[Chevy454]

Have the heads had seats put in them? I am just curious if they ORIGINALLY came with 1.72 exhaust valves. I would be REAL interested to see the dates as well, as I have a set of REALLY early 291s.

But, to answer your question, "yes", it seems that some late '69 big block cars got 291 heads, versus the 840 heads. The 291s appear to have replaced the 840s, sometime around May '69 (or at least that's when they switched from casting the 840s to the 291s), as they are the exact same heads, except for the exhaust valve size, and some of the 291 heads took the "peanut plugs" while some took the "flat" style plugs. I recently ran across a set of 840 heads that appear to have the original seats, and have the 2.19/1.88 valves...this just helps muddy the water!