nice picture. been there, done that. i have built 350's with cast crank's, cast pistons and stock rods, 2 bolt mains, that dynoed 380 hp at the flywheel . granted these were new parts except for the block. we ran these motors for 2 seasons. when tore down they were fine, could have went another season with no problems. they made an average of about 60 to 80 laps a night on a 1/2 mile track. 2 nites a week, sometimes 3. never under 3500, and running 7200 on the top end before the corner. we never lost a motor in 4 years of racing. tore the hell out of everything else. stock heads, aftermarket springs and rockers, molly pushrods, solid cam. the pistons were 4 relief flat tops, comp was about 10 to 1. if you do this becareful on the amount of total timing you give the motor. with a wild cam and too much timing, it will load the cylinders and push the webbing out of the block. a 2bolt will not take the cylinder pressure a 4bolt will. its important to match the cam to the flow rate of the carb, heads, intake, and exhaust. if it is all working together you can optomize (sp?) the motor's potential. if one part of the combination is wrong that will be the choke point. in my opi yes you can do what you are trying to do and get it to live if you match the parts and tune it right. start adding nitros, or a turbo etc... and all this goes out the window. cylinder pressure will be the key to life for a cast motor. this is all just my opi hope it helps, cheers robert
