I finaly "Made" time to work on the engine again between Ball games.>> Was down in the shop till 2330 last night and back up at 0600 this>> morning, so if I miss spell anything over look me.>>

I got the rods degunked of cosmoline, the WD40 and an old tooth brush>> worked great. Re-weighed the rods and they are very much within>> tolerance for a stock engine. Lubed up the crank, rod bearings and>> assembled the rods on the crank. Ok, there goes an hour, I know, I>> work slow. All the rods ride smooth on the crank when the crank is>> turned in the case, SWEET!>>

Now on to the P/C's, I "rig" up a way of torqueing the jugs down and>> take a measurement of the deck height. My number of one of my>> cylinders deck height is .041 of an inch. I used Aircooled.net for the>> calculator and with all the numbers plugged in I get a CR of 8.1:1. To>> get the RAMVA recommended CR of 7.4 to 7.5 I need to add .040 to my>> deck height. Looking on Aircooled.net, I see I have a couple options:>>

1.) Standard barrel shims that go between the jug and the case. Cost>> could be factored in at about $10 for a set.>>

Option #2 and I am leaning more to this one, will explain later:>> 2.) Copper Head Gaskets, described to be recommended for 180hp engines>> and will seal the combustion chamber when used and are reusable after>> annealing them. Cost factor $30 for a set of 4.>>

Now, I have read on this group that the use of anything between the>> head and jug in not recommended as the jug and head should form a tight>> seal if all things are as they should be. But I would like to hear if>> this copper gasket would still be frowned upon and why? Yea, it cost>> more, but too know that the chamber is sealed means alot and the fact>> that they can be reused adds to the equation in my mind.>>

I have only done one cylinder and will do the rest tonight too see if>> there is any differences and if I need to swap things around any. Just>> want to get a feel for which direction to go. I know I could have the>> piston tops shaved, but that just is not an option for me, as I think>> cost would be a limiting factor.>>

What sayeth the net wisdom?>>

I hope you dont mind me jumping in on your thread Terry.>>

Rich>>