Project Beast back on track

[Tarbash 27]

Yeah, thats what I was planning on.

[rapidray]

Piston to head clearance has nothing to do with head milling. Piston to head clearance issues come from decking the block too much & ending up with less than zero deck height, as in the piston is OUT of the hole. You can mill the 2 valve heads over .060 of an inch before they even start to make good compression. Bruce, did you measure the deck height before you put the block on with the rings on the pistons? How much is it now? IDEALLY, you want to be at zero to get the best power. Give me a call if you have questions. Most times you can get the deck height you want by using thicker or thinner base gaskets. As in copper. It's looking good Bruce! I wish I were closer to where you live right now! Ray.

[renobruce]

Piston to head clearance has nothing to do with head milling. Piston to head clearance issues come from decking the block too much & ending up with less than zero deck height, as in the piston is OUT of the hole. You can mill the 2 valve heads over .060 of an inch before they even start to make good compression. Bruce, did you measure the deck height before you put the block on with the rings on the pistons? How much is it now? IDEALLY, you want to be at zero to get the best power. Give me a call if you have questions. Most times you can get the deck height you want by using thicker or thinner base gaskets. As in copper. It's looking good Bruce! I wish I were closer to where you live right now! Ray.

You made me look!

If you mean the side of the piston (not the domed part), I measured it to be .044" below the deck. This is without having bolted down anything. The base gasket I used was a standard one...vesrah I think. Do you think I'm OK?

Oh, and why would you want to be up here? It's COLD right now!!

[rapidray]

I don't mind the cold if the garage is heated! You would need to stack some washers over the 4 outside corner studs & install the head nuts & torque down to about 35 lbs. THEN measure the deck height. If it is still over .010 in the hole then I would just pull the block off & have it decked whatever it takes to get it to zero with the base gasket you are using. I use Suzuki gaskets on stock type street builds & the base gasket measures at .010. I put the block on with NO base gasket or rings on the pistons & then clamp it down & measure. Ideally, the piston would be .010 OUT of the hole this way & I would just go on to assembly. If not, I subtract .010 from the measurement I got & that's how much the piston is down in the hole. Then I have that amount decked off the block. It's just math & a little machining but it is HUGE in the difference in power. If you are .044 IN the hole I would do as I described & deck the block the neccessary amount. It WILL be a noticable difference in power! Ray.

[renobruce]

Would I need to subtract the .015" that was milled off the head? With the piston being higher and the valves being lower, won't that matter? And what about cam lift?

[rapidray]

The milling you've done is nothing compared to what can be done to one of those. Also, the piston to valve clearance, while important to check, is a MINIMAL issue with the small cams you have. Yes, I would mill that block to get within .005 of zero deck. The closer to zero the better. On some of my 16 valve drag motors I have run the piston as much as .005 OUT of the hole. Ray.

[renobruce]

OK. With the jug bolted down as described at 35 lbs., I now measure .016 below the deck.






Ray, do you think that's good enough, or should I take the time to get the machine work done? Is 16 thou going to make that much of a difference?

[psyguy]

did you have all those washers just laying around somewhere?

j/k

looking forward to updates!

[renobruce]

did you have all those washers just laying around somewhere?

j/k

looking forward to updates!

yeah, I went digging and found two boxes of 'em in my barn.

[renobruce]

Looks like we lost about 7 or 8 posts from the glitch.

To summarize, I ended up not decking the block the extra .015". The only place local to me that could do it wanted 125.00, which is too much...better spent elsewhere. So now I will get the head on and degree the cams.

I already started dipping the VM29's. I've got gaskets coming from Nessism, and I ordered float bowl gaskets today from Z1.

Oh, and I'm going to paint the carbs bodies gloss black and polish the tops and bottoms. Should be different, eh?

[first timer]

bruce you should give https://www.kgcoatings.com/ a call. Just got done talking to them yesterday about what to use to paint my engine and they have great customer service, they should be able to help you pick a coating that will withstand gas and be very durable maybe even help keep heat off of the carbs.

It's just me but i think the carbs would look pretty bad ass in a dull dark magnesium grey color.

[renobruce]

bruce you should give https://www.kgcoatings.com/ a call. Just got done talking to them yesterday about what to use to paint my engine and they have great customer service, they should be able to help you pick a coating that will withstand gas and be very durable maybe even help keep heat off of the carbs.

It's just me but i think the carbs would look pretty bad ass in a dull dark magnesium grey color.

I'm going to try some gloss black caliper paint.

[renobruce]

Manual cam chain tensioner coming in the mail (thanks for the link, PJ). Ready to install cams and do the degreeing. VM29's are getting cleaned now. Ordered new bowl and top gaskets from Z-1, and orings from Nessism

[renobruce]

I started the painting of the VM29's. So far, so good. Also new aluminum choke plungers.









Crappy pics... I'll take some out in the sun tomorrow. I'll also be polishing up the tops and bowls better.

[80GS1000]

Can't wait to see the Beast all finished. Think it'll be ready for the Southwest rally?