well jerry we checked the valve clearance with an already compressed head gasket and put the first cylinder together with the rod and piston on the crank we put the cam in the head on and the lifterss and pushrods .. no rings plenty of oil though on the piston. cranked it over trying the three timing marks on the timing gear. with modeling clay on top of the piston of course. and we left a heavy 3/16 roughly of clay on the piston. it compressed the intake a little bit but barely touched the exhaust side..



pat so when getting the right head gaskets i should get the ones closest to the chamber diameter ? also the despcription of the head said it has a 115 chamber.. i figured with a compressed gasket thickness of 0.039 and a deck clearance of 0.010 i should be around 11:1 or about 10.8:1... could be wrong though.. i am new to engine building but want to get good at it haha.