being a Jensen you probably don't have a ton of hood clearance so you may want to look at the Indy 440-2D dual plane (sits lower than a performer RPM or a Holley Street Dominator. You're probably going to have to run exhaust manifolds that fit the chassis (or possibly small tube block huggers) as well as a relatively small-ish 2 1/2" max dual exhaust. That said I wouldn't over-think it and find a nice single pattern Hydraulic Roller in the ~236 @.050 duration and around .540-.565 lift and I would run about a 110-111 spread and put the intake centerline in around 106-107. You will have absolutely wall-to-wall torque and a very strong powerband along with excellent vacuum for power brakes. The combination will definitely feel like 505" when you tap the gas and should pull at least into 5600 rpm range. That mid 230 range for a hydraulic roller is a great all-around balance for awesome street power and torque with heavy cars and street gearing. If you wanted to you could go with a similar intake duration and a much longer but also slower exhaust ramp for that "cruise-in" "Thumper" idle....but to me that would seem out of character for a Jensen, I would go with a single pattern 236-ish @ .050. It's also very similar to what I run in my 427" Stroker small block in my Cobra Replica and the 442" AMC in my Buddy Nat's 12 second Jeep CJ-7, Great idle with just a hint of chop, instantaneous throttle response and tire melting torque all over the powerband and in any gear.


Greg, the only issue I have with tight lobe spreads is he's probably going to run a very restrictive exhaust, increasing overlap when you have a restricted exhaust can kill (or severely limit the effectiveness of) that "fifth cycle" scavenging effect, especially with the mild street type compression he'll be running. As for "optimum" LSA's that really depends a lot of the head flow and valve configuration, but this one wouldn't be anything close to 106 IMHO