Tuning with jets, Power valves and an O2 guage

Frankenduster said

I'm sort of at odds here. I have tried the thicker head gasket trick to get out of the detonation zone but I keep hearing about tightening up the quench to achieve the same thing. I wish I had a Head gasket sponsor so I could try both!

The .027 Cometics still only get me to .044. for quench. I don't know of any other gaskets any thinner that work with aluminum heads. The .020 steel shim aren't supposed to be used with aluminum heads from what I have heard.

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When you run aluminum you should be running a composite gasket. There are some that have run the steel shim or the standard round wire fire ring head gaskets - the downside is they will eat into the head itself over time eventually leading to problems (called brinneling).
I don't think it will work at .044 with what you have. You'll have to retard the cam some too. Depending on the bore and compression height of the pistons I generally don't run any more than .035 and usually .028-032. The problem is your engine was designed without quench in mind - so you're kind of screwed unless you take it apart and address those bits, or find a way to tune it. I still think you can tune it out if you're patient enough.