I was thinking about HKS's 2mm metal head gasket. It lowers the compression to 8.72:1 which is great, but I'm concerned about it lengthening the distance between the crank and the cam gears. Anyone have experience with this?

 

Dude, I just gotta say...I LOVE your avatar HAHAHA

 

I think any change in timing would be negligible and the tensioner would be able to adjust for the added deck height. As far as your overall optimal timing values, they might go up as knock resistance has hopefully gone down.

 

A little bit off topic but does anyone know where I can buy a thicker head gasket for 1.8l?

 

is hksusa.com hks site.if so i think they have them or try begi or fm.

 

All of those only have them for 1.6

 

Valve timing and ignition timing would be changed ever so slightly.

 

You could get cometic to make you one for a 1.8 pretty easily I would think.

 

Topline will make you a custom gasket any thickness you want. They require a purchase of 2 minimum to produce something custom though. I know they've made them for 1.8s in the past.
Should be the right link: http://www.toplineauto.com/products.asp