Cheapest ways to increase power

Well, for a brief moment, I'll try to stick to the origional question. Cheapest way, 1: gears. Slants come with lousy gears for acceleration, 2.94's in the ones I had. If you are really cheap, (like me), a 60's International Scout (model 80) has almost the same track as an A body, the perches are even close enough to work. They come with a 4.27 gear ratio. With the help of a lift, I swapped one in in a little over an hour, and WOW, what a difference. Later I milled .100" off the head, (at least lap the valves to make sure they are sealing), added a 2 barrel, and had a reasonably "snappy" car. The 5.0 Camaro's were popular around here at the time, and I never even came close to getting beat by one. Not saying much, but there it is.

That said.... I stuffed a bone stock, $100 '65 383 2 bbl into a 4 door '72 Valiant, with the only power adder being a $30 iron 4 bbl intake, it ran in the 14's at 94 mph. using only 1st and 2nd gear due to the 2.76 rear gears. It got 20 Mpg, and was my daily driver for 4 years. Fast with a Slant will cost some jingle, unless you really can turbo one as cheaply as they say. I'm following a turbo /6 build right now as it interests me alot.