It sounds like it is definitely worth the effort to work them over with a grinder. My issue is I mainly want the car to be operational this year and able to legally make a dragstrip pass.

This is far...far.... from ideal. I know 10:1 compression and some good heads would likely get me faster than I am intending to go right now.

It isn't that I don't want to do that. It is more that I want to get it going initially. We can always go through the engine again. I have another 440 on hand to do just that.

The car is a rolling shell. I have a donor 71 440 Duster to donate the mechanicals etc.

When your teaching it becomes a process thing. So if this were a personal project, I would take three years and 10K and do the whole thing. This is a multi-step job.