[expavr]

Thanks for your thoughts. I understand that "Punch" is in the eye of the beholder and its meaning is subjective. For the final driveline I'm considering 28" tires, 4.11 diff. gears, a 49 Merc O/D trans with a 2.80 1st gear. Depending on the engine's torque curve that tire, trans and diff gear combo should be able to provide some punch off the line and still offer some economy at cruising speeds. How best to build the engine which includes displacement and cam is the missing piece. This thread has helped move that thinking along.