Quote:

Evidently Chrysler didn't have a sealing problen,thats all they ever used on a B engine!



Yes, on a freshly machined block and heads.
Did the poster say this was a fresh rebuild? I assumed when he said "stock flat-tops" that this was a clean-up job and not a new-build performance motor.

I would like to see proof that you can pick up 1/2 point of compression between .039 and .020 head gasket on a 383.

In a typical case...you might be looking at a difference of 7.9 Static C/R and 8.2 Static C/R on a bone stock 383. Do you really think this makes any difference at all in a simple stock build motor? My experience has been that if you are not building for maximum performance, go the safe route and avoid unecessary problems. Did you ever see the article in one of the Mopar rags where they added head gaskets on top of head gaskets in a 440 to reduce C/R and determine what the HP difference was? it was like 20HP per point. It is simply not worth the trouble to try to squeeze a few ponies out a stock 383 in my opinion.