[Marv D]

I will agree,, and disagree with haysonj. With a budget piston YES, you better have the piston in hand and measure EACH piston to make the piston to wall clearance for EACH bore. But with more upper end pistons JE, Arias, Diamond etc,, they are all exact to the 4th place and you can prep the block knowing what piston and what the manufacturer dictates for piston-to-wall clearance. AND just because a piston is expensive,, doesn't always mean it's tooled to exacting spec. I bought a set of $700 Mahle pistons that ONE was almost 0.0007 under for no explicable reason. When S$#!+ like this hapens, you send the box back and get pistons that are right.

That said.... 600+HP n/a and mostly street driven driven from a carburated big block is not going to be a street / cruiser friendly motor. To make that 600 from 496 your going to need compression higher than pump gas will tolerate. i can tell you from experience it gets old REAL FAST buying barrels of $12 a gallon fuel to drive to the store and buy a 99¢ loaf of bread. I'm not saying 600 on pump gas isn't possible, just it will not be a mild cruiser happy motor in n/a carburated form.

If you seriously want 600 and street derivable, I'd HIGHLY suggest you think about a turbo motor. They can be unbelievable street friendly and have power on demand.

Brodix makes a very nice head SBC or BBC. There are MANY different flavors. Choose wisely.

For the street bound 496 one of the 'go to heads for many is the AFR 315 or 325cc rectangular port head. it's not a full on race head like the Brodix 12 and 15° stuff, but the pricetag and valve train is way more friendly than the odd valve angle stuff.

In the end its your hard earned $,, just research and choose wisely is all I can offer,