CC'd my head and calc the CR...

[dneuman]

Hi George,
I got the gasket last week I believe and I have not yet put it on. I am having a couple of crazy busy weeks right now.
The gasket looks pretty good-mine sure is a thick heavy piece of copper. Deans guy couldn't make it as thick as I wanted but it is thick enough to return my cam geometry back to where it should be (if I did my measurements and math right the cam should be just barely farther away than stock). My calc CR will be 9.1 to 1 which is fine I think.
Annealing the copper head gasket can be done with a propane torch. You need to heat the entire thing cherry red then its annealed. Dean includes directions with the gasket. But then you have to scrub off the resulting scale with a green scrubber and stuff. There is a heat treating place here in Oakland that I just might take it to and let the pros do it (well I haven't figured out how much its going to cost yet....).
Dean was very hesitant to sell me the copper head gasket as you have to religously follow the instructions to get it to work and he's gotten grief from folks in the past for their gasket not sealing.
I am going to try my damndest to get the gasket on the car next week. But its probably going to be at least 2 weeks before I am ready to try to start the car.