440 head gasket

[JoeGrapes]

I'm going to put Edelbrock heads on my 440. They say to use the FelPro head gasket which is .039 thick. My pistons are .025 down in the bore so that will give me a quench hight of .064. I'd like the quench hight to be around .045 or at least under .06 I don't want to pull the motor and deck the block or change the pistons or rods sooooooooooooooo is there a thinner gasket I can use?

[dwc43]

You can get commetic gaskets in just about any size you want, but they are pricey. Sanborn uses them on there late model dirt track engines. Might ask him about them in the circle track forum.

[creative1]

you can try the steel shim gaskets... they are like .020" thick compressed. .020 + .025 = .045". may need to check valve to piston clearance, though.

[djswwg]

don't use steel gaskets on an aluminum head! get a thin composition gasket made up. I know Cometic makes them in .027" compressed thickness, maybe they can make a thinner one for your app. Any more than .040" piston to head and you won't have much quench effect anyway. Your pistons are too far down the hole..................djs