How to Check Compression
Your method is a sure fire way to get it dead nuts right.
And as for my "knowledge" I can put what I know on the head of a pin.
With room left over.
Yes, that's why I do it this way. It takes all of the variation and guess work out of it. You can find out exactly where your parts are at - no bull ****. And with materials and tools that most people have in their garages or can get at local stores at an affordable price.
Example: The heads may have been decked by my head guy to maintain flatness. Most 360 heads are 72 cc, but these came out to 69 cc.
I would have never guessed or believed that this engine was below 8.0 compression, if I didn't measure it and do the calculations. Now, I just have to measure the piston deck height to find out how much more I need to to increase the piston compression height to get this between 9.2 - 9.4 compression where I want it.
If you don't know the full history of your parts, it may cause errors in your compression calculations if you don't measure them and assume that they are like the others. You don't know if your block or heads have been decked by someone who owned them before you and could throw off your compression. If you want it done right, you should check them yourself to make sure.
Don't sell yourself short. There are many things about engines and cars that you know that I don't. I have a good knowledge of Mopars and engines, but by far, I don't know everything. And there are many people out there that know some things that we don't know and we can learn from them. I try to keep learning so I can keep getting better and better.