Jerry,
I'm not really sure what the compression ratio my 848 head is giving me, but it seems higher than stock. I got the head from an old time machine shop about 25 years ago. They had rebuilt it years before that and put it on the shelf. The story on it had been lost, and the new owner of the shop sold it to me cheap just to get it off the shelf. I remember looking at it and thinking "this does not look stock" but that may just have been because it was different from my'53 235 head.
However after I swapped out the stock '53 235 head for this one, There was a very noticable increase in power, and also a spark knock on regular gas.
I'll try a tank of mid-grade next time just for fun - just have always run high test.
Anyway, you could be right, but I am very comfortable with the timing, power and fuel economy of this engine.
Kurt
