Hello everyone,
I've just joined the forum, but I've been monitoring for quite a while now. I just purchased a 1972 Commando with a 304 V8, although I haven't received it yet; it's being shipped from Tucson (I'm in Baton Rouge).
34,000 original miles
believed to be stock
no significant oil leaks
runs well
compression test shows 115 #'s on all cylinders except one which shows 20
no smoke from the exhaust
recently passed Arizona emissions
sounds like it may have a minor exhaust leak
Because of the lack of smoke from the tail pipe, I'm thinking that either a valve is bad or the head gasket is leaking.
I'd like to run my plans by some of the more experienced folks here and get some feedback. My intended use for this vehicle is 90% street and 10% mud riding. I'm not into "low end grunt" and ultra high torque. I have a CJ-8 with the 4.2 that I put a fuel injection system from a '94 cherokee. That's for low end grunt. Fuel efficiency is not the most important thing, but I'm hoping to get AT LEAST in the low teens. I also don't want to spend a massive amount of money chasing ponies. I'm hoping I can do all of the following for under $1500 and have a nice reliable engine.
Edelbrock performer intake
Cam upgade - don't know which one yet
Remove heads and get a valve job - should I port/polish change anything?
GM Throttle body injection from chevy 5.0
As part of the TBI upgrade, I'll need to swap the distributor to a Ford Duraspark
Please don't tell me to swap in a 360 or 401. I don't want to swap engines, and I don't want to change anything in the lower end of this one.
What kind of horsepower could I expect? Any pitfalls or suggestions? Any other mods that are good "bang for the buck"?
Why did the the 304 get lower power ratings through the years? I understand it had something to do with trying to meet emissions, but what physically changed?