Engine building tool recommendations
 

While I wait for my rotating assembly to arrive and machine work to be completed, I've started shopping for the tools I'll need to put this thing together. What are some cost effective, yet quality, options for guys like me who don't build engines every day?

On my shopping list:
- 2-3" and 3"-4" micrometers
- Dial bore indicator (.0001 graduations?)
- Piston ring installation tool (any advantage to non-adjustable?)
- Piston ring compressor (not sure brand matters)
- Ring filer (Summit or Jegs seem ok here?)

I have a Kobalt clicker-type torque wrench that's about 10 years old and seen light use. Not sure if it's worth upgrading or if I should just have it calibrated.

I know pros love Starrett and Mitutoyo for measurement tools but they are pricey. I've been looking at Fowler as a compromise. Are Harbor Freight mics a no-no? What about Summit brand?

Add to your list a oil pump priming rod from Butler for 25 bucks.

If you will ever need to lash the valves then a long set of feeler gauges is nice .

A set of nut and bolt rethreaders
I've been told by my machinist not to use taps & dies to clean nuts and bolts with. Use the rethreader to clean the gunk, paint, and mild burrs from the threads.


https://www.amazon.com/Lang-Tools-25...e%2C232&sr=1-6

I have an oil pump priming rod I picked up years ago for my first rebuild. I have a short set of feelers. Figured it would be needed for ring gap. I'll be running a hydraulic roller, so no need to lash valves.

I use an old cast iron(you could use aluminum)gutted distributor, with 110 volt1/2" drill. Crankshaft turner,it slides 'on'off 'easy, old cracked balancer with handles bolted on. I'm frugal. Spend my money on tools I cant make.

Dial bore indicators are merely comparators to your mics; is a Mitutoyo or Sunnen the best, absolutely; will a Fowler compliment Starret or Mitutoyo mics well enough, probably for a garage enthusiast. I am no pro myself but if I was starting from scratch I would buy better mics (you use them a lot more when you have them) and buy a budget dial bore indicator. Ring squaring tools come in ranges for bore so they will fit a variety of bore sizes, and if only doing one or two engines the house brand manual will be fine. For piston/ring install, tapered tools are great and for like $40 for the Summit brand they work great. Soft jaws for your vice or pieces of copper for torquing rod bolts are a must unless you buy a rod vice. And like said before the oil pump priming shaft and an old distributor housing with a corded electric drill.

reversable drill

Good call. My machinist is supposed to clean the threads in the block, but I could see these being handy to have around outside of engine building.

I have a 1/2" crank socket I got from Comp a while that's been a super handy tool to have around. I think I bought it when I degreed the cam in my last setup.

Thanks - super helpful! Maybe the smarter thing to do is to pick up some gently used high quality mics in the specific sizes I need over buying a whole set of new marginal quality mics.

Got one! I actually inherited an old school relatively low RPM but very high torque drill from my father in law that works great for priming engines.

I will try to give you some helpful info on tools. Micrometers: For occasional use I would still recommend buying a full set of 0-6" mics. That's because you will need a 0-1 for valve train measurements, then a 2-3 and 3-4 for the crankshaft. Then a 4-5 for pistons and to set your bore gauge. By the time you buy all those, you might as well buy a set in a nice wood box. Sure, I am a tool snob. But at just under a grand for Starret, Brown and Sharp, or Mitsutoyo, that's just too much. A Chinese set with a vernier scale, .0001 will be just fine at about $150.00 a set. Pawn shops, swap meets are great places to get the good stuff at a tremendous discount if you want to go that way. With the Chinese stuff, check them with a standard every time you use them and use the ratchet or friction sleeve to zero and get your measurements. The frames on the 2-3" and larger are usually sheet metal and will deflect if you put much pressure on them. Fowler mics are made in Poland and are decent, but likely only a tick better than most of the Chinese stuff. Moving on, I personally do not use a ring installer. I can roll them on the piston quickly and easily without tools. If you feel you need one , the ones that look allot like snap ring pliers would be my choice. The ones that more like thin vice grips with a couple springs and surround the ring , I hate and do not use. We call those the "ring breaker 5000". They ruin more rings than they install. Ring grinders: For occasional use I just use a sharp mill file and file from the outside in and de-burr with a stone. For production use, I have the $600.00 110V electric motor driven filer. Goodson.com sell that as well as many others. A hand ring filer that uses human power and a disc works OK and is affordable. The battery powered electric ring filers are flimsy garbage as far as I am concerned. They won't grind a parallel ring gap no matter what you do and how much time you spend setting them up. Complete waste of money IMO. Ring installer: Nothing better than a one piece tapered installer. Since you are building a specific engine, not too expensive. I have about 40 different sizes, so it can get expensive at 35.00-50.00 each. I would also add a cheap metal digital dial caliper to your list. At about 50.00, they are great for quick measurements of all kinds of things. Digital lets you do fast conversions to metric. Hope this helps. I will post some pics of stuff I like and hate.

