anyone have a guess at what compression ratio I will have with this combination? 454 with a flat top piston with a silver dollar size dish in the center and one small valve relief and 98 cc heads? Thanks alot

With .022 deck and the .020 steel shim gasket the compression will be about 9.2 with 98 cc heads. I have just done one with 101 cc heads. With a 224 @.050 cam with lobe separation of 114 installed 4 degrees advanced the pumping compression is 170-175. That is a little higher than the calculators said it would be. The intake closing event for DCR was 71 degrees ATDC. I got that number by mocking the engine up with a dial indicator on the intake valve. When it lacked .005 closing the degree wheel read the 71 ATDC. This checking was done with a solid lifter.

Be very cautious about putting more cam than 230@.050 in the engine. The valve reliefs are very shallow and you have little piston valve clearance. I would check V/P clearance for any cam over 220@.050 with that particular OEM piston.

The engine is very strong, runs good on 89 octane. Idle is much smoother than I wanted but that was all the cam I could get in without hitting the pistons. Car idles at 15 1/4 inches of vacuum at 700 rpm.

Let me correct an error in the above post. The intake closing was 71 degrees ABDC not ATDC. Sorry for any confusion.

thnkas for the great info, I am planning on a cam that has 224@.050 and .510 lift, should be no problem.