Couple of engine build questions:

1. When determining deck height, you assemble the piston and cylinder onto the rod. Because you will need to remove the P/C from the rod during final assembly, am I correct that there is no need to install the rings during this procedure? Is it necessary to install the wrist pin retainers? I’m not sure if there’s a chance the wrist pin could move and score the cylinder wall.

2. When determining pushrod length, assuming you have a dual pattern camshaft, once you’ve determined the pushrod length for the intake and exhaust on one cylinder, is it necessary to do the same procedure for the other 3 cylinders, or can you just cut all the exhaust pushrods to that length and the same for the intake pushrods?

Number one.
No rings, no wrist pin retainers.

Number 2.
Do each one...its worth the time and you have get different readings unless your case is perfect, each cylinder is exactly the same etc etc etc.

Some cases may require you have a shim under one cylinder and not another to balance out the compression ration and give you the same deck height...this could change your push rod length.

Dont over think this...just measure each one...its worth the effort just so you know that you are right.

Rich

No need to install rings or wrist pin clips. Those can wait until final assembly.
You could measure just 1 cylinder and be close but I would highly recommend to measure all of them because there will be some variations from 1 to another.

#1 That makes it a little easier.

#2 That's what I thought given that there can be variation between all the individual components. I suppose I could do one cylinder and then try those pushrods on the others to see if they are acceptable.

Install the top ring during deck height procedures to help center the piston in the bore. Doing it without this can cause variances in deck due to piston rock.

All cylinder decks should be measured and ensure no variance greater than .005 exists between all cylinders. Variances on the same side of the engine cannot be compensated for with different thickness shims, doing so will create cylinder head leakage.

I have an article on valvetrain geometry on my forums that covers your question in about 9,000 words. I'd read it.

Excellent article. I've read it twice. I've got it in my engine building notebook. It makes reference to one intake pushrod, but no reference to indexing it to that particular cylinder, so I assumed that length would apply to all intake pushrods. But given this is my 1st engine build and I hate making assumptions, I thought I'd post my question here. I'd rather measure 3 times and once. Ok, maybe I won't use the sawzall to cut them.