Jon, I refused to use anything but a copper gasket for years and years, right up till I had one fail three years ago. I still have 6 or 7 261 copper head gaskets. But I thought I had a cracked head three years ago, built up another head, swapped heads and put on the blue felpro. Sprayed a little copper spray on both sides, let it tack up, and not a single issue. Later, when we looked, the copper gasket had failed. The head was fine.
Tom, with .060 off the head, you are going to have to check piston to valve clearance with anything other then a stock cam, and even with a stock cam I would be checking. There is just no way around it. Surfacing should always be done with these heads, at least in my opinion. In the nearly 50 years I have been messing with them, I have never had one that did not need surfacing to get it flat. Generally, I am in the .010 range, but occasionally one is warped bad enough to need .020.
That being said, if you want to avoid all these issues, source your self another head and have it rebuilt without the heavy surfacing, stock or mild performance cam and you will be all set.
Last edited by Dragsix; 08/16/2023 4:18 PM.
