Basically what are some ways to get more power out of a cammed car with full bolt-ons without porting the heads, nitrous, or going bigger on the cam. For example:

*5 angle valve job
*Bumping the compression via shaving the block down, thinner head gaskets

what other ways could you bump the power if head porting was not in the budget?

 

That is pretty much it from what I gather.

I'm in the same boat, but I'm going with LE2 heads when I get the scratch together.

 

Dont forget a ported intake, that might free up some power up top. Might also want to look into getting some duals/xpipe and an e-wp. if you want try and run a short belt on the dyno/track for that extra .10th. Maybe there are more but those are off the top of my head. good luck!

 

Here's an extreme example of what you proposed:

http://web.camaross.com/forums/showthread.php?t=259094

Notice this was for road course racing and a 4500-6500 rpm power band. It would not be a great DD with stock gearing. It also involved ALL the correct valvetrain parts which came to over $1000. The cam was milder than you'd expect, BTW.

Decking the block means pulling and disassembling the engine. I don't think you are up for that expense, and putting back the used parts is counter-productive. You could mill the heads and have a great valve job performed, which would certainly help, but you are then well on the $ way to a basic port job, ala LE1.

Your "custom cam" may not be exactly right for what you are trying to do..depending on where you got it. It's critical to get the right cam, as Jon A pointed out. Everything else has to be correct for the combination to work.