Ok so Ron somebody said it really doesn't have to be Zero deck and they also said they like aluminum heads at least .005 in the hole but what's the difference if your quench is still .040 in the hole or at Zero deck. If I use the KB237 and they are .020 in the hole and I use a .020 gasket wouldn't that work and save me the cost of zero decking?
Yes it will work as you will still have .040 piston to head clearance. Many go for the zero deck since .039 is a standard felpro gasket thickness and its an easy gasket to get many places. Different sizes like the .020 are not as easy to find and many sizes need to specially made like some cometic gaskets. Which is ok but the special size gaskets cost more and usually take longer to get. Also you need to make sure your comp ratio will still be ok. On one 440 I used .074 special made cometic head gaskets and they were about $150 for the head gaskets and that was about 10 years ago. The heads had been milled .060 so I needed the .074 gaskets to get quench and have about 10.0 comp.
What Cab is saying is anytime you check piston deck height you need to rock the piston and check it in a few places as it can vary as much as .005 to .010 if you check it without the rings on the pistons so you need to know the most and least clearance's and take that into account. Many times when mocking up my eng to take readings I will put the pistons in without the rings on them and of course they will rock alot like that. I use the tightest deck reading so I know it cant get no closer quench then that clearance. Ron
