[Ol' Ron]

The combustion chamber is a very complicated bit of engineering. The Factory has designed it to preform as best, under the various driving conditions it will see during it's operational life. That was over 60 years ago and allot has changed since then. First and foremost is our understanding of the combustion process. WE can take advantage of this by increasing the CR (Better gas), Tighter piston to head clearance( Quench area). And better timing curves. By increasing displacement you increase CR, By milling the heads you increase the Quench area, and by going to a modern distributor with the proper timing curves to thak full advantaged of these modifications. You can thank all the putzers for this information. Le4arning all this it important, because it affects the quality of the end product. You might consider an AF meter as well to determing the carb settings. No reason why these engines can't give good gas mileage as well and power.