There are tons of free things we can do to make things easier on ourselves. My experimentation came from a lack of budget and the need/want to go faster. I had picked up some PI heads for $100 that had scarred cam journals. I have before and after dyno runs showing a 22hp gain from nothing but hand porting/polishing the heads and $75 to a machine shop for milling .027 off the surface. Went from 9.3:1cr to 10.5:1cr with just the PI heads on the NPI motor. Milling the heads brought it up to an approx 11.2:1cr. I notched the pistons because I knew milling the heads would make it nearly impossible to run an aftermarket cam. Since I couldnt afford SVO heads, PI heads were the only performance option for the 2V 4.6 motors at the time.

My goal was 12's NA in the 1/4 mi. I never quite found it. Close,.. but 13.009 was as close as I got. Started with 15.2@93 mph bone stock. I spent more on gaskets then I did for the heads and machine work.

A cracked/leaking intake manifold was what got me started. Guy made me a really good offer on a PI intake. Then another guy had the heads,.. so the decision was made. I knew very little about 4.6 motors at the time. But I knew I could put anything back together once I tore it apart.

Hurst