That would be like high 11s in the quarter a cam only car setup for racing should be able to do that. My best 1/8 is 7.5 but mine is heavier and a true driver.

To make any REAL improvement to the bottomend you are talking an easy $1000 in parts. Can't buy cheap pistons with thick standard tension rings because they are a step backwards, so you are looking at over $500 for a set of Mahles and then instead of spending $160+ rebuilding stock rods you might as well go with a $300 set of i-beam cap screw Scat rods in 6". $40 to polish the stock crank, $150 bare minimum to rebalance, haven't even touched on align hone, fasteners or bearing yet. Heck this does not even consider an overbore or even a hone.

Mahle does offer a 4.00 piston for a 5.7 rod, summit has them for a bit over $600 and I suppose you could use those with a hone job and rebuilt stock rods, they are lighter than stock pistons so they would improve stock rod reliability. Would be the ultimate budget route, but still looking at a hone, rotating assembly balancing, cost extra to assemble pressed stock rods than it would bushed aftermarket so probably up to over $200 in rebuilding and pressing the stock stuff vs $300 for the aftermarket bushed so in the end it wont save hardly anything.
For high rpm use I would strongly encourage align honing, really suck to try and save $150 and have it cost you a crank and possibly the whole block, because if the mains spin it will usually hurt the block often to the point where it is not worth repairing.

 

I would just go to the kb forged pistons rather than the mahles. The mahles are very nice but not required although they are in fact very light. If you keep the weight down on the pistons you can get away without balancing it as long as your new parts are lighter than the original.

Step up to a bushed i beam with a 7/16 cap screw in it.

Having your main bore checked is never a bad idea.

I think though what the op needs to do rather than discuss what all it takes to do the job. It to look up everything it costs to do the job correctly for something like this. A good set of solid roller valve springs is going to be 300-400 dollars, a custom billet cam is going to be another 400 dollars. Add in good rockers, longer larger valves, thick wall large diameter pushrods, lifters etc and you are talking about a serious bit of coin. The part that gets very annoying and expensive is when you realize that the shiney sexy stuff like a cam and heads is not nearly the end of purchasing everything.. hell its barely a start.

There is wanting to go fast and then there is realistic. Race at the level you can afford to. If you cannot afford to go that fast, take it easy and one step at a time until you can. Build your shortblock up where it should be, that is always the first mod to a race engine. Build your short block like you plan to drop a bomb on it and you will do well. Then as you improve everything else, build it with the same mindset.

My old man has something he always told me before I got as stubborn as he is. "Son if you cant afford to do it right the first time, how will you afford the second time after it breaks?"

 

I wish my old man would give advice like that... but its the truth and a good idea. I will probably work on a bullet proof bottom end this winter and go with a good stall and tranny build this winter. I will work on the top end next summer that way I know my bottom end can handle the punishment and gives me more time to research cams and other parts. This is kind of off subject but what would be the limitations on compression ratio if I run 110 octane? 112 octane?

 

Build you bottom end to whatever your goals require. Than find heads and a intake. pick a SR cam and 5k stall.
Also build up the suspension and pick a aftermarket rearend.

 

thanks for the advice guys.