Whats the facory compressed head gasket thickness 1969 440ci?

[Heck2G14]

Putting a gasket set in my 69 440 (906 heads) when I come across the heads and find a drastic difference between the steel gasket and what I got from the Gasket kit.  I'm wanting to keep my compression up as much as possible with what I got.  Not built for major performance just bumped the cam up to a 484 lift.  any suggestions.  anyone know the reason for the restriction of water flow through the heads in the area between the cylinders probably a 1/2 hole and the gaskets limit it to a 1/8 inch slit in the gasket.  Any answers or suggestion would be appreciated.  Thanks

[chargerbr549]

To answer part of your question the compressed thickness of the factory steel head gasket is .017" and usually the compressed thickness of the composition gasket is .037 to .040"

Kevin

[Heck2G14]

How much will that amount affect the compression ratio?

[chargerbr549]

You lose around a half a point in compression.