Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines Best 292 truck Cam?

I was just thinking that I need to put a head together anyway and sense I have both types of heads that this might be a build where a 194 could give a little bump in compression and still handle the flow. 9.1 to 9.5 would be fine in this case. Are the old thin (0.021") shim steel head gaskets good?

I keep going back to Bill Fishers recommendations on building a street 270 GMC compared to a race version. It seems that there is a point at lower rpm that smaller is better. When I built the 270 in my old pickup in 1978 I took his advice and used a small port head and frankly don't remember valve size. It has served me well and has hundreds of thousands of miles on it. It does well through the range from idle to 5500. If I made a mistake is was cam choice. I would give up some upper Rs that I don't use much for a little more grunt around 2000. Though I've never run out of power.

So this 292 is aimed at the best truck engine I can build mostly with what I already have but because I have a lot of it I can put some $$$ in it. I know the 230-292 head will work just fine but wondered if the 194 might be the best choice. Where else will I use one? I'll end up doing about the same thing to either head. Think pulling a 16' two axle trailer with my tractor on it up a pretty rough steep 2 mile rocky dirt road. I some places the rpm will be around 750- 1000,.The rest of it's easy.