i bought a new top end kit from summit. i was going to leave the bottom end alone and bolt on the new stuff to get the car together. howver, i cant bring myself to put all that new stuff on an old engine. So i am going to rebuild my stock 289.

i am new to this and there are many different types of kits i can use. i want to get as much out of it as i can and still keep the drivability.

my heads are stock also. i know that it is important to know the details of the heads so the compression ratio wilol be correct. Do i need to get the new heads now or can i wait and install them later. i dont have the cash to buy them now.

will i be better off waiting to rebuild the engine until i have the heads that i want, or can i get it completed now and add the heads down the road.

 

Stock heads are a huge bottleneck. If you're building on a budget, consider the World Products Windsor Jr heads. $800/pr, ready to bolt on, and they'll outflow even a mild port job on the stock heads. GT40's are another option.

If you really can't afford heads right now and your current heads don't require rebuilding, you can probably get away with an exhaust port-match until you can afford some nice aftermarket heads. A couple hours with a die grinder and a couple carbide bits will really open up the exhaust ports which are theworst bottleneck in the stock heads. It'll be better than stock, but you'll still want to save for a better pair of heads if you want to make some reasonable power.