Hi guys, just got my engine back from the machine shop for my rebuild. The head has a total of .017 off now, and they suggested using a thicker head-gasket. I read a post in the tech section by eb saying to not use a thicker head-gasket until you get up to .020 and if a head is at .015, he usually just shaves it up to .020 to use the thicker gasket. At .017, should I use the thicker head-gasket? If so, where can I find one? I heard felpro makes one, but everyone I talk to at schucks can't find it and I can't find a place online that has anything other than part-numbers, so I can't tell which one might be the thick gasket. Thanks for any help,

Dan

EB has them along with LC Engineering... You wont need one at .017 though...

I just got mine back together with a total of .016 taken off and all is well with EB's stock head gasket so far...

Not to hijack the post, but while on the subject: if you don't know the history of the head, how can it be measured?

If it were me I'd use the thicker HG. You probably dont know the full history of your mill. The block may have been decked at one stage and it may be the 2nd time the heads been resurfaced. With such tight tolerances being used in these engines I'd use the thicker HG just for extra insurance.

>>>*If the block was not decked then your spec is still fine in my opinion. .017" does have an effect, the cam is retarded a bit and this moves the power peak a bit higher in the RPM scale, not much.

My suggestion would be to leave it alone, use the stock head gasket thickness.

But if you determine you do need one, it's not a problem, we keep a half dozen of them around just in case....*EB

For some reason when I was considering the thicker head gasket, I completely neglected the fact that my block was decked too. Guess that answers my question. I'll be ordering one from eb come Monday morning. Thanks guys,

Dan

theres always adjustable cam gears....