[CentipedePerformance]

Its true, the compression on these motors is pretty wheezy. I'm not looking for a tire roasting 1/4 mile burner, just an old truck that can pull itself around pretty decent. The only problem with Vortec heads is by the time you machine the spring pockets and valve guides, it runs the cost up. This was done on a budget, and not meant to be a screamer. The more I think about it, I think the gears are the issue. I'm trying to be realistic with my expectations of this motor. Only problem is, my old truck was a 1st gen Dodge Cummins, that I p-pumped, worked over pump, had big injectors, bigger turbo, and put down 398/1011 on a dyno in Phoenix, so pretty much everything feels gutless compared to that thing. It just broke stuff all the time and was really expensive to maintain. I think with gears it will be much closer to what I am looking for. I appreciate all the help, I guess I was hoping for an easy fix or something simple I may have overlooked lol.