If you knew that the closest piston to deck margin was .010, the England gaskets might be installed, head torqued, and then removed to measure compressed thickness.  Then if the quench were found to be acceptable and not too low, put the gasket and head back on and retorque.

I have installed a metal head gasket, started engine and run for around 45-60 minutes, then taken one head and gasket off.  After milling the head and cleaning gasket and deck,  reinstalled the same gasket/head.  Oil still driped out between #6 and #7 cylinders after the reinstallation, but not because of the gasket.  The deck was unmilled and uneven. 

Mike, located in the Siskiyou mountains, Southern, OR 292 powered 1946 Ford 1/2 ton, '62 Mercury Meteor, '55 Country Squire (parting out), '64 Falcon, '54 Ford 600 tractor.

i saw those about 30 years ago on an engine i took apart.they hung on the wall for years.never saw them again.

The England head gaskets sound interesting.  Too bad they arent readily available, as the thickness could come in handy.  I havent ever heard reference to them before.

Mike, located in the Siskiyou mountains, Southern, OR 292 powered 1946 Ford 1/2 ton, '62 Mercury Meteor, '55 Country Squire (parting out), '64 Falcon, '54 Ford 600 tractor.

It's probably tolerances between the crank, rods, and pistons. You really can't zero the deck for a given set of parts without first assembling them to see where you're at. It should be better than stock now but if you want to get the most from your engine, you will need to have it milled again and probably cut some of the pistons. If you remain in the hole, use the thinner gaskets. If you zero it or even go a little out of the hole, use the thicker composition gaskets.

If your assembly has not yet been balanced, you can try swapping rods and pistons around until you find a combination that fits best. Just be sure to re number them when you are done.


Lawrenceville, GA

In my opinion only is that the thickness may vary but any performance difference would be undetectable if at all..

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

Ok well got the block back from machining after waiting a while.  The shop I used told me they could calculate zero desk and square the block.  So assembled the bottom end and I still get FR/R - 0.0010", R/R - 0.013", FR/L - 0.020" and R/L - 0.014" all down in the hole so much for the zero deck.  And its obviously not square either GRRRR.  Well not gonna take it apart to re-do as block is painted and cleaned and such.  Looking for my 292 to be around 9:1 with 0.040 egge pistons.  But now my squish will be over 0.040 with the wanted to use BEST gaskets at 0.047".  But I also came across a set of y-block gaskets that are made in England (stamped on them) also with the #'s AE640 and 1A992.  They are a copper top and bottom layer with some sort of layer material in between.  They measure at 0.035" before install and crush.  The BEST gaskets measure 0.054" before crush.  So these may work better?  Anyone with any experience with these and ideas what there crushed measure would be?

The knowledge on this site is great

THANKS