2wrench:
The amount of machining cut of the head is a good reference but the only way to really tell the compression ratio is to cc the combustion chamber. One of Paul's pictures shows the procedure. It is the last picture of his first post. The head is positioned with the head surface leveled and up and with a clear plastic plate sealing the No. 1 combustion chamber. Notice the spark plug and valves in place to seal the chamber. A liquid is poured through a hole in the plastic and measured as it fills the combustion chamber. The amount of liquid used to fill it, measured in cc's, is the the size of your combustion chamber. My combustion chambers measure 44 cc's which puts me at about 9.98 combustion ratio. There is an equation used to figure that but you must know the deck height, the head gasket thickness (compressed), and the bore and stroke of the motor. You plug those variables into the equation and out comes the combustion ratio. WALA.
The thing I like about the photos is how clean the shop is. There are no shavings on the machines, no clutter on the bench and the floor is clean. Boy, that tells it all.