[blykins]

Yep. That's how you learn.

There's actually two types of deck heights when talking about engines.

The first one is the distance from the crankshaft centerline to the cylinder head deck. For instance, it's 9.503" for a 351W. It's 10.17" for an FE.

The second deck height is the distance from the piston at TDC to the cylinder head deck.

For instance, if your piston sets .015" (distance from the very top of the piston to the head deck) down in the hole at TDC, you'd have a lower compression ratio than if the piston sets flush with the deck (called a 0 deck).

You can use a dial indicator with a magnetic base sitting on the cylinder head deck to get perfect piston TDC. Then you can use the same dial indicator or even a pair of calipers to get the distance from the piston to the deck.