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Old 10-16-2009, 08:06 AM
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rb77413 rb77413 is offline
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Question Measuring tools for engine building

Just want to see what is required/recommended for engine rebuilding. Also how far do you want the accuracy? .0001 or .00001? I only have a dial indicator from a cam degreeing kit. Is this one good enough?
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Old 10-16-2009, 10:53 AM
peg leg peg leg is offline
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Default Gauges

First, I think a 0.0001" gauge resolution is plenty good.
If you are serious about blueprinting, you can plan on spending serious money on gauging tools. A digital bore gauge would be required, a long reach caliper for deck height, and then you still cannot check deck flatness without a granite or inspection grade steel plate and dial gauge. Crank journals need good digital gauging, too. You may want to farm out the deck height, flatness and main bore alignment checks for what the gauges cost.
All in all, I think that finding a very good short block machinist would be a better choice. They have all the gauging needed, and you save the cost of tools you'll probably not use again.
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Old 10-16-2009, 05:52 PM
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Ray Bell Ray Bell is offline
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Reminds me of a friend of mine, passed away now, but he was a real good engine man...

He had a V12 Jaguar engine he was doing up and took it to a very reputable place in Sydney for machining. When he got it back he started going over it and found a few things he wasn't happy with.

He phoned the machinist and told them. "You wouldn't be able to measure that!" he was told. He denied that and insisted the block wasn't up to spec, so they invited him in to use their gear on their 12' square surface plate.

Once he'd done there they accepted that he was right and they needed to fix things... but then they offered him a job!

Same bloke put the brand new set of Carrillo rods he bought for this engine away in the cupboard for six or seven years (long term project, no need to hurry things...). When he got them out he checked them over and found they'd 'walked' lying in the cupboard and were no longer square.
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Old 10-17-2009, 04:55 PM
peg leg peg leg is offline
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Default Oh yes

Metals move when at rest. They also move with temperature. In the aerospace business, when you make a Boeing spec or mil spec part, you'd better pay attention to the temp spec when measuring tolerances. Storing any metal object on any but a flat surface will let it move all over the place.
Did you know that glass is constantly in motion? Saw it on the Science channel a while back. Window panels get longer with age.
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Old 10-17-2009, 07:10 PM
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I would have a machine do everything as far as machine work. I just want tools for assembly and doublechecking some of the basic things, like bearing clearances, and bore sizes, and to see how close to the deck the piston really is.

I have heard about glass as well, like a windshield is actually thicker at the bottom after many years, and I have not bought engines mainly due to not needing them and not wanting them to warp from being stored.
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Old 10-18-2009, 12:34 AM
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pishta pishta is offline
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Yup, they store cranks standing up on their ends, rods are up and down, and viscous fan clutches on their "back". They are supposed to turn ship driveshafts 180 once a week while in storage so they wont bend under their own weight! I wouldnt think you would need anything better than a .001 dial indicator, .1g resolution digital scale (best you can afford) combo piston stop/dial indicator mount and a degree wheel, feeler guage, some plasti-guage and a 6 inch caliper for basic motor blueprinting, and maybe a good straight edge that you store in a case. Other measurements are shop stuff with specialized equipment.
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