I have two questions.

1. When you clay the head, what do you guys use to accurately measure the compressed clay?


2. I've notice some people install a known bearings size in the mains, found the clearance between that and the journal and just go from there to get the right bearing size.

I was taught that this formula determines correct bearing size to use,
housing bore diameter - oil clearance - shaft diameter = bearing thickness

I just wanted to get everyone's opinion on which one would be more accurate or if it would even make a difference.

 

use a caliper to measure the mashed clay.

 

What about the oil clearance for the bearings?

 

To get a clearance for your bearings, mains and rods, you need to get the code off the crank, block and rods. Then you need to get a Helm's manual if you don't have this yet and look at the graphs for mains and rods.

 

I have a eagle crank and a dart block though.

 

<----jealous

no offence intended at all man, but if have never done amotor before I may choose less pricey items to cut my teeth on.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by aakeobo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I have a eagle crank and a dart block though.</TD></TR></TABLE>

You can use plastigage,but your better off actually measuring the clearance with micrometers and a bore gauge.Or you can torque the bearings up in the block and rods and bring them and the crank to a machine shop and have them measure the clearance.
Glenn