Strokin' And Pokin'

As heavy as the lower end on the MEL is, cutting the rod journals down (and maybe the mains also with the use of bearing spacers) and use of aluminum rods would allow it to rev up much quicker and rid itelf of a lot of internal friction.

Of course, you would have to upgrade the valvetrain to take advantage as that is also heavy and slow and make lubrication upgrades.