Originally Posted by: Devo 
I have a similar question close enough to tack on to this thread. Sorry but I think it's worth adding......
If I wanted to build a 308 for a HT but wanted it 100% cosmetically correct with the following
Factory air cleaner
Factory Rochester
Factory inlet and exhaust manifolds
Factory heads
Aftermarket electronic ignition( points can get stuffed)
Is it worth doing "anything" to the engine internals to pick power up a little and if so what ????
For stock 308 engines.
I had a HT 308 engine in stock form and then modified it to get the best out of such a thing.
To pick up a bit more power you get the carby jetted for performance this can make a lot of difference, problem is not many mechanic people know how to do this spot on and most will just crack the shits that you mention it, because most do not understand truly how a carby works.
You have to find someone who is interested and tunes race engines to get this set up correctly mainly.
Graph setup of the dizzy correctly as well but exhaust being free flowing is a must do.
The old 308's need free flowing exhaust system, the exhaust manifolds will be fine as it's not such a big deal as some say as you can still make good power with them, sure they are not the best but free flow exhaust is the number one thing.
The old 308's don't need bigger exhaust valves but can go bigger on the intake valves or a little porting touch up in the correct spots and a bit of shaping work on the combustion chamber near the intake valve and the valve head cut to add flow when she just starts to open helps, then it's all down to the cam what you want, as a small modified cam can work wonders and no one would be the wiser as if it was stock or not, but one has to talk to a cam doctor to get what you best want.
Most people go for to big a cam, because they see more HP is the answer, they are blinded by this rubbish because they do not truly understand what power and torque truly are in practice.
I am just on about what one would define as a stock type of engine here and how to improve on that, not on about chasing anything other than that.
I built a 308 that was like stock engine but I wanted it to performed the best that such possibly could.
Now most people just don't understand that concept, to put it in one perspective, I am trying to make my 308 perform like as it was like a 350ci say and as an engine is just an air pump in one way, one can improve on it's efficiency.
I was not looking for a race engine at all.
I wanted what I needed, grunt right off idle and could not sacrifice that at all.
People who drove it said f ! that thing goes ! wondering how could a stock type engine perform like it did.
It had points ignition and fired up instantly and I had people spun out that it did in such a way.
ADR engines do need better electronic setup due to the mixtures they run and the spark timing set up they have to follow due to ADR is not the best, nothing against non points mind but I did not need it and certainty was not crying about it at all.
