I am wondering if you have to mod the heads and intake to use a tall deck block 9.525" vs the standard deck of 9.025"?

Seems to me this would create a small gap?

Or would everything work just fine?

 

Heads are the same. The gap is taken up either by a wider intake, or spacers between the intake and heads.

 

Heads are not the problem.

.400" longer pushrods. Since you shouldn't be using the tall deck truck pistons (extra compression ring), you need .400" longer con rods to use automotive pistons.

Tall deck intake manifolds are available but there are spacer plates available to use a short deck intake manifold. The distributor will also sit higher.

If used in a third gen, exhaust could be a problem since the exhaust ports will also be taller and the most common header used is Hooker Supercomps. They're a tight fit on a shortdeck block.

 

If you want to get slick you could use a longer stroke crank instead of longer rods. It'll add cubic inches which will add power potential.

 

That won't work. You still need the longer rods.