Cylinder head advice

Thanks for any knowledge in advance. I am currently going through a 76 455 short block. I may end up boring- I have a set of badger P528 pistons on the shelf. Cam is a Federal Mogul CS586. Car is a 78 regal cruiser sleeper stock exhaust manifolds Edelbrock intake- not b4b. Running true dual 2.5 full length and Holly sniper EFI quadrajet. Unmodified th350 with 342 gearset.
My issue is I don't have any cylinder heads for this short block and was looking for advice on what would be the best casting number to take advantage of what I have.
Thanks again.

 

1786,..I have several sets,..I would deck the block 20 and the heads 15

 

1231786 is 1970 correct? My homework shows a different head gasket. Thanks again.

 

And head will go on any block

 

Only time you run into an issue I'd when trying to use a steel shim on an oval port block,...

 

I should have a set of 75-76 castings. Where are you.located? Shipping would be expensive.

 

Avoid the 75-76 heads

 

Unless you can get your hands on a fully rebuilt set of heads ( new valves, guides the whole 9 yards!) ready to drop on, I would go for a set of aftermarket heads .
The added performance gain will more then offset the minor added cost over the rebuild iron heads.

 

Aftermarket aren't available and won't be for an undetermined amount of time

 

I would stay with iron heads also.
You’ll be waiting quite awhile for aftermarket stuff

 

I'd be more worried about the Badger pistons. What is the compression height?

 

It does appear to add some height. Measuring the pin to top of piston original piston shows 1.43" the new 1.46". I cannot spend aluminum money on this project.

 

The lower rings look to be in a different location also.

 

The Badger pistons are TALLER than the originals? I'd have never guessed that. I figured they'd be .020 shorter than the originals.

Are you sure you're measuring the compression height correctly? How do they stack-up side-by side when the pin is slid half-way out of one piston, and halfway into the other piston?

If the TOP ring on the new piston goes to the same height, or higher in the cylinder, you cannot have any ridge AT ALL. The top ring will catch the ridge, potentially breaking the ring and/or the piston. Even if the new pistons place the top ring in the same position, the cylinder wall and the rings wear together. New, unworn rings will hook the bottom of the ridge leading to potential damage.

Bottom (oil control) ring location means very little.

 

I am still on the fence about boring this unit. I do not have any of the old pistons off the rod yet to compare. I've spotted a set of 1241860 casting.

 

This is why the pontiac rods did so well at first. Strong, not alot of work to fit and took .025 of that. 040 up

 

Just curious, i saw some replies here stating TA aluminum heads will not be available for awhile. I thought they had castings and were getting these out. I would like to replace my ported irons.

thanks