Piston to Valve clearance

pigs521bbf wrote:I have a 523 bbf and I am doing a head swap. I had one some PI heads with mild port work and CJ valves. I ran across some iron CJ head with some port work done. I am using head gasket Fel-Pro #1018. I have Icon Piston #IC859-040 Forged Flat Top Pistons 4.400 Bore.

I did put some clay on my piston to check the valve clearance. The clay measured at 0.100in on intake and 0.070in exhaust. Any recommendations? Thicker gasket?

pigs521bbf wrote:What is recommendations for the correct number of exhaust and intake?

Is there another head gasket (thicker) that I could get away with?

RHS strongly urges you to check the piston to valve clearance on the larger street cams and all race cams. The easiest and most accurate way to check this is to place strips of modeling clay on top of one piston, and then rotate the engine over by hand with the cylinder head bolted in place and all of the valve train components adjusted. If there is any resistance during rotation of the crankshaft, STOP! The piston has probably hit the valve. Then you must decide whether to fly cut the piston, or exchange the cam for a profile that will fit into your engine. Note: Minimum piston to valve clearance is .080” on the intake and .100” on the exhaust valves. If aluminum connecting rods are being used, add a minimum of .030” to these suggested clearance figures. Aluminum rods will stretch and expand more than steel rods. wrote:

Colt Macara wrote:

pigs521bbf wrote:What is recommendations for the correct number of exhaust and intake?

Is there another head gasket (thicker) that I could get away with?