[DeWayne]

Hello everyone, I have been on this forum for years but have only posted one time, I feel like I know you guys as friends "Reading you post over the years" .

Car purchased in 1995
1973 TA no A/C
455 -- 30 over
stock intake
4x heads
stock exhaust
Turbo 400
3.08 10 bolt

I live in between OKC and Tulsa one hour either way.
I have take the car to Tulsa Internal speedway and Thunder Valley in Noble
when I first got the car best time was a 14.01

I was driving it like a chevy and tying to shift at 6000 rpm, now I know I should have been shifting at 5200 rpm.

Then I had a friend that had some Pontiac heads that he gave me and there was a set in there that was #12 they had the large valves so I put them on and changed the cam to the 041 grind and changed the gears to 3.42, The car ran good and my friend had a 81 Z28 that was running low 13's and it would beat his car on the street, I never did get to the track ,you can guess what happened, If I'm correct those heads should have put my compression around 11 to 1 on cast pistons. It completely shattered a piston and knocked a whole in the cylinder, I have had the cylinder resleeved.

Now I'm ready to put the it back on the road, the car is going to be a weekend driver only. I seen a article I think in Car Craft where they got 501 HP from a Pontiac 455 with the Comp XE 274H cam, I was thinking about going that route.

1. With the todays oils not being flat tappet friendly and HR lifter cost, I was think about Solid Roller cam but I have never had a solid cam so I need help picking one out, should I get the XE274 or go with a solid ?

2. should I use the #12 heads with dish piston or sell them and get the 87cc E-heads. what is a set of #12 worth?

I have learned so much from you guys, and I want to build the motor correctly the first time I would like to get 500 -550 HP.

1973 TA
455 30 over
RPM intake
Cam - Need help
Heads - Need help
Piston - need help
Turbo 400
Converter - will match to combo
Gears - 3.42