Ported 452 or Edelbrock RPM

Install Edelbrocks and make sure you have fuel octane to run them.
I run 98 or 100 octane only. I'm not that worried about pinging, just a bit unsure if I should put aluminium heads on... Simply not sure if potential gains are worth the effort thats all.
I was thinking to sell the Edelbrocks but winter is coming and suddenly there is time to work on the car again.
Frankly I was planning to redo whole cooling system for my trans and add engine oil cooler, just moved the heads this week and again started thinking what to do with them. What do I need for such swap?
I have 1009 felpro head gaskets, new set of arp head bolts for iron heads (will they fit)? Probably my pushrods for iron heads will be too short.
Did anybody did similar swap recently? Any tips?