[Vrroom]

This motor is starting to be an excercize in frustration.

Today I removed the passenger side head to get a look at the pistons and also determine the volume of the combustion chamber. I found the following...

The cylinder walls look to have a freshly honed surface, although there are is a slight bit of rust in some places (the engine sat for quite a while before I bought the car). The bore measures roughly 4.120". The pistons look used. They have punch marks on the tops indicating the cylinder they were in (2, 4, .... etc.). They are normal 400cc flat top pistons with the eyebrow type valve reliefs. The piston in the #8 cylinder has a very large 45 degree chamfer around the top. Maybe the repair shop removed some damage from this piston....who knows?

The heads looked good as well. They are clean and undamaged. I measured the volume on two of the chambers and both came out to be 96CC's.

As I was carefully reinstalling the cam I accidentally pushed it in a little too far and it bumped up against the freeze plug in the back of the motor. I just bumped it ever so slightly and it knocked the plug out. Arn't those plugs supposed to be pressed in a little better than that?

So here's what I have:
1975 400cc block with a 4.120" bore and a 3.75" stroke. The deck height is about 0.010" above the piston when it's at the top of the stroke.
The heads (1971-#96) have 96CC chambers which puts my CR at about 8.5:1. The cam is a Crane Cams #H-288-2 which has a 226/234 duration @ .050", a lift of 458/473 and an LSA of 114 degrees. The torque converter has a stall speed of 2200 - 2800 RPM. I don't know the rear end ratio but the GTO is an A/C car and probably has a 3:23 or 3:08 ratio.

At this point I just need a cheap and quick way out. This motor will only be in the car for a short time while I finish the restoration. I intend to put the original motor in the car in a few years. Right now, I'd like it to be a good driver. I think I can do that by installing a different cam along with a different torque converter and a stock intake. But what cam choices are there for an 8.5 CR?

Thanks in advance for the suggestions guys.

Vrroom