1. I don't use an electric drill--even 1/2" capacity--for priming. I use an old distributor, turned by hand about one or one-and-a-half revolutions per second. 60--90 RPM. When you see oil pressure, you're done. There's no need to squirt oil over the fenders from the rocker arms. Priming takes 30 seconds, it's NOT a career that takes hours or involves turning the crankshaft.

2. Long-handle "rifle" brushes, for cleaning out oil galleries, the oil holes in the crankshaft, etc. You'll need them in various diameters and reaches; fortunately they're sold as a "kit" with several sizes. My machinist is a good guy...but his part-time help is questionable, and they're the ones in charge of cleaning. I was pretty disgusted when I ran a brush through the crank holes, and the small oil galleries and got little piles of debris from each one.

3. "Double-strength" plate glass--about one foot square, bigger is OK. Put wet-or-dry sandpaper on it and then you've got a flat surface to sand clearance into or out of your oil pump. I use solvent as a sanding aid.

Here are some pics. This is the crap, do not buy list.

Here is the pretty decent list

Here is the really good stuff. Bring your wallet.

Some things that haven’t been mentioned:

- A set of rifle brushes to clean block passages and everything else
- A crank rotating attachment and a cam rotating attachment (the precise names escape me). These are two items that seemed unnecessary but actually were very helpful.
- Light checking valve springs
- Adjustable pushrod
- Deck bridge (for measuring piston depth)
- Yes, it’s a good time to invest in quality torque wrenches. They’re not cheap, but they’re essential. I use a big 25” wrench that’s 30-250 ft lbs and a 16” wrench that’s 5- 75 ft lbs. The different scales give you more accuracy, and the long wrench is key when you have to do all the main bolts multiple times and other huge torque numbers.

I used a cheap Jegs ring filer. It wasn’t great, but got the job done with a bit of extra labor. Get an extra grinding disc. The next step up in ring filers was hundreds and hundreds of bucks, and didn’t seem worth the investment for occasional use.

It pains me a bit to say this, but like mgarblik I’ve found the Chinese mics on ebay actually work great.

Oh, and the non-adjustable ring compressors are much better.

I know it’s been mentioned already, but I got all my micrometers used off of EBay. Start watching for what you want, to get a feel for the going used prices. When a deal comes along you’ll see it. Many times someone is selling off a machinist tools, and will have all the sizes you’ll want all in one purchase, for the price of one new one.

Don’t forget a good dial indicator and magnetic stand. Needed for degreeing a cam, checking crankshaft endplay etc.

I'm fond of the lifter-bore holder for a dial indicator when degreeing the camshaft. Obviously, a degree wheel is required, also. There are other sorts of dial indicator holders, but this is simple and easy.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/cca-4925

Tapered ring compressors are wonderful...and expensive. This is what I use. Beware--there's imported-junk knockoffs of the genuine Lisle tool, and in a cruel twist of fate, they cost as much as the genuine item. The last time I inspected the knockoff, they'd punched the metal strap from the wrong direction--leaving jagged edges which would destroy the moly face of the rings as you slide the piston into the cylinder. This is more-or-less infinitely adjustable, and with care holds the adjustment from first piston to the last piston of each build. Cheap and effective.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/lil-21700

Wondering if these quality as the "decent" $160 mics mgarblik mentioned?

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/cbi-50070

I've been perusing used Mitutoyo and Starrett mics on eBay. The seem to be anywhere from $70-$200 for a set, although most used sets don't have a 3-4". Anything to watch out for with used mics? Are digital read outs worth it?

How about a dial bore indicator? Seems like most of the sub $200 ones are .0005 accuracy. Is that sufficient for bearing clearances when the mics go to .0001?

I looked at the link you provided. The Chicago branded Mics look OK. Really wish they had a pic or two of the barrel and the scales. Also, it's hard to see the frames with them in the box. But they have carbide tips. They have ratchets rather than friction thimbles, which I personally prefer. Just like the feel of a ratchet. It looks like all 6 in that set have cast frames vs sheet metal. If you look at some of the other mics in the other suggestions below the first set. The Mics with the blue frames are basically sheet metal and not preferred. On the cheap mics, I recommend staying away from the digital readouts. They are mechanical and fail in short order. The mics come with standards. So check them at the minimum and maximum of their range with the standards. When we teach micrometer reading at my school, we use the cheap stuff for teaching. Because they get dropped, get used improperly, get used as a C clamp. Once we can either teach proper use and respect for the tools or flunk them out, then we break out the good stuff for critical measurements.

How are your eyes?

I had no use for digital readouts until I hit 55 or so.

Now they're a real blessing. Fookin' bifocals.

I hadda buy a new 0--1 with liquid-crystal display just so I didn't need a magnifying glass.

I can still read the barrel vernier scales( with glasses) but the DROs make it so much easier. When I worked for JET most of our constant use mics were DROs.

