Chainsaw Repair

FWIW the standard base gaskets on any Stihl I've worked on has been 20 thou thick .Now I've heard there were different thicknesses but I've never personally encountered any .

 I have however miscalculated the squish on several saws I modified and had to adjust same by cutting different thickness gaskets .

I prefer to use a base gasket but some have done well using some form of sealant and no gasket .I would speculate the sealant would pull down with around 2 thou thickness more or less so in theory you could drop the head deck heigth by around 18 thou .

I never measured the squish on an 036 but I'd guess around 45 thou stock so you could drop it by 18 thou and see some improvement .If it doesn't work put the gasket back in .