How Much Can Heads Improve Compression???

Wow! Old thread.

Hey moparmat2000! Still here messing with this below?
My pop and i restored a 79 lil red express. Working w the machine shop in my dads area we decided to put flattop pistons to make up the difference for the open chambered 360 heads and factory low compression pistons it had, we also put in a 68 340 cam. Truck ran great. Dont recall what the compression ended up at, but the ***** would ping on anything less than 92 octane, and ran like a scalded dog.

Flat tops, zero deck, open chambered 360 heads, .039 head gasket?
9.8-1.
A ,050 drops it do about 9.5-1.

I am rounding up the pieces now to do a 360 build after abandoning the idea of a big valve 318. With 65cc chambers, i have to use a slight dished piston and thicker head gasket to get compression down to 10.22 to 1. Otherwise i am looking at over 11.5 to 1 with non dished flattops. Not a streetable combo at all.
Flat tops zero decked with 65cc heads and a .038 head gasket. Just shy of 11-1.
Iron headed? No pump gas unless the cam is BIG!
Aluminum head? Biggish cam will be Ok? I’ve run a Hyd. purple 292/.509 which is 248@.050.
It’s doable. Tune well on all fronts.

Been there done that. Did you get away with it? I don’t know your octane availability.