75 thou off the pistons you say? Thats nearly two mm. Be aware that if you remove too much of the squish band around the top of the piston, you will run the risk of the top ring land breaking.
I'd mock up your engine, measure the deck height at TDC. And then get the block decked so that you have zero deck. if your CR still calculates out too low, then skim the head.

Yes I've done that - there's only 12 thou deck height. I'd have to "skim" a rediculous amount off the head to bring up the compression due to the deep dish in the pistons.

OK fine maybe I could simplify this question a little. Could ANYONE here who has decked an A-series block tell me how much you decked it? Please? Just want something to compare to.

I believe that replacement pistons are readily available here in Australia, so an e-mail to Feral at Datrats may be productive. I know that he has sent stuff overseas before, & lets face it, the right piston is the prefered option.

I can't return these, can't afford another set and don't have time to keep looking. At this point I jsut have to say #### it and try it and see waht happens.

What thickness is the headgasket you are using? Is there something else available?

The pistons can sit proud/above the block in the gasket area if needed.

Can you weld up the combustion chamber on the head?

Offset grind the crank?

Linebore the block to move the crank up?

Whatever you do, keep an eye on rocker geometry.

The biggest problem is that it all costs money.

To fix it properly and probably the cheapest option too, replace the pistons. They aren't that expensive.

OK, I don't think 2mm off the deck will cause any real headaches to rocker geometry for a street engine with a mild cam. If the piston has enough left above the top ring in the piston headland to safely take .075" off, go for it. I've milled .090" off 30 yr old factory cast L18 pistons without any dramas whatsoever in an engine that got thrashed on the racetrack for years & is still going strong.

But remember to check piston to valve clearance with a dummy assembly - don't just build it and fire it up. I'd suggest you want at least .080" clearance for safety. I don't think you'll have a problem.

For geometry we just fit spacers under the rocker post and use corrola pushrods

Thanks guys. I decided to just go 0.060" off the block and 0.055" off the pistons. That's a little safer than 2mm. The compression will still be a slight improvement over stock at ~8.8:1. That should still leave 0.007" deck clearance, and anyway there will be a bevel on the edge of the pistons so that isn't really even necessary. So it should not affect the piston/valve geometry either since I'm not touching the head. This is really my cheapest option because I have a friend who will do the pistons for free (and being cheap is my #1 priority right now as the cost of this rebuild is already spiraling out of control.) The wife and I have our 1st baby on the way so I need to keep the cost down as much as possible just to be able to get it done at all.

Michael