349 CI on the cheap

Mal,
If the piston comes out of the block just do like I did and chamfer the top edge ans let it stick up into the open part of the chamber. You just have to have the valve pocket large enough to get around the hump in the head where the valve seat is casted in the head. So a 2.10 valve pocket should be enough for a 2.02 valve. This is what I did on the cast pistons in the pictures, I also chamfered the edge of the piston to put it .015 below deck so I could run a thin gasket and this allows the piston to act like a dome style going up into the chamber and creating a quench like a close chamber head.