Edelbrock aluminum heads 60179 or 60779?

I'd check each corner piston to deck and go from there. If they are .018, find a .055 and go with it. You could likely get by with the .049 8553 gasket.

No need to push the limit. Seen plenty of heads that have witness marks on them and a hyper piston may not take kindly to tagging a head.

Thank you. Which cam would you use if the info above was dead on?

Also, if I wanted to measure it for my own piece of mind, how would I go about it? Do I need the HG I'm going to run and clay the top of the piston? Do I torque it down or only snug? I can only find info on Piston to valve clearance, not piston to head.