Re-gasketing the top end

[SPARKPLUG1977]

I'm re-gasketing my top end, due to an unfortunate head gasket leak.
Should I deck my head a little while i've got it off?
I've done it on all of my other bikes, but this is my first four stroke.

plus I was told to tell people this:

old mikuni roundslide carb slides also work great as fork spacers. I just
found that out today when i installed them. Never underestimate the usefulness of the old crap in your garage

[dgyver]

Decking the head with stock pistons does not provide much gain.

[The Buddha]

Its decking... not milling... decking is done to make the head flatter... I mean smoothly flat... goddammmit, cant get the words... I blame the red wine... but its to reduce the peaks and valleys the manufacturers put there ... and it does barely nothing for the compression... its to get a tight gasket seal without torquing the bolts till you are black and blue... BTw I have been told to deck my eli... by 2 different people, one of whom doesn't do the work on them... but he said in the past ... that's the only way he could get the notrun's, BSA's and triumph's to stop acting like the exxon valdez...
Cool.
Srinath.

[dgyver]

sorry my bad, I use the 2 terms interchangably

[SPARKPLUG1977]

Finished the top end overhaul.  I didn't take a whole lot off of the head, just about 0.5mm. It went quite well.  I put the whole lot back together with 42.5 pilots, 127.5 mains, 1 #4 washer under the needle, and the airscrew 3.25 turns out.  I just got back from a ride, and it seems to be quite content with the richer than recommended jetting.  thenks for the feedback everyone.