Head gasket

[Dukes2fast]

I have bolted the heads on my 440. Now I want to take the heads back off and double check my valve clearance.and a couple other things. Can I re-use these head gaskets? The engine has not been started

[dwc43]

I would not reuse them. They've been compressed and there is no way to get them exactly back in the same spot after you remove them. Better safe than sorry.

[pishta]

Yeah, they are like a crush sleeve. You crush it and it stays crushed, you know? Dead soft Copper can be reused , but not standard head gaskets. I reused a pair in a grocery getter when I was dirt poor, but Im not dirt poor anymore, just poor. I think 22 bucks can be found in the front yard in empty beer bottles and cans.... What are you measuring that requires the heads to be removed?

[Dukes2fast]

I had a couple of problems. As I said in another post I had a valve clicking. I found out a valve stem had a burr. .... I also wanted to check how far down in the cylinder my pistons were so I try to get an accurate compression ratio. I have no idea why I didn't do this before.
Since I am here. My measurements varied from .022 to .012. Is this variance a problem?
According to the calculator on the KB website I should still get a decent ratio 10.5 to 1 plus or minus a couple tenths depending on what head gasket I use. Any suggestions on the gasket?

[pishta]

Get a compression tester and find out the variance between all of them. I wouldnt remove the head to get that info.