To all you Centurion Iron Man owners out there, and people who have experienced the same problem alike...

For my new build I wanted a new black headset to go with my awesome powder coat job.
I needed to find a 1 inch threaded headset for my Iron Man, and I ordered a really sweet Nashbar alumnium headset with sealed bearings and all (one of the very few headsets i could find in black)

The problem is, when I tried to put it on:
A. The crown race didn't fit around the very bottom of the fork, it was too small
and
B. The stack height was too high and there was barely any threads poking out before the locknut was put on, not even enough for the lock nut to catch

I tried to use the old crown race, and it still wasn't enough, i need about 5 mm for the locknut to catch!

The Nashbar website said their headset has about a 38mm stack height.

Is there any other headsets out there that any of you guys have used before with a lower stack height?

If I cleaned up the original and used that would it booger it up if I painted it black? (Which paint is recommended if I do paint it?)

Lots of questions that need answering!

thanks guys.