2G Head gasket and Piston to valve clearance

[Koda]

I need to get a new mls head gasket and hks has a 1.2mm and 1.6mm and I don’t know if I can run the 1.2mm. My head thickness from cam cap to bottom of the head is 5.20”. My piston sits above the deck .005” on one side and .0016” on the opposite side. Please help I have been trying to figure this out for a couple hours and can’t find a sure answer on which gasket to run.

The pistons I have are:
WISECO EXTREME DUTY "HD" E85 SERIES FORGED PISTONS W/ RINGS (10.0:1 C.R.): 92-99 MITSUBISHI ECLIPSE 7-BOLT

Cams are:
Gsc s2 274 (older version)

other parts:
MAN 14022-4
Manley H Beam Connecting Rod Set (7 Bolt 4G63, 4G63T) / DSM,


1 MAN 190100
Manley Mitsubishi 4G63/4G64 7 Bolt 4340 Forged 88mm Stroke R

 

[DSMPT]

I don’t know if I can run the 1.2mm

Yes you can. 1.2mm is still a bit thicker than the factory thickness.

Piston to valve clearance would be determined by many factors, not only by the head gasket thickness. So you would need to use a dial indicator and a degree wheel to know the real piston to valve clearance in your specific case. If you are worried, you should al least to know the minimum clearance by using clay for peace of mind.
What I can say is, usually you have a sufficient piston to valve clearance while you are using common off the shelf parts unless you have removed unusual amount of material form the head/block.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

I am confused as to why your piston protrudes .005" on one side and only .0016" on the other? Was the block decked lopsided?

 

[Koda]

I am confused as to why your piston protrudes .005" on one side and only .0016" on the other? Was the block decked lopsided?

No I don’t believe so because I had a machine shop check it. On the block side it’s .0016 and the “bridge” side between cylinders is .005. But that was measuring with feeler gauges under the flat side of my calipers so I’m not sure if that qualifies as an accurate way to measure.

Also it measured exactly the same on all 4 pistons though so it is consistent

 

[miliman13]

I might be pulling at straws here, but why does it sound like the bores are not perfectly perpendicular to the crank ?
If they all have the same offset across piston diameters that sounds like maybe it wasn’t align when bored/honed ?

I’m guessing I don’t know what was done to it. Can you move the pistons by hand to make them flushed ? Maybe it’s the way they sit ?

 

[Koda]

I might be pulling at straws here, but why does it sound like the bores are not perfectly perpendicular to the crank ?
If they all have the same offset across piston diameters that sounds like maybe it wasn’t align when bored/honed ?

I’m guessing I don’t know what was done to it. Can you move the pistons by hand to make them flushed ? Maybe it’s the way they sit ?

I will try moving them around when I get home to see if the flush up. The cylinders did get bored .040” over now. I didn’t think them sitting that offset would cause any issues because I thought it was such a minuscule amount but do you guys see that being an issue ? I was just more concerned about my ptv clearance with them protruding