Easy way to increase HP on stock truck 390 before install

I bought a descent garage rebuilt truck 390 but want to add a little hp. The stock 76 motor should have about 200hp. But I'm putting my better 64 heads and 4bbl stock intake w/ stock '64 650cfm carb. This all goes into the 64 Galaxie convertible.

Any idea how much that would increase and how much I could get with a better cam and maybe some 64 style pistons w/ the flat top. Since it is still sitting in the garage I wanted to go ahead and do the easy stuff now like swapping out the stock cam and maybe the pistons if that makes sense. I think the flat top pistons would make the comp ratio about 9.5:1

Any other ideas are appreciated too. Looking to spend just a couple hundered extra which might get me a new cam & pistons.

A cam can give you LOTS of HP by changing the dynamics of things etc...

The 4V intake and 64 heads might get you about 20-25 horse in my guessing range.

FE
[addsig]

Headers or Exuast Manifolds? I say clean up the ports somewhat and if you haev manifolds clean those up a bunch and that should be good

Definitely work the ports on the heads and port match the manifolds...
[addsig]

The stock cam has got to go. 76s were smog engines and the cams were machined retarded to meet emmision standards. Shop around for a good aluminum intake, if you can get the compression up in the 9.5-10 range , the combination of intake, cam, headers and about a 650 CFM carb should put you in the 350-375 HP range with gobs of low end torque.

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Tony P.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: UTRY on 11/13/06 11:01pm ]</font>

FE Exhaust manifolds are the worst! Atleast the ones I took off my '64 were. Go headers from FPA and an Edelbrock performer RPM manifold and if possible financially add the RPM heads and cam. Put you over 400 hp.
[addsig]

Hedders WILL add some kick to it! OEM were restrictive....
[addsig]

From the way I understand it seemed like this was maybe a budget build so I was trying to give him cheap idea's maybe I was wrong?

The biggest bang for your buck will be in ridding that great motor of the TERRIBLE exhaust manifolds and camshaft. Be careful when selecting a replacement camshaft however. Too much camshaft is not a good thing at all. Low end power, driveability, fuel economy can all be lost, if you go too big on the cam. Proper camshaft selection depends on a lot of factors, number one being what you want to use the car for. Gear ratio, exhaust and intake combinations, torque converter stall speed (if your running an automatic transmission) vehicle weight, RPM limitations of the motor, and the size of your wallet all need to be considered when selecting the camshaft. With proper combinations of exhaust and intake components, with a good cam, 350 to 400 horse would be acheivable. The real horseower gains after that are in the cylinder heads. That is where horsepower is really made. The better it can breathe, the more power it will make. You're doing the right thing by asking people how to go about it. Performance parts are not exactly cheap for FE motors, and I always hate to see some having to throw good money after bad.
[addsig]

Listen to the exhaust comments.

My experience
1 - Headers and an efficient exhaust
2 - Recurved distributor
3 - 4 barrel and a good dual plane intake
4 - Cam and headwork

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70 Sportsroof, 427 FE/489 cid, 10.4:1,Stage 2 Edelbrock heads, RPM intake, 1000 Holley HP, TKO-600, 3.70's, A/C
71 F100 4x4 shortbed 390 hot rod
02 F250 Powerstroke 4x4, chipped, exhaust, trailer puller
07 HD Street Glide, 96 inch 6 speed, vivid black

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: My427stang on 11/17/06 3:51am ]</font>