So I measured my piston to deck clearance, using a dial gauge. Not sure if you are supposed to measure from the dished portion of the piston, or the higher, flat area of the piston, so i did both.
My measurements were:
.0435 to flat area
.0565 to dished area
On MagnumSwap.com, they recommend using .028 thick gaskets, saying "Fortunately, there’s an easy solution for getting some of that compression back — opt for a skinnier-than-stock head gasket. We used Mr Gasket .028 thick gaskets on our shop car, and we’ve never had a failure or a leak. They’re about half the thickness of a stock gasket."
Anyone have any success with a gasket of that thickness?
Also, anyone know where I can get replacement dowels that go on the block deck? I was going to pull those out to better clean up the deck surface.
The teardown continues. Right now a few of the lifters are stuck in their bores and are soaking in Kroil.