Gentlemen,
I am a first time poster who is just learning about US engines for my new project. This machine is a 1967 Land Rover NADA spec long wheel base station wagon. Think of your classic African safari film and you’ve got it.

This old bus originally came with a Rover 2.6L 6 cyl engine that is known for being a bit of a dog so one of the previous owners replaced it with a Chevy 292. I am rebuilding the truck to recover it from years of abuse and am looking at what I want to do with the engine while everything is apart. The 292 looks like a fun engine with potential and it actually fits very nicely into the LR engine bay which makes it much more attractive than the mods required for a V-thing.

Some basic specs of the vehicle are:
Weight : 3752 lbs.
Gearbox: Ford NP435 with granny low gear and 1:1 top. This will be mated to a .87:1 overdrive transfer case, 3.54 diffs and 32” diameter tyres. If anything I will change to 4.1:1 diffs but that is considerably more expensive for this truck.
Aerodynamics: Brick like to non existent.

Now I am looking to get about 200hp (Anything above that is fine too!) out of the 292 and wish to consult on the best ways of getting there. I’m looking to be able to have reasonable freeway performance but am also looking to optimize fuel consumption as I don’t need her to be a drag racer. I’m used to the old LR engines which tend to the agricultural rather than performance so a lot of this tuning is a new concept to me.

I already have a Clifford intake and Langdon exhaust manifolds as a start. From lurking and reading I think I want to:

1. Bump the compression to 9:1. Is the best approach here to shave the head, use a 194 head or use the propane pistons? Is it necessary to zero deck for this level of build?
2. Keep the bottom end stock other than the possible piston swap.
3. Retain the stock cam.
4. HEI for sparks.
5. I think the exhaust will be 2 2 ¼ downpipes y’ed into a single 2 ½ pipe all the way to the back of the truck with a single silencer.
6. I think I want to go the TBI route for fueling. This is mainly because I haven’t done it before and it would be fun to try. Any benefits to economy or power will be good. So far I have found kits from Howel, Affordable Fuel Injection and of course, there is the Megasquirt option. I’m also following Efi-diy’s TBI installation thread.
7. Now comes the fun part. I may be able to spring for a lump port head. The big question would be that given my cam choice is it worth it? From the descriptions it does provide a huge increase in volumetric efficiency which, if combined with the right gearing, can only help fuel economy. In addition, what would be the best valve size for this engine set up? Am I going overboard here?

All comments are appreciated as I realize that I am new to these Chevy engines. Any comments on what kind of fuel economy to expect would be useful as well although I know the weight, drive train losses and aerodynamics work against me here.

Cheers
Gregor