I am building a stockish 440. The .030 over flat top pistons are .085 in the hole. The cam I'm using calls for minimum 9.5:1 compression. I'm on a budget and having a difficult time finding affordable heads to get me there. I was going to order the reman Aerohead 915s with 78cc chambers which would get me around 9.6:1 with .020 steel shim gaskets. Perfect, but since I figured my budget, the price has gone up on them and with shipping, they will be almost $900 for the set. Too much in my opinion for stock cast iron heads.

My next thought was the 440 Source Stealths for about $180 more. A no-brainer right? Except the chambers on those are 80cc(+-) and I have to use the .040 composite head gaskets. That will get me 9.24:1 compression. Not far off, but under the minimum. And I really don't want to go through the added expense of tearing them apart and having them cut.

Now for the question...will this be a significant/noticeable difference?

Opinions?

Thanks!!