Heads dont match.

[Russell]

Was it drag week a few years ago that a guy had one steel head and one aluminum. That car ran well.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Well, I'm still uncertain, I have 74 509 400sbc, that I've had for years. I'm gonna check its condition tomorrow. Would 882, these heads or the original 400 heads work better.

882 can clean up okay, but they're still a stock, truck head.

Go with vortecs, you'll be glad you did.

[Beagle]

vortecs aren't cheap anymore, and used ones want $ like any other used head. If you're just putting one together waiting on the coin for aluminum whatever, an "interim" seems like a pain... again, ymmv.

[Barry Donovan]

the cost going up is a shame, but that does mean knowledge is passing around. Started in the 90s.

there is really entire generations of gm heads not even worth a nickel .. that is probably a pun.

I still would not go larger than 66cc even a pile of dung pistons.

I was thinking maybe get a matched castings that matches your valve set, can't that get bought cheap enough?
swap stuff over.

I left off with gm v8, I wa sliterally rummaging through a dumpter of a bankrupt junk yard (Don't laugh, I got good advice to go there) book in hand, checking numbers.

those 76cc are so big, you can see it by eyeball. never fired a day in its sloppy ass life.

[kyhunter89]

The 400 looks good so I'm planning on using it. Would the 350 heads help it over the factory 74 heads?

[OldMachinist]

If you aren't going to go with some vortecs or aluminum now don't worry about it. Just make sure the chambers and valves are the same size. Are you doing anything with the short block? Make sure the pistons are right for what you eventually want to end up with for compression so you don't have to change them again.
If it was me I would build it once the way I want it instead of doing it twice and save money in the long run.

[kyhunter89]

How much would it be safe to mill the 882's and what headgaskets without running into ptv clearance issues. The machining is done free.

[OldMachinist]

What are you planning to run for fuel? What cam are you going to run? What CR are you shooting for?

[kyhunter89]

93, 9.0-9.5 if i can, 268h