Correct use of a dial indicator

[fusername]

dangermouse, find a good flat straight thing w/ a hole in it, or punch a hole in the middle yourself. before you find TDC, put the piston at BDC, slip the straightedege across the rim so the indicator goes thru the hole. use something flat held against the bottom of the straight-edge, a magnet is great, and zero the indicator to it. now bring the piston up to TDC after getting all that junk out of the way. the smallest number you get is your deck.

[Dangermouse]

Et voila; much better. Thanks guys.

Using a diagonal across the face of the cylinder allowed me to tighten it down with a bit more force; I was hesitiant brfore to put much force on the fins alone for fear of stressing them or breaking one off.



Indicator anchored off a head stud, held nice and steady.




I used this piece of an old rocker arm to zero everything...





Good enough? (I read #1 0.069", #2 0.056", #3 0.065" & #4 0.060")

[Dale M.]

Now if dial indicator was just mounted to the bar so you didn't have to muck with it every time you moved to another cylinder...

I actually have cut 4 bars (just like yours) and appropriate spacers to retain cylinders in place as I'm working on motor... Just another "set" of tools to keep everything in place if I need to rotate motor... But your wrist pin idea seems to work just fine...

Dale

[Dale M.]

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[vwjedi]

IN THE PAST IVE USED A CHEAP 3"X3" L- BRACKET FROM HARDWARE STORE. SOFT ENOUGH TO BEND BY HAND . THEN DRILL A BIGGER HOLE IN THE OUTER EXISTING HOLE . AND BOLT IT DIRECTLY TO FLYWHEEL WERE PRESSURE PLATE BOLTS. FASTEN DIAL INDICATER TO OTHER END. AND ROUGHLY BEND IT TO MATE TO THE CASE ON OUTSIDE OF FLYWHEEL. ITS GHETTO. BUT IT WILL ACURATELY GET THE READINGS.

[Devastator]

I would also be concerned with the rigidness of that magnetic base attached to a cylinder stud.
I like the wristpin shims you use to hold the cylinders down though.