What do you guys recommend as the minimum allowable quench distance for a 440 (505 stroker)to avoid contact between the piston and head? Steel rods and probably a 5500rpm redline (but I'd like to be able to turn 6000 safely just in case.)

My problem is this: Got my assembled block back from the machine shop and they didn't zero deck it, even after I told them I wanted to know how far the pistons were in the hole before they finished it up...so that I could determine whether it needed to be zero decked or not. I guess I should have just told them to zero deck it no matter what.

Anyway, measured where the pistons are and they are all 0.011 and 0.012 except for one at 0.008 and one at 0.016 (kinda weird...must be a screwy crank?)

That puts me in a zone where there are no head gaskets available to get to the usually recommended 0.040 quench unless I buy a $175 set of Cometic gaskets...