402 Magnum Crate engine

Hi Moparts community. I have a Magnum create engine the 402 magnum. it is advertised at 9.5/9.75 to 1, pending where you are getting the info. I would like to wake it up just a little. if i changed the head gaskets to something just a little thinner would i be able to get around 10.5 to 1. and is the work going to be worth the effort. I can't find too much on this motor as they don't make the motor any more out of the catalog. I am trying to find the thickness of the current head gasket.

the car is a streetcar just a little on the slow side for my liking. it ran 12.50 this last fall at Ubly Dragway.

I don't really want to pull the motor apart to get very little gains. It is a really nice car and cruiser.

Sounds like a prime candidate for a 150 shot of nitrous!

Some of those crate engines made pretty good power so, if you want to pick up ET you might look at the rest of the car (converter etc) There might be some low hanging fruit in the parts you have like a bowl blend and minor cam change along with getting the compression as good as pump gas would allow (by optimizing quench) maybe take the sharp edges off anything in both sides of the chamber while it's apart.

going from 9.5 to 10 wouldn't be on my list of worth the effort changes.

Get the heads ported?

Intake change, cam swap and upgraded electronics might be worth looking into first.

The 402 has the Big Valve R/T head. That head responds well to porting. 305cfm is achievable.