That car looks great. It would totally kill it putting a v-8 in it. It's lasted this long with the straight 8, no need to change it and you should be able to get it running good and just enjoy driving it.
Instead of finding a high compression head, you could always mill yours down but will need to do some work to the top of the cylinders to help with the airflow. I would tune it up and get it running good before I made any major changes to the engine, or if any at all.
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Illinois Outlaw Gassers
6.27@107
9.97@131
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