Originally Posted By 70RT Charger
Originally Posted By AndyF
The trick is to get the quench height correct, not so much the zero deck part. You can have the pistons 0.015 down and use a 0.026 gasket or have them 0.005 down and use a .036 gasket.
Ok I understand it now better. So I'm running Aluminum heads and you stated before you like the pistons .005 in the hole with a 0.036 gasket? So does anybody really what the best quench height is or is it just a guessing game? In those builds where they really were getting good hp and torque numbers they never really said what gaskets and so forth but it was just a zero deck build. I want to run an engle k58/k60-110lsa hydraulic cam but I'm still lost with carb set up. I think those people used a 950 hp holley but do I really need one that big? Whatever I use I want to run an electric choke.



About .040 to .045 is a very good quench. Many like to build it a zero deck and just use the .039 felpro head gasket which gives it good quench. But as many have said you dont have to be at zero deck as you can get quench by changing the head gasket thickness some. Myself I do all the math to see where my pistons come out at and then I assemble the crank and the 4 corner pistons in the eng and take my measurements. Then I work from there so I know I will usually be taking the engines I build back apart a few times but thats all part of getting it right. The eng in my car now came out with the pistons .007 down so I just used the .039 felpro head gasket and have .046 quench which is on the high end but it has worked great for me. When it was that close I decided to go with it as I did not think it was worth pulling it back apart to mill a few thousands off my block. This combo has worked good for me. Ron