heads
 

I think that aluminum is the only way for me to go. Aluminum does rob some power by sucking heat away from the combustion events, but the airflow from higher compression remains regardless of the metal you use. I'll be using a cam in the area of 225* @ 50 with a 110 lobe separation. To maximize this cam I'll need more compression than I can effectively support on 87 octane. I use 87 octane in all of my engines (like I said, I drive alot) I'd much rather give up a few horses and save the $1500 a year on extra fuel costs. I like 9.5 compression with aluminum heads. That is easy to use the "lumpy" cam for the optimum rpm range and still run 87 octane.

Ford headers in a GM chassis will be a challenge all by itself. I think that shorty headers will fit easily, but I want long tubes, as I only need to rev to about 6000 rpms. That may be a problem finding long headers to fit.