The M/T salt car was rumored to have cranks cast from nickel. The reason I bring this up is because a casting pattern for a flat crank would be quiet easy to make and simple in design. Perhaps a short stroke flat crank 3" or 3.5" in a 301 block could give intake and in particular exhaust tuning that could help.Smokey noted that a tempest 4cly engine made more HP per ci than the 421 sd with the same head and cam timing. This was most likely because of exhaust tuning as X design V8s tune as two v4s while a flat plain tunes as two inline 4s.While 180 degree headers get round that the tube lengths you end up with are too long for a high rpm engine.It may be that nickel is not strong enough for a big stoke engine but maybe ok for a short stoke with pin to mains overlap.Of course you then need a custom camshaft but that cost maybe moderated as you need a less exotic valve train for smaller lighter valves and shorter push rods ect.It wont win pro stock but it might come close to your HP to ci target.
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