I agree, the original engine, brought it out of the water with ease and would run about 60... Broke crank shaft so replaced short block.... Now... I'm having these issues so I would rather replace cam to get back where I was (if that's possible) then replace prop and lose speed.....

What was original motor so we know the baseline ?

What compression and heads do you have now ?

454, 9:1, dome pistons, same heads but I don't know what they are :/ I'm not with the engine at this time I won't be for another 2 weeks... I posted the valve port earlier in this thread tho.... And the old engine had the crane cam I was talking about that I have the card for... I'm not much help am I hahaha

The new engine has flat top pistons so I'm sure it's less then the 9:1 that was the old engine sorry I misread your post...