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ok...the end of my rope is near...i went to john mahers site and calculated the deck height i need for an 8:1 compression at 9,500 feet. After crunching the figs I need 113 thousandths of shims to stay at an even 8...for daily driving...now, i dont want to stack shims everywhere so what i did was put "one" 60 thousandths shim on the bottom end and "one" 60 thousandths copper gasket at the top...so really i went over a fraction. If i think i did it right then going a little over is ok as along as i dont go the other way and raise my compression with thinner shims right? I have no idea....do any of you guys know...and another one, I put in a slightly higher cam for torque...like 10 degrees more lift duration (nothing major and near stock)...i need it bad for major league hills i have to climb...when i got them i also had to get the lifters etc...but i also had to get chromoly push rods too...now, according to the type four outfit...somewhere in california...the guy said that i would have to have the rods cut...but another guy (a local VW guru) told me that with such a small lift difference that the stock push rods would be ok...of course, he said he ran his peak hill climb with stock push rods, but never has qualified (i knew that and he didnt mention that one)...can i go with the stock push rods...and this is for hydraulic lifters...i think i know the answer but what do you guys think...and what are the advantages of chromoly? significant enough to have them lathed?

teenytrout

Do you really live at 9,500 ft? With that mild of a cam as long as the length was right i'd use the stockers. You would need to setup the geometry to check, then adjust as needed.

the installation of shims is only correct if you had zero deck height to begin with. The "calculation" gives you the deck you need to finish with, NOT the amount of shims you need to add. Did you in fact measure your deck beforehand?