valve clearence?

[ultraflo]

You're not supposed to reuse a head gasket once it's been torqued down... you can get the compressed thickness of the gasket from the manufacturer and factor that into your equation if you like... I think PKRWUD is just trying to make it easy for you, which is a good thing

After you pull the head (once you've done the four revolutions) you should notice an indentation in the clay (put a thin film of oil over the top of the clay so the valve doesn't stick to it)... cut away half of the clay so you can see where the valve indented the clay relative to where the top of the piston is... use a depth guage (or the depth end of a slider type micrometer) to see what your clearance is... hope this makes sense

With stock ported heads, stock valves, and a .544 lift cam w/ 1.7 rockers I had over .100" clearance, not sure what is was exactly (1998) ...but you should get the idea(you're gonna be fine with the stock cam IMHO). Checking the P/V clearance is always a good idea in any case for peace of mind

edit: btw, I modified a stock lifter to make it solid for doing p/v clearance checks, degreeing, and checking for proper pushrod length and rocker arm geometry...