Safe compression ratio

[esky_fan]

I live in new zealand and i have a mk2 escort ghia with a typical 1600 x/flow. a year ago i did a full rebuild of the engine, but i want to go a little further again and bore it out to a 1700 or maybe a little larger im looking at getting some forged pistons to do so. Is this needed? i want to get as much power as possible with a medium sized budget. Im looking at getting bigger valves, the head flowed to suit (is all ready ported and polished) maybe a kent 244 (is this any good for the road i want to do a few competion events to and the car is only used as a weekend car) it already has twin 40's and a few other mods. it is run through a 5 speed type 9

[Billit1000]

If your boring the motor out you'll most probably need custom pistons, and for the money custom forgies are the only way to go. I've seen custom cast pistons, they are never as nice as forgies, and in most cases only $100-200 cheaper!

As for safe comp ratio, don't know much about your fuel, but over here 10.5:1 is more than safe with a decent cam on pump fuel.

Your cam choice looks ok maybe like a camtech ct51-608? Both are a large cam for a little motor, so it really depends on what you think is streetable. I've got a camtech cam with similar @.050" and a touch more total duration in my pinto which is daily driven. It's pretty lumpy and shakes the car a bit, but for me it's streetable!

[Rich@NDRS]

Originally Posted by esky_fan

I live in new zealand and i have a mk2 escort ghia with a typical 1600 x/flow. a year ago i did a full rebuild of the engine, but i want to go a little further again and bore it out to a 1700 or maybe a little larger im looking at getting some forged pistons to do so. Is this needed? i want to get as much power as possible with a medium sized budget. Im looking at getting bigger valves, the head flowed to suit (is all ready ported and polished) maybe a kent 244 (is this any good for the road i want to do a few competion events to and the car is only used as a weekend car) it already has twin 40's and a few other mods. it is run through a 5 speed type 9

depending on your budget mate, have you not thought about going down the zetec route? very reliable engines