Plastic gauge or not?
 

Just picked up my block from the machine shop.
It was washed , honed, and the crankshaft was polished.
The machine shop ordered and supplied all my parts.(Lower end)
Pistons, pistons rings. rod bearing. main bearing.
My question is Do I spent the time to Plastic Gauge it?
I would think all is good. Machine shop spec it all all and ordered parts to match

Re: Plastic gauge or not?
 

the :devil: is in the details :hc:

Re: Plastic gauge or not?
 

HaHa
My first lower block build.

Re: Plastic gauge or not?
 

30 mins of time now double check can save u hours later down the road if u have to pull it out

Re: Plastic gauge or not?
 

It's the only way to know for sure!

-klb

Re: Plastic gauge or not?
 

just picked up some.

Re: Plastic gauge or not?
 

Re: Plastic gauge or not?
 

.0015 on all journals.
I believe I am good.

Re: Plastic gauge or not?
 

I always wash my blocks with mild dishsoap and water and rinse thouroughly. Also spray out all the oil galleries and coolant passages as well. I also use compressed air in all the blind fastener holes in the block as well. Lots of metal particles from the machining process can get everywhere. Then platigauge everything to make certain clearances are good.

Gary

Re: Plastic gauge or not?
 

Yeah, clean it good. And so far as letting the shop measure and order your parts. Ya gotta check after them.
Back in the 70s my bil built up a nice 427 for his little brother's camaro. He bought his parts from our local chevy dealer. Trusted them to get him the RIGHT parts. He put it together and dropped it in the car, got it running good and took it down the street. It spun a rod bearing and ruined the crank. He found one rod bearing in the set didn't match the rest. Wrong size. The parts guy said you should have check them all before putting them in. Tough #$Y^!

Re: Plastic gauge or not?
 

A machinist friend doesn't check his if he totally trusts the shop doing the crank grind. But that crank shop, "Sheldust" in Pacheco, CA, no longer does cranks.

I got a crank kit from Rock Auto for my 350 and checked it just to make sure. They were all good.

Re: Plastic gauge or not?
 

Is this the same engine that the crank would not turn once the rod bolts were tighten down ?

Re: Plastic gauge or not?
 

Yes it is.

Re: Plastic gauge or not?
 

Trust but verify. The .0015 sounds a little tight to me. IIRC mine was .003 on the mains and .0025 on the rods.

Re: Plastic gauge or not?
 

It does seem a little tight. Here is a little reading.

http://www.superchevy.com/how-to/eng...learance-info/

Re: Plastic gauge or not?
 

If this is the engine that would not turn over after you tightened the rod bolts, I would go back thru the process of checking the clearances again since you figured out you installed the wrong piston/rod into the wrong place on the engine....just a thought, its a little bit of time but beats pulling the engine back out of the vehicle later...GOOD LUCK !! maybe you really were "born lucky"

Re: Plastic gauge or not?
 

So today I purchased some Plastic guage. This time I purchased several colors.
The measurement I gave was off the green tape. Today I matched green with red. The red showed .003 when matched up to the green .0015.

Re: Plastic gauge or not?
 

You must use the color that matches the range of clearances you are measuring. The plastigauge is different diameters so it will compress differently. Find out what your clearances should be then use the color that matches that range.

Here is a decent video on how to use it -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3pHb-qXZc8