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.
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07-20-2022, 06:31 PM
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