you what you are after by letting it breath it will effectively increase hp