Build up to take down.

I picked up the cylinder block from my local machine and engine shop yesterday; they have removed about 1/32nd from the top of the block to remove the recesses from around the cylinders. This has had to be done since I am using a late cylinder block with earlier pistons and head, I could have found another earlier cylinder block, which would have probably needed to have been re-bored, but I decided it could be quicker and easier to use my existing block.
The only problem with skimming that much from the top of the block is that the pistons now fit proud of the block. So last night the bottom end of the engine was built up to enable me to determine how much each piston protrudes above the top of the block, this was done quite easily using a magnetically mounted dial gauge. There was a bit of variation between pistons, from 8 to 17 thou needing to be removed, this is probably due to any minimal variations in gudgeon pin position, piston height, rod length etc.

Tonight’s job will be to strip the pistons out again to have them machined down to suit each cylinder, just got to make sure I don’t get them mixed up though.

A bit of time last weekend was spent cleaning the set of domed pistons, which were originally fitted in my engine, these are now surplus to requirements so will probably end up on ebay soon. They are proper AE Hepalite pistons and are barely marked, so they ought to sell well, but it always comes down to who is looking at the right time.