Puttin together a Raby kit engine, Deck Height revisited Options

[DNHunt]

Building this has been a blast. I have certainly learned a lot. Jake has been very patient and given me plenty of rope but, when I've started to wander he's tugged me back in line.

Deck Height has been a revelation. My first attempts were all over the place. After working on this for a total of 8 hours I really believe we've got a handle on it. I've learned a bunch.

First, these are very small dimensions. Jake wanted the deck within .004" on all 4 cylinders. We really struggled with this. Check this out a single sheet of paper is between .002 and .003.

[DNHunt]

When we put the cylinders and pistons on the first time, the pistons were proud of the cylinders a bunch so I couldn't torque the heads. We took some measurements but, they weren't good for anything but an approximation. So, I ordered some .140" shims from Rimco. It also was apparent that the cylinders would need to be clamped all the way around the mating surface so I got a big piece of channel iron and had it surfaced. When I used that I got the measurements with in .010. Still not good enough.

Big piece of steel.

You can see how nice and even the clamping presure is from the cylinders marking the tool.