Quote:

Please excuse my lack of knowledge but what does the OP need to get 10-1 in his engine? Closed chambered heads, mill them, deck the block a bit, thin head gaskets, yes? How much more would he need?

Would turning down the rod journals to 010 undersized but doing it like 440 rod journals are offset ground to BBC size do anything to help or is that wasted effort?



You could spend yourself poor at the machinist to reinvent the whole thing, or you could spend a few hundred on pistons. I've driven myself bats with the math on this puzzle... just buy the damn pistons!

That said... i have a No-buck zero-deck 400 ready for the rebuild in my shop. Found a standard bore re-cond. 400 at the junkyard, free in trade. Had some .030" over 440 pistons (stock low comp, perfect comp ht. for lowdeck) kicking around. Enough rods to build a V700, and a couple steel 383 cranks. Bore the 400 to just 4.35", flycut the pistons, balance it all and pow! Zero-deck/steel crank/balanced 400 to go with some nice 516 heads and .040" quench. Total cost? $125 + machining/balancing. Kinda hokey... but i bet it screams.