How about pull the McCord head gaskets out of the box and look at them? Put a caliper on them to see if they are thick, like .050" or more. If you are lucky, these will be stock shim gaskets. I'll be straight-up with you: I think it is penny foolish to use thick head gaskets and expecting this engine to be a lot better for torque. The originals were shim gaskets around .022 thick; going with .050" thick head gaskets is just one more torque killer. Even with a smaller cam, you still need to fight for CR with those low CR pistons. 1121G gaskets are only $23 each. [/QUOTE]​