So what does Heo win...a pair of LeMans valve covers? LOL!

bag-o-chips, lol

Cool project, I'll be interested in seeing it develop too.

Maybe a set of rods!  Or a license plate holder... or pretty much anything in between at this point.  Need another clue!

Jay: I have sent them numerous emails to see if my 65 Mustang would fit in the gasser class but have gotten no response.
So don't feel alone.
Wade: I took my 66 Galaxie(521BBF/C6) this year and had an absolute blast! I entered in the Street Race BB/NA class. I had no chance of winning anything but that was ok as that was not my goal. I just wanted to finish and have fun...which I did on both accounts. 

I saw several of your runs on the replay of the live feed.  Guess you could say I'm a bit of a fan of yours Alan! Love your slicks transporter setup =)

I have 4.30 gears and the TKO 600 in the Galaxie for a 12.34 SLR and I like it just fine.  Funny thing is, when I first put in the TKO I had 4.30 gears and hated them. The new engine likes a bit more RPM and I guess my driving habits have changed over the years.  I have 255/60-15's and my highway cruising rpm was a smidge under 2000.  It's up around 2200 now and the engine seems happier with the increased RPM. 

I've been working on this spreadsheet off and on for my own entertainment.  It's all accurate as far as I can tell but I can't guarantee that you won't find an error.  Put in the info you want in blue and the orange boxes tell you pretty much whatever you want to know about it.  I was using it to compare different gear sets with different transmissions as you can tell. 
Also if you already know your rollout or tire height, you can fiddle around with any of the tire inputs to make the other stuff show whatever you want.  I think based on my measurements of my Goodrich Radial TA tires mounted on 9" wheels, my 255/60-15 tires came out to 273.3/49-15.  I made actual measurements of the section width and rollout, then filled in the rest to make the rest of the numbers come out right.

I kind of consider this as my driveline dream sheet, lol.  Have fun...

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqPlAHiKgTwmdHZhdkF3UXlyc0dLSURGVWRCMDVBdmc#gid=0

The heads have everything to do with the timing requirement. Put simply, you want the pressure from the expanding burning air/fuel mixture to come on strong when the piston and crankshaft are ready to use that power. With older head designs the burn typically happens slower so you have to light the fire earlier.  Better designs will cause that burn to happen more quickly, therefore you will light it later in the cycle. Say maybe your total spark advance or "lead" will be 33 degrees before top dead center on better heads and up maybe around 40 for some of the old stock stuff.  What happens if you advance too far is you're pretty much applying that power to the piston while the crank arm is vertical.  With no crank angle there's no leverage and rather than getting a nice even burn pushing the piston along, it detonates in the chamber.  Detonation is extremely hard on the engine parts so that's why your engine builder told you not to over advance it.

Ah crap, I was looking at the wrong tire anyway. The 18155 is a 12" section, no way that's going to fit.  The 65 Gal seems to have particularly small wheel wells.  Frustrating!!
 I may just get the next BIGGER size and MAKE that sumbitch fit, lol