gotta beat my friends 4.6
 

my buddy has a 97 4.6 puttin down like 290 at the wheels i gotta get my fox to beat him so heres what i need help with, i want to run dome top pistons prolly hypertuenic cuz i aint got forged money lol and im gonna wanna change the cam im lookin for the real choppy idle and alot of low end torque and mid range power like up to 5k after that i dont care im running a 650 edelbrock carb and a weiend stealth intake i no the easy things like 1.7 rockers and all the easy bolt on stuff i just need help selecting pistons and the cam because i need to make sure the dome pistons will have clearance and wont hit the heads and as for the cam my car is an auto so i dont want it to stall out and die when i put it in gear. thanks guys any links would be helpful and keep in mind im not a millionare

lol cute.

So you want a bottom end thats built for free, and the machine work done for free. Some sort of cam that works in all opperating ranges, and to match to your intake and carb. No mention of heads, but only Piston to Head clearance? its Piston to Valve btw. Also a choppy (small lobe seperation large duration) cam that draws lots of vacume.

And all for basicly no investment.

Get on the bandwaggon, we all want that. More power to you if you can find such a thing.

Is the 290 hp dynoed or estimated? First off are you talking about the capri in your sig or what? if so you say you have a built motor but it sounds like you don't have anything. You can get a rebuild kit that can up the compression and keep hyper pistons for under $500 from summit I think. What kind of money do you have.

What most might say is nitrous, it is the best bang for the buck.

Heres the deal,

You don't want to run dome top pistons because chances are you won't be able to run on pump gas unless you have some big chamber heads.

If you don't have the money for forged pistons, do you have the money to have the rotating assembly balanced?

The real choppy idle you are looking for are long duration cams and not good for low end torque but made for mid to top end power.

1.7 rockers are just a way to try to compensate for the wrong cam. Buy the right cam and stick to 1.6 rockers.

You will never know about piston to valve clearance until you assemble the engine. My advice here is keep the duration of the cam in check and you won't have any clearance issues with a flat top piston with two valve releifs

You won't be able to use a stock converter with a long duration so again keep the cam conservitive.

Your carb and intake are about right for what you want to do but if your buddy has a 97 4.6 putting down 290 at the wheels he has a good chunk of change in it. My wifes 03 4.6 is putting down 315 at the wheels and it didn't come cheap. It's a Vert and runs low 13's with an auto.

What you really need is a good set of heads and a camshaft that make it's power from just off idle to around 5500 rpm with you using a stock converter and even then you will have your hands full if your buddy's 4.6 is actually making that much power.

If you concentrate on outruning one car you will have a tough time. Build the best car you can with what money you can afford to spend and always know there is someone that will have something faster than what you have. You are making all the classic mistakes of a first time builder. Huge cam, super high compression and with a stock converter. You also failed to mention what year engine you have.

I ran a .200 dome piston with 58 cc aluminum heads no problem.....as for the Op you don't need a dome piston to reach the goal just a well thought out h/c/i and a matched stall to combo and gears and all supporting mods:)