Cylinder Head Decking

[marketwatcher]

Repairing cylinderhead old school way. Did not want to spend the $600 on valve lapping, cleaning, decking, General refurbishment of head. Head was warped so I decked it myself. ( YES I know the head could / should have been heat cycled to straightened.)
Question:
What is the bare minimum of the Head thickness?
.
( from valve cover sealing face to head gasket sealing face.... no gaskets included.)
I'm checking next to see how close the valve to piston clearance is.

[Eg.h2o]

Minimum is 5.280”.

[marketwatcher]

That is the reason I'm checking . It's 5.270" after decking

[Eg.h2o]

Time for a new head, or cut it more and buy a .020 shim. Junk yard head may be the way to go.

[marketwatcher]

Going for the double gasket. Will report back sporadically to let everyone know how it went .
I checked the piston to valve clearance by assembly of head , timing belt, and clay on piston. Intake valve will have .07in clearance.
Wish me luck.
Going with 2 MLS FEL PRO GASKETS.

[marketwatcher]

Have put 1000 miles on engine now and no problems. Broke in around country roads and suburbs 0-35-50 sporadic speeds and rpms (not high). Then 45-55 on interstate, then bumped up to 50-65 for hour long drive .
The 8th day went 55- 80 mph for about 1hr
9th day tried hard take offs and 70- 80 for and hour or more . Now just driving normal to work under 70mph normal , not hard throttle .
Getting 33 mph. Back and forth to work.(suburbs and interstate)

[zackwang]

I agree with you, thanks for your sharing.
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[marketwatcher]

Have put 1000 miles on engine now and no problems. Broke in around country roads and suburbs 0-35-50 sporadic speeds and rpms (not high). Then 45-55 on interstate, then bumped up to 50-65 for hour long drive .
The 8th day went 55- 80 mph for about 1hr
9th day tried hard take offs and 70- 80 for and hour or more . Now just driving normal to work under 70mph normal , not hard throttle .
Getting 33 mph. Back and forth to work.(suburbs and interstate)

.
5000 miles later ....
Still running good , NO LEAKS !
only problems now is my catalytic converter is showing inefficiency on the scanner.
( not related to double gasket )
Gas milage has gone down because I swapped to 15" rims and larger tires. 205/55/15.
Also not going easy on throttle anymore. Average is 28 mpg . Still staying under 80mph and 5000-5500 rpms