I'm building my 350 (An l-42 out of a 79
corvette) for more power.
I was looking around, and I found the Holley
SysteMAX II kit for 1300 bucks.
It looks like a good deal (heads, intake, lifters,
cam, push rods, ARP head bolts). http://www.holley.com/HiOctn/ProdLin...K/300-503.html
Holley claims that it makes 425 HP with a
compression ratio of 10-1.

But Holley's web site also says that the kit 'requires' Lunati rods, pistons, and crank.

Now its my understanding that you'd only want them if you planned to rev the bag out your motor.
If you just go to stock redline, then could the
systeMAX system be used with stock crank and rods?
(And new clevite bearings, ect)

Greatly improved intake/exhaust flow from the kit couldn't make stock type rods and crank (and maybe pistons?) unusable could it?

Also, I know that higher compression ratio means higher power, and higher octane requirment.

I'm condidering rebuilding the short block with a northernautoparts.com street performance kit. But the flattops with the 64cc heads will make about a 10-1 ratio, right?
And reverse dome (dished) pistons (like came stock) will make about a 9-1, right?

So which would be a good choice for a daily street driven vehicle? The lower comp ratio would make pump gas run better, but the 10-1 would make better power. But will 10-1 run on pump gas?

Either way I'll be rebuilding the short block, but I'll be getting hypereutectic reverse dome pistons rather than flattops if I decide to go with the 9-1 compression ratio.

Oh, and between the two kits (which will cost me a total of 1600 bucks)
I will get two cams, two sets of lifters, and two timing chain sets.
The point is, I was thinking that the Holley cam may be a little too
radical for a street driven vehicle, so I could select a good cam to come
with the rebuild kit (I get to choose from the Comp Cams energizer kits)
that I could use, and then if I decide to go to the strip (rare), I could always
swap in the Holley cam. What do yall think? Is the Holley cam too radical
for a street machine?

 

Believe you can run 10:1 compression ratio on pump gas with a good set of aluminum heads, however maximum recommended comp. ratio of 9:1 for cast iron heads is recommended. I've seen where it has been estimated that a 1 point increase in comp. ratio and all other factors remaining the same, is good for an estimated 4% increase in HP.

Whether the system max cam is too much, may depend on your transmission and rear gears, but my guess is that even with stock gears and an automatic, you'd still be OK using the entire system max package, if that's the way you want to go.

By the way, I don't remember Comp Cams selling an "energizer" model camshaft, believe the "energizer" is a model of old technology single pattern camshaft design sold by Crane. Many forum members use the newer technology 'dual pattern' XE series camshafts sold by Comp Cams. If you have stock rear end and automatic, then something like the XE 262 or XE 256 might work really good for you.

I have a feeling you'll get a lot of advice here regarding your selection, and options, we all like spending someone else's money!