The test you propose would provide the answers but I think from the clearance measurements I've already taken, the crush on the fibre head gasket won't be of the magnitude that is going to cause problems.
I found an interesting post on a Porsche forum, about cylinder head nut torque values for early air-cooled 2.7 911 engines (alloy cylinders, steel liners, alloy heads and steel studs) and the issues caused due to heat cycling and the differential coefficient of expansion between the steel studs and alloy barrels. Apparently it was a problem and Porsche came up with studs made from a special steel alloy called Dilivar which expanded at a rate closer to alloy bits, to combat studs pulling out and barrel distortion.
The reason I mention all this is that under heating the the tension on the studs is increased due to the alloy barrel/steel stud combination as is the clamping force at the gasket faces. According to the Porsche site, re-torquing the head nuts at the first service was to take up any 'slack' in the head gasket due to crush caused by alloy expansion from the post-assembly heating/cooling cycles. I suspect this is required on air cooled motorcycle engines too, as they are essentially the same construction.
The post also talked about how stud tension on the air-cooled engines were set well below peak head bolt tension in modern water-cooled auto engines. These are often clamped using using torque to yield bolts to maximize clamping force. Air-cooled studs screwed into the crankcase act more like springs, which is handy given the expansion rates
I'll be going with the aftermarket 0.5 mm base and the 1.3 mm fibre gasket which will give about 0.75 - 0.8mm squish which should be safe. But I will measure to be sure.
I am looking forward to riding it. It's spring down here at the bottom of the South Pacific, so some summer riding is in order.
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