How big is your cam?A cam with alot of overlap will bleed off cylider pressure at lower rpms and help with the situation.A short duration cam,with less overlap will probably cause problems.What is it were you trying to figure out about head gaskets??Different materials won't change comp ratio,but a thicker or thinner one will.My 496 is 11:2 and I only run 32 degrees timing,I know a small block will want more,I tried straight 93 and it worked OK,but I mix a little CAM2 in just to be safe.