I had a set of 51cc heads re-done, they were cut to clean them up, and then the valve job was done with larger valves on a machine that also unshrouds the valve and the chambers ended up at 53 cc.
If you are a noob I will repeat what has been said in other threads, but this is the thought process I recommend
1. Decide what you are going to do. Most important decision is how much you are going to drive on the street and what fuel are you going to run. Assuming you want to be able to run on pump gas, you want to keep the dynamic compression as defined here:
http://www.kb-silvolite.com/calc.php?action=comp2 between 8.3 and 8.7 to one. 8.3 is a safe number, 8.7 is marginal, may require octane boost, may require the timing to be pulled back but will work for occasional street use and trips.
2. Make a realistic assessment of the rpm capability of the engine. My advice is never ever plan on running cast pistons and rods over 6000 rpm. This drives the cam selection, more duration means higher rpm to get in the power band. Pick the cam for rpm, then use the silvolite calculator to guide your compression ratio. As a general rule, a cam with 220-224 intake duration at 0.050 is a good cast piston choice, power band to 5500 or so. If you go up a bit in cam, 230-237 intake duration at 0.050 power band will easily go to 6000 rpm and pushes the limit on cast rods or cast or hypereutectic pistons. Not a grenade motor, but pushing to the limit. About the most cam I would recommend for a car that really will be driven regularly on the street is an intake duration of 245-255 at 0.050. That should get you to a power band that peaks at 6500-7000. Probably the most extreme street vehicle on this forum is Steve Keown's street driven 10 second AMX. His intake duration is about 261 at 0.050 At this point I had power brake issues, Steve is I believe still using power brakes. The cam that Ken Parkman used for his engine builder challenge engine was I believe 254 duration at 0.050, a good choice for a competition where overall torque is important not just peak horsepower.
3. Once you have the cam and compression that meet your powerband objectives, you will need to build the rest of the engine to take that power level. With cast pistons and 5500 rpm, a pretty much stock rebuild will be fine. Above 6000 rpm you will need balanced forged internals and good valvetrain. If you want to push to 7000 rpm, the heads will need to be upgraded to support that power level.
There are basic things that should be done to any AMC V8, improved oilpan, improved valvetrain, and so on. Good luck.
ralfy