Edelbrock heads vs Indy

Oh yeah, the guides were tight and they were not straight so I honed them straight to .0016-.0018 clearance. 

I told someone else, these heads are technically bolt on but they are not up to top quality out of the box. They will bolt on and run but that is not the quality I am interested in.

If someone does not care so much about it they will work out of the box. Indy will also work out of the box but like Ken and others have said, they need work if you want top quality heads.

Factor it all in and like jtsllc! alluded to, a set of ported cast iron heads does not look so bad after all.

Set of ported iron heads if not. 

Also,

My 1970 390 head(s) cracked at the front exhaust bolt at the edge of the milled surface.
There was a sharp corner in the intersection of the milled surfaces.
I am reasonably sure that caused the crack.

It did not leak badly, just a few drops here and there. So I let it leak...

It's a 426, relatively trick build. Edelbrock heads with about 2.5 sq in min csa (lots of work), Torker enlarged to match, 1000 Pro-systems, 1 3/4 hookers, 10.2 compression, 232 HR with good valvetrain and beehives, and a few tricks in the shortblock. There was some effort to make the HR rpm, and the combo was matched for midrange. At 1.31 ft-lbs/in it was right up there on output, and the HR did hang on to 6500 rpm. It did make more power than I expected. As I said a bit of an experiment in max streetable output. If the Rambler was set up for race (slicks, auto with race converter, open pipes, electric water pump) it would be a low 10 combo, but it's a street car with a stick so the poor launch keeps it to only an 11 flat.