Well, that happened fast. Nabbed a set of used Mitutoyo mics off eBay . As far as I can tell they have ratchet thimbles which I think I would prefer. A little over $200 for the set of 4 ranging from 0" to 4". Considering a new set of 4 is almost $500 I'm feeling alright about it.

My eyes are still holding up ok, but I'm probably due for a pair of readers soon.

I have a ring breaker I bought from Sear in the 70s and never used until recently to take some rings OFF some pistons I bought used. I always worried about stretching them too much installing with it.

My probably Chinese mikes were good enough I could tell my Eagle 409 stroker crank had terrible journal taper! They do read right on the standards they came with. But I have the machine shop double check me when they are doing the final machining.

I moved on to shopping for dial bore indicators. Most of the inexpensive ones geared toward engine building are .0005. I’m assuming I’d want .0001 for more accuracy and one that could do cam, main and rod bearings? I’ve also been reading about how the cheaper gauges can mar bearings. Is that a concern?

Of course, all this is making me wonder if I should have just started with plastigauge but I enjoy learning about these tools and how to use them. Wish I could take a few of mgarblik’s classes.

It is for me. Theoretically, you can pull the dial indicator apart, then replace the tension spring with a softer one. I've never done this. My machinist bought a cheap rod-bolt stretch gauge, then wanted a stiffer spring in his after using my ARP stretch gauge. I don't think he ever got around to that...he borrowed my ARP unit a few months ago.


Maybe we can get him to post the syllabus, and the textbook name and ISBN. Who knows? Is the course available online, or via Zoom or some-such?

Not to hijack thread: I will start a new thread in about a month for anyone interested. It will highlight what our 1 year long course is about. I will post syllabus and some worksheets and class notes. I have never done anything like this on a forum, so have some patience. Thanks for the interest. Students over 55 years old who live in a multi-county area around Dayton Ohio can take the classes virtually for free with some lab fees. Class fills very fast. One of the areas best kept secrets. Sinclair College is a local tax supported state school. Next class starts August 23rd. It is filled with 5 on the waiting list.

numbers are all cool and stuff but there is also the "feel" to using a pr of mics and setting a dial bore gauge. Working within .0005 should be your goal WITH SOME PRACTICE. The average seasoned machinist is doubtful at +/-.0001 just due to the 100000 variable involved with measuring. Do you realize that the oil left behind from your fingerprint is typically .0001" thick?.... a sharpie marker is about .0003". I can put the BEST steel wrist pin in my hand in a 72* environmentally controlled shop and within 2 minutes make it .00015 BIGGER than when it is at 72 degrees. Your dealing with steel and aluminum, both are about as stable as a wet 2x4 in the sun. Don't get lost in the numbers....just understand what your numbers represent.

Mandatory, IMHO.

This post put things into perspective. I received my micrometers the other day, recalibrated/adjusted them against the standards and I've been practicing measuring stuff with known sizes (old valves, cranks, etc) and then double checking with my digital calipers to ensure I'm adding correctly. I generally have the hang of it and am confident that I'll be able to measure for oil clearances and such, but yeah...0001" is not a lot and easy to be a variable.

After I gained that perspective, I went ahead an ordered a .0005 bore dial gage.

Bonus - the set I got off eBay was previously owned by another Ken, or Kenny in this case, so my name came pre-engraved :D

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...1&d=1658955817

Those MIC's look nice. The hardest part of getting that 4th digit is hitting the sweet spot on a cylindrical object. Pistons are the toughest because they are not round. So there is just one spot on the skirt that is the maximum diameter. I would start with lifters, easiest to measure, then valves and pushrods, then crank journals. Pistons and camshaft lobes are a challenge. Good luck.

My rotating assembly from Butler finally shipped and I think I'm ready for it.

Here's where I netted out on my tool cache for the build:

• Used set of Mitutoyo mics from eBay
• Titan connecting rod vise from Summit
• Performance Tool piston ring installer
• Summit piston ring filer
• Tapered ring compressor for 4.17 bore
• Total Seal ring squaring tool for 4.125 to 4.2 bore
• Fowler .0005 bore dial gauge
• Quinn 1/2" digital torque wrench from Harbor Freight
• Plastigauge to double check myself

I watched a bunch of torque wrench tests and reviews on YouTube and was surprised to see the HF Quinn hold it's own with the bigger names. Seemed like a good value, especially with $40 off as part of their parking lot sale. Grabbed it for $139.

Did some homework on bore dials and couldn't justify the expense of the bigger names so I went with the Fowler from Amazon. From trials on the old rods and bearings, dial bores definitely take some practice, but this one seems to do just fine.

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...1&d=1660954370

Everything you have in the pic should get the job done for you. The only thing I see you might not be able to measure is the #3 housing bore and bearing clearance. Just not sure. It looks in the pic like the dial bore gauge might be a little too short to get to #3. I think you can get to 1,2 from the front and 5,4 from the rear. Possibly #3. Not a big deal either way. Enjoy your build.