[olddog]

Since he said shave off the top of the piston, I would assume he was trying to gain some piston to valve clearance, which is very common with larger cams. I didn't see the cam specification in your list.

If that is the case, it makes perfect since. Having worked with language communication misunderstandings, make it fit does not necessarily mean fit in the block. I fit may mean no collision of parts, when it rotates.

Back to your original 0.040 overbore. That is commonly done, but most people choose to bore no bigger than they have to, so they have some room to bore again on the next rebuild.

0.040 overbore is a general rule of thumb that almost any engine can be bored that far, with out any issue. Today it is easy to check cylinder thickness with ultra sound before you bore. Back in the day before ultra sound was invented, shops were confident that you would not get into trouble at 0.040, and in the rare case that you did, it was a bad block anyway.

Drag racers used to bore engines 0.060 back in the day. The problem with boring more is if the cylinder walls get too thin you can have problems with the engine overheating. They don't run long enough to overheat in a drag race only situation.