My engine builder told me that he used .039 Fel-Pro head gaskets in my DZ rebuild. It is standard bore, block not decked, standard pistons and rods. Is that head gasket too thick? How far is the piston down in the bore in an original engine? The engine is still on a stand so the head gaskets can be changed easily.

On most GM engines the piston sit's down .020 - .025 in the hole with a standard deck height. So with .039 head gaskets you're looking at a .059 - .064 quench. The target is .040 so if both surfaces are in good shape a set of steel shim gaskets would be about perfect (aka like GM had it originally). Hope this helps

I am probably not even close to the 11:1 cr then am I?

Put a set of Fel-pro PN 1094, .015" thick, rubber coated steel shim headgaskets on it to make her as close as you can get her to what she should be w/o blue-printing it.

pdq67

Are the rubber coated shims a better choice over the composite type? Only the heads have been surfaced. Any other type of work like beburring while the heads are off?

I don't believe composites come much if any thinner than the composites you have. My understanding is that the rubber coating eliminate the need to paint the shim gaskets with sealer. If your deck surface is decent you should be fine. We always retorqued the heads when using shims after it went through a heat cycle though (i.e. after the cam breaks in and the engine has cooled back down). Others folks may have pointers as well.

I just put on a set of those, and fel-pro does recommend a sealer if you are not absolutly certain everything is flat and square, I used permatex copper spray