Actually, I never spoke to any of you like a bunch of dumb rednecks. Ive been around enough hobbies to respect others passions, even if I don't understand them (honda crowd comes to mind)

Arrogance because you know what you're talking about? I could have gone without all of that nonsense, and you could have skipped to your last response which was informative, despite the arrogance yet again.

J-mech: you can't increase the compression enough from milling alone to justify using 93 octane

Pray: ok, I guess the compression is so low in stock form that milling won't increase enough to get to 93?

J-mech: correct, you can mill .0xxx and run xx fuel, with xx carb/jets to start

Pray: thank you for your expertise, afterall, I came here to seek info from those with experience.

Or

J-mechs last post, very informative

Pray: so the m18 simply is not worth messing with for the reasons you listed?

J-mech: yep, unless you want to throw a lot of money at a custom setup.

Pray: thanks!

That simple

Yeah.. One of my hobbies. I have also owned several race cars and fast boats and such over the years that I built. I raced them on a track. Not while I was mowing 4 acres of grass. My tractors are for work, My cars are for fun.

Im surprised you had not asked if doing this would hurt your "work" machine that you mow 4 acres with. Yes it will. Any mechanic knows compression equals heat. These engines really hate heat.

Ok,
If you wanna mill .040 max off the heads, have at it, but check valve spacing first.
If you have build experience, you know compression increase gives you power increase from zero grunt rpm to what ever you feel comfortable winding it too.
I'd stay under 4000.
You will still be able to run pump gas el cheapo,-- the throttle response will be a tad"snappier"
If you put it on a dyno you will say, hell it wasn't worth the cost of the head gaskets.
But you will feel warm & fuzzy.

It took a lot to make power from a flathead back in the day.
One reason why the Chrysler "Hemi fire dome" was so coveted, till the Small block chevy took over, then every body jumped on the band wagon.
I have to laugh, remembering every weekend @ Detroit dragway when some engineer tried his idea of a better mouse trap.
I was lucky enough to be witness to it all.:beerchug:

Isn't it grand watching two of them hammering the new guy. Touche:beerchug:

I ignored this statement earlier.... because it isn't really what the thread is about. You obviously have never ran an Exmark. (Or any good/name brand ZTR mower.)
These old tractor mower are very good.... but nothing mows like a ZTR. Much higher blade tip speed, much better deck, better stability, ability to turn on a dime.... all equal much faster mowing times. It's silly to think that a ZTR wouldn't save time. Not willing to justify the cost, well that is understandable. Simply not wanting one... also understandable. But saying it wouldn't save any time is kind of an ignorant statement. Even a good ZTR with a smaller deck would mow circles around a tractor mower.

What we're all trying to say is "Welcome to the 2nd friendliest Cub Cadet forum on the web!"

he he.....

The first 500 times this topic about hp gains came up, those guys got the nice version. :biggrin2:
Once guys realize that it’s not worth it and their feelings are healed up, it’s all good.
You can take it however you want, but we never lead people to do things that we have seen/tried and failed. We aren’t mindless cheerleaders here.

I think it is time for the OP to do what he wants. He has been given a lot of information. He can do what ever he likes with it. After all, it is his information, his time, his money, and his Engine/Tractor.

:beerchug:

Yep, I got my ass kicked to get it, but I can't say I didn't get what I came for.

No one is looking to kick your ass. This forum is leans more towards the side of Cub cadet preservation than racing or pulling. That however does not mean no one hear does things along the lines of building HP. Also does not mean the information given was not accurate. Do what you like with your machine of course, but IMO if I were relying on that machine to cut all that grass I would just want to make it run well in a stock form. :beerchug: