No replacement for displacement!
My 493 is just shy of 9:1 and made 600 ft/lbs at 4000. It was making 500 ft/lbs by 2000 RPM. MP509 cam, TBI and Edelbrock RPM heads with 1.7 rockers. That's the magic of cubes. That cam in a 440 is a stone off idle.
It's happy on all but the hottest days on 87 regular and if my timing curve was a little less aggressive, it would likely be OK on 87 all the time.
Kevin
Sounds awesome! I am looking at cams one step milder than the 509 but I’m not buying a cam until I finish collecting a lot more parts.
Does all that torque move a factory high stall type converter up a few hundred rpm? What are you running for a converter?