Don Terrill’s Speed-Talk

Yes, probably should go with a composite head gasket and sacrifice a little compression in this case.

I have a 396/375 style piston with a 39cc dome, at .008 in the hole with a .018 compressed steel shim head gasket. Should be in the ballpark +/-.

Thanks for all the input. I think I will stick with the small valves for the 396. If I build a larger street motor later I will definitely up the valve size. It would be interesting to flow these heads with a small bore fixture on the flow bench, say 4.125 and compare numbers with a larger bore fixt...

F-BIRD'88

I agree that a air-gap style dual plane will probably work better on this combo. That will probably happen later. I already have the single plane, so that's what I'm going with for now.

Mag2555 Thanks for your insights. I agree with what you are saying on head flow with the larger valve size. What I'm wondering, is the 4.094 bore size going to negate any gains from the larger valves? Even on a 4.25 bore big block there is a pretty good bore shrouding effect on the intake side. On a...

Yes 10.5 to 1. What do you think about the bore shrouding the valves and if there would be any gain in 2.19/1.88 on this combo?

Putting together a 396 with 049 0val ports and was wondering if I should keep the 2.075/1.725 valves, because of the cylinder bore shrouding on the small bore 396. Street/strip 10.5to1, hyd flt tap, 236/246 @.050 .580 lift, single plane, stick shift, 3.73 gear, 3500lb car? Any input would be appreci...