I'm going to be rebuilding a 383 for a friend. We're still in the planning stages of the build, but based on the rest of the car, this engine needs to be mildly peppy. The car is a 68 road runner 727 car. It's a good 10 footer. Looks good, drives good, but is no show queen, and is no race car. Suspension is very soft and floats over the road, the unibody has a lot of flex in it, and it's a weekend cruiser.

I'm going to try to convince him to go with a stock stroke stealth head build. Stealth heads because they're cheap, light, and enhance performance. The reason for the rebuild is because the #1 intake valve dropped and siezed in the guide, the #1 exhaust is suspect as the pushrod was bent, and to ensure a good rebuild, the heads will need completely reworked. For the money spent on rework, the stealths look like a good option.

But I want to get him some compression...seems there's about 4 options for 383 pistons with stock stroke and they all have 7.8:1 compression with 88cc heads, likely 8.3:1 with the 84cc closed chamber heads.

am I going to be forced to go with custom pistons? I want 9.5-10 compression, but don't really need a full race forged custom piston for $800...unless that's my only choice for stock stroke pistons with compression.