I was curious what sort of power improvement you could get from replacing a head gasket with one that raised the compression half a point or so like the fel pro or impala, as well as replacing the stock valves with stock sized ferrea 6000 super flows or manley or something of the like? Also with the thinner gasket do you have to have the heads and block checked to make sure they are not warped? Was going to complete the rest of the bolt ons on my car and fix some things and figure while its apart why not do a few things I wont have access to once its all back together. Also if one of the heads is too warped or possibly cracked how much would replacing the stock 94 castings with stock 96-97 castings ,that I thought were slightly better, effect the power?

 

I don't know what sort of gains, but as far as valves I'd go in this order of at all possible...

Manley < REV < Ferrera

 

any other opinions?

 

The compression being raised 1/2 a point will net you a whopping 2 to 3 horsepower. Defenitely not worth it.
They have a calculator that can give you more precise figures. (check the first posting in this thread)

 

I'd do it if I already had the heads off. Every little bit helps. I wouldn't pry the heads of just to change the gasket though.

 

yup and what about the valves being replaced? Also what about the 96 headswap?

 

Vavles are definitely a good idea...good for some decent HP...but only if you're already working on the heads and are ported or are going to get ported...

 

no porting at the moment, prolly wait till I had real money to do anything serious. Sooo would the 96 heads help at all or should I stick with the 94's and how much would a set of valves help me, leaving stock if they wont but I figure a set of valves would be worth something decent right with the better heads as well as with 1.6:1 comp pro mags?