Yes, that is the reasoning on new heads. Only take off enough to get 12:1 and gain a little clearance there. What are the chambers on a -1 head in cc? I think I had .035 taken off my victors to get 12.5:1. I’m not sure of Brads circumstance, but I assumed his testing was at the track.
Since Brads Victor combo hasn’t yet run in the car, the track testing he did would have been with the old combo, which used std port stage 6’s.
Andy’s rocker test proved you only need what you need, and that there isn’t always going to be any magic with a rocker swap....... since he basically saw no gains by increasing the RR in that test.
My friends old 13:1 Pontiac bracket motor lost a solid 15hp by swapping the intake rockers from 1.5 to 1.6(.556 to .593 lift).
Played with lash, timing, jetting, spacers...... no improvement.
Put the 1.5’s back on...... poof...... 15hp came back.
The next year we replaced the SFT cam for a .596” solid roller....... and picked up 50hp.
