i have the gen v 454 that i finished a year ago.. now i KNOW there is gona be some hate on this comment but it worked great for me, i used probe pistons dome top +18cc that alone brings your comression up to a respectable amount in the 9s $400.. here comes the hate, i used pro comp alluminum heads from skip white, he uses the pro comp castings cleans them up and uses good valves and springs i checked the tollerances with a mic and everything looked suprizingly good! it was even port matched to the gaskets, 1000 bux with the stud kit and rocker studs, u need to use rocker studs so u can adjust the valve lash, plus the penut port heads use and smaller size shoulder bolt.. u will also need to use the longer push rods and guides, i just cut and welded mine. i also run the oval port procomp intake since it had the correct water inlets over the edelbrock penut port intake, i run the lunati bracket master cam, the biggest one they have it likes to idle around 800rpm (VERRY CHOPPY) and REALY wakes up at 25rpm pulles like a raped ape through 6500, toped with a 800cfm holly and i am very happy with my motor it has run great for me every time and been in multiple vehicles, one car one truck and one other boat ( i helped my friends test their chassis they built).. even tho pro comp has such a bad rep it was in my price range.. super chevy did a build of our motor and acheaved 700 horses i believe with a shot of nitrous.. my penut port heads were a p.o.s so getting work on them was out of the question but if u wanted to u could have a shop give u a comp valve job and bowl work, along with 18cc dome pistons, that should bring your cr into the 9s.. its hard for mild cams and penut port heads to build hp but this isnt a street car so run a bigger cam it will help alot. oooor find a set of oval port older heads have them worked on keep the low compression which will be great for a forced induction set up, so its really up to u, if u want to chance a ill reputable company as i did u miiight get lucky i sure know i did, i dont know what my horse power is ill have to uses the berk-o-dyno when i feel safe enough with my new to me hull, but it is WAY more hp than it was on the cheap and seems to be enough.. for now :p ps, check out the 700 hp 454 budget build on super chevy and if any one wants to take my old penut port heads id be happy to give them to u if ur close to redondo beach