Is .015" too much removal at one time in going for a planned "0" deck height? Can more be removed during an engine buildup? :confused:

What potential problems would be encountered by removing too much at one time like the intake manifold and head alignment?

Charles

Is the Machinist gigging you on multiple grinding passes time sorta thing???

I have to step aside and let Bill or Mike say something here b/c I am not a machinist, but have been gigged like that..

I can say that the old AP Green Frirebrick plant Machine Shop had a great big Blanchard vertical spindle surface grinder that was used to make firebrick brick and tile press dies out of hardened steel with and it was big enough to grind most any depth that was within reason in one pass!!!

I used it to grind our Refractory material gunning machine feedwheels back flat when they became worn too much. The BSM Plastic Gunning Machine's feedwheels were through hardened cast steel.... The suckers would come out after grinding so that the 90 degree corners of the wheels would cut you like a razor if you didn't handle them really carefully!!

pdq67

Charles,
Not sure about your question but if you are shooting for "0" deck, the correct way to do it is to have the engine bored and honed, then assemble it and check the deck height. Then you can machine it to the correct dimension. If you have the proper measuring devices, you can measure the stroke of the crankshaft, the length of the rods, and the compression height of the pistons and get pretty close, but I prefer to assemble and check.

BillK and PDQ67, sorry about the ambiguous question. I guess I was thinking that there may be a maximum amount of machining that can be done to a 9.8" BB and that .015" seems to be a lot.

On paper, I calculated my crank stroke, rod length, and piston compression height, and
came up with approximately .015" of deck left in
a 9.8" BB.

Charles

Charles,
.015 is not a lot by any means. It is not at all unusual to have to cut .025 off a small block to get the deck right.

I probably already know the answer to this, but can the block be decked with the pistons all assembled?

MaTt