At one point I made a simple Excel spreadsheet that allowed entering stroke, rode length & deck height to calc the piston compression height. It made it easier to figure out if there was any combination of stroke/rod/CH for an already-machined block that could be used with off-the-shelf parts, rather than having to get more expensive custom pistons made. Don't have it any more, but something like it helps figure out "real world" combinations quickly.
I only work on really odd stuff so everything is custom. Expensive yes, but I only do client's builds. Inline 4 valve stuff is a small market.
At any rate, here is a decent CH calculator:
Compression height calculator 1
