Thanks for the reply, I have read many of your posts and really appriciate the info on this subject as well as others.
This car will be dedicated to the strip only because it has been completly gutted,no bumers just the plastic facias, no dash, no heater, no factory seats or mounts, doors have been gutted (looking for aluminum door panels) and factory glass fixed in the full up position, factory wirng etc is all long gone.
I know a 11.50 strip only car sounds funny to most but in my 1st post I should have explained the reason for the 11.50's is that it is the et cut off for the class I want to run next year and looking around the garage I saw just about all the parts to run that class very cheap and get aclimated to racing. I'm thinking I can put this thing together for next year under $3,000 including body and paint work while trying to save money for the car I really want (27 roadster and enclosed trailer).
Now to answer the compression question I didn't think I'd need to squeeze it to make the power that I was looking to make and its a money thing, $3.05/gal for 92 octane vs $7/gal for race gas at the track, cheap gear reduction starter (that I have laying around) vs a $300 name brand to turn a higher compression bbc over and the more power the engine makes the more upgrades I need through the rest of the car.
The 9:1 number came from a local machine shop that is NOT a performance shop, but did tell me that the engine should be about 9:1 with the .100 dome so if this is incorrect feel free to correct me.
My idea at this time is to build a cheap car that will get me into some level of competitve racing (11.50 and slower class) and some seat time without jumping right into against all the guys that have been spent 25-50k on there cars.
Just my opinion at this time.
Thanks Ryan