Well, I think that the dyno tests showed pretty clearly that as long as you do the same mods to either a 194 head or an open chamber head and don't give either head an unfair advantage over the other and allow just the stock chamber size to be the only difference, that 1/2 a point of compression that is gained with the 194 head isn't going to amount to anything. Sure, Hank cut his 194 head excessively and got a good gain compared to the open chamber head he was running he did nothing to. Thats because he gave it an unfair advantage, if he had cut his open chamber head by the same amount as the 194 head, he would have been back to only the difference being the original chamber difference of 1/2 a compression point, and the .060" milled 194 head not being any benefit over the .060" milled open chamber head.
The pistons are just not easy to get around for a 292, they are expensive anyway you look it. But the forged will provide the better solution because you can get the quench where it needs to be by putting the deck hgt. closer to the top of the deck, and gain much more compression that just swapping to a 194 head.
