[kwmech]

It doesn't take much to wake up a 74 engine. If I am correct the factory compression was like 7.5 or 7.8 to 1. So bumping it to about 8.5-8.8 will help a lot. Cam as suggested comp 268 with a good valve job and you're done. Unless you are going to race this and spin it up to 5-6 grand all the time, just run the stock heads with a clean valve job. Both of my 454s rarely see over 4000 rpm. All the power is in the bottom end for what I use my trucks for