276 stroker from 35 years of parts

[GB SISSON]

Maybe there will be some that don't approve of the use of wood as an indicator of compressed gasket thickness, but I carefully made these to .052 and testing indicates no compressing and I'm sure it's more accurate than the ragged old stiff .062 head gasket I used previously. Looking back I shoulda put some big tin foil balls in between the slats to test my test.
First test with slats was with an untouched 8ba head just because I was curious and wanted a control sample. I set a couple of balls on wide open valves (no timing gear on) and found them to have visually 3/16" minimum clear. Next was one of my previously altered EAC heads, and yes, I would have had some way too close if I had not learned that the copper gasket at .080 would squish down to match the comp gasket at .052. When I chose the copper gasket from Olson I thought I was buying some insurance. Another thing evident is that strips are way more telling that widely spaced balls. At times I become overwhelmed with the stress from all this measuring and grinding, but with the help and encouragement here, I feel I can grind my way to a proper quench area and happy motoring. Thanks, GB edit: the sticks going crossways are just sign boards to caption the photo.