getting the block " squared up" "true"

[BIGKASH]

is there any tools to make sure my block is "true" before i mount my heads on,,, and i cant take the motor to a machine shop, mounted to boat...

mabey using a straight egde or something, reason is i'm having problems with water leaking....

[northeastcat]

a straight edge is your only option, unless there is some other tool I'm not aware of. In automotive applications I have a tool that mounts in the crankshaft journals and measures to true deck of each side, we use this for blueprinting mostly and for specific compression ratios for race applications, but in your case I would say all you need to know is if it is straight or not. So get a fairly long straight edge and check it at several contact points on each side. I would say a runout of .004 max may be acceptable but I would check with someone else on how much is allowed. Hope this helped NE Cat

[Winger Ed.]

You might have a gouge in it.

You might try sort of polishing/planing the mating surfaces.

Before I got remarried, I'd put a 9 x 11 sheet of 400 or 600 wet or dry sandpaper on the kitchen counter, keep it (both sides)sprayed with Pam or WD-40, and move it around in circles to block sand it.

Do the same with the top surface of the block, but wrap your oiled sand paper around a good big, flat file, or piece of glass to use for use a sanding block.

It'd take a month of Sundays to remove enough metal to change the height of the cumbustion chamber, but you'll soon see if you have a deep machining gouge, or even maybe a burr sticking up.

That could be the source of your leak.


If so, you can spray your new gasket with a gasket sealer NAPA sells.
It looks for the world like a can of copper spray paint.



I've used it on car engine heads, to re-use hard to find and expensive head gaskets on antique Hercules boat engines, 50-60ish HP outboard heads, lawn mower head gaskets if I was in a hurry, etc.

Its an unholy mess when you pull a head that had that stuff used on it-- but it'll sure work if you're desperate.


If you use it, You need slowly torque the head down in 10 pound or so increments, then go around the pattern again a few hours later, and maybe even the next day.

That gives it a chance to flow and move around real well.



And,,,,, make sure your torque wrench is accurate.

If you can't get it calibrated:

get two of them. connect them together with a socket, and bear on them in opposite directions.

If they read the same- they are both probably good. If not, one of them is off and you may need a third one to keep testing and figure out which is bad.