ive got my intake and exhaust off to switch to a super six and i took my valve cover off to paint it. with everything off the head i cant keep from eyeing it and thinking about yanking it off to have some head work done. how much work is this other than taking the head bolts loose, changing the head gasket and putting it all back on? my dad has an old buddy that does machining and builds race motors. if i could get a deal on the head work, is it worth the extra work? how much would this increase my performance over just doing the super six swap?

also, are there any problems i might encounter with doing this and leave a stock bottom end? id want to leave the stock cam thats in the car in place. how much could i shave the head without having to go up to 89 or 93 octane?

The stock bottom end should not suffer, but the stock rings might. How many miles are on the entire engine? How does it run now? I did exactly what you are contemplating on me slant about 7 years ago with a 70K motor. I milled the head .045, installed new valve guides and springs, and put on a super six. Did the fresh head compression speed up its demise? Maybe. The engine lasted another 30K before it needed to be rebuilt. Would it have died anyway? Maybe. The point is, when I rebuilt the engine, I did the head again. Have you checked compression on the head now? If the compression is even, I would just let it go for now. If you keep this car any length of time, you will eventaully do everything on the engine, and it is probably better to do it all at once.