Frnak, I have you had a chance to check out compressed head gasket thickness from differant sources? You might get lucky and find one that has a higher compressed thickness.

I have dealt with this a couple of ways.

1: Shims , and like you I was concerned about loosing quench. On the 2.6 there really isnt any so it was not a deal breaker. Your motor has a real Squish region so there may be somthing to lose.

2: removing material from the chambers. Depending on the desing its can be hard or easy. Yours look to have a pretty decent finish. 2 cc's is a fair amount of material. to take out, but it can be done.

3: Dish the pistons. I have always like this option. You can easily leave the outer squish region intact. The pistons usually have a bit of margin. This can affect your ballance. On a 4 cyl not a problem. And it should not be an issue on your 6 but its worth considering before you do it.

4: Head shim. Your two options seem good. In my experiance your better to have to low a CR than too high. The percentage lost in efficancy from a 1/2 point to low is small compared to how much you lose from having to retard the timing if your too high.

What is your current squish? For fun google "Singh's Grooves" That might be an interesting way to get some CR out. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/rodent.gif" alt="" />

Kevin