Dave-
You ask about measuring deck heights...
Oh boy, where do we start on this one, talk about shipwrights disease...
I guess the first thing I should say is that this is my OPINION, but I have
used it many times and it always seemed to work.
First lets talk about cleanliness, in this case, it is next to godliness.
Clean the block most thoroughly in the water jacket area anywhere near the
liners and especially at the machined base that the liners sit on. One teeny
tiny little spec of rust/crud knocked off of the wall that lands on that
machined ledge when you are installing the liners and you're gonna really
hate yourself when you have to do it all again.
Decide if you are going to use any type of gasket sealer on the figure 8
gaskets. If they are the silver ones, they have some sort of coating on them
that seems to be just fine without anything else. If you have the copper
gaskets, you may feel the need to use some sort of gasket cement here. I have
used these both with and without any type of cement and the only difference
seems to be that it is easier to disassemble it later if no cement was used.
If you go with the no cement idea, then a v light coating of oil will help
things settle in.
Now before you put the liners in, you must make up some sleeve retainers. The
shop manual shows a nifty tool for doing this, but its probably nla by now
and you would need 6 or so of them at some ridiculous price. So what you need
are 6 or so sort (1.5") coarse 1/2" (I think) bolts and a dozen or so large
washers to fit the bolts. The washers must be large enough to extend out past
the outer edge of the sleeve, but not further than about 1/8" from the inside
of the sleeve (gotta leave room for the ring compressor). You will note that
by utilizing a couple of the studs between the sleeves, that you can hold
down two sleeves with one bolt. Then just choose a couple other studs at the
end to hold down the outer edges. Go ahead and make sure you can get these
studs out now before you go any further as it will be much easier now.
Install the figure 8 gaskets, and very carefully insert the liners, no dirt
remember ? If you have to remove one liner and you have already installed a
liner into the other half of the figure 8 gasket, remove both liners at the
same time as removing one by itself will bend the figure 8 gasket for sure.
Using an old head gasket, put the head back on and torque it down to about
50-60 foot pounds.
Let this sit overnite if possible, especially if you used cement.
Assemble the rods and pistons, do not mark them as being a pair as you may
want to move them later. Once you have decided that you have the best fit,
mark the piston so that it can go back onto the same rod later.
Remove the head and attach the sleeve retainers (do not remove these until
you are putting the head on for the final time). Install the crank with the
new bearings. Install the rod/piston assembly with new bearings.
Now we are finally ready to actually measure the deck height. Turn the crank
so that the piston is at TDC (you may want to check the timing hole in the
front pulley while you are here to be sure it is really TDC, they have been
wrong). The best way is to use a dial indicator, but a straight edge and
feelers will work. Now you can measure the deck height from the top of the
piston to the top of the sleeve (not the block, the liners are always proud
of the block even when compressed). If you find that you have one with less
clearance and one with more, switch the pistons on the rods and it may be a
better fit. Once you have done the best at getting them all the same, and are
as anal retentive as myself, or well, some of us, you will need to surface
the tops of the highest pistons, down to the same depth as the lowest.
At this point I have probably put everyone to sleep, so I'll not bore you
with thoughts of unshrouding the valves in the head and cutting the tops of
the sleeves to match.
The Car Curmudgeon
Nick in Nor Cal
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