jerrygriffin;
Greetings! I have had 2 Magnums. 1 a 360 and 1 a swap from 318 - 400. Both '79's. The Current big block is my daily driver.
Your question on heads is about flow potentail and power making abilty's. Depending on what your doing to your ride, the stock heads will carry you well for daily driving and light strip. The cars weight is more of a problem for performance potential.
IMO, the best way to rebuild your heads with more perfromance in them is just to have the decks straight, multi angle valve job w/back custock valves and the valve springs to match the cam. DO NOT SKIMP HERE! Valve springs are cheap. Damage that comes from them isn't!
This will be a great little bit of work for what you describe.
You need not look for the older heads. Your will do just fine.
Speaking of further upgrades, on pistons. 2 manufactures come to mind. Theres;
1; Keith Black (KB) pistons. I have used a set of the KB 107-+.030 larger overbored size. These are absoultley fine. There $189 without rings. The piston lacks the Durasheild coating of the piston below. But it is not a problem. Comp ratios are a tad higher for this zero deck piston. The range is 9.8 - 10.9-1. Your large chambered head will come in @ 9.8-1 with a Fel_pro head gasket @ .039 thick.
2; Federal Mougal pistons. They have a set w/rings in the summit catolog for a decent price. $265. Head cc dependent, they fall inbetween the ratios of approx. 9.25 - 10.0-1. They have been recomended by Larry Shepard, McCandles and Dick Landy. MoPar Performance also uses these in there create engines and short blocks. I have a short block. No piston problems.
I would not exceed 9.5-1 with a small cam. Ethier piston has worked excellent for me and both are priced very well for a budget minded build.
