I just read this post offering a nifty pocket measuring tool for identifying wheels: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=248260&highlight=business+card I like that...here's another tiny and free tool to drop into your pocket when parts hunting. Mine is for checking out cylinder bore sizes quickly and informally when hunting for used blocks at fleamarkets and junkyards. It is obviously a rough check to see if a block is workable, not any sort of precision measurement... Get some quality steel in thin strip form; old hacksaw blade, mini best, would do fine, I use the steel strip bristles that street sweeper machines leave all over the place in parking lots and gutters. These are fine springy steel that won't bend. Cut one or a set for the engine you are looking for...I usually just cut one to standard and eyeball the rest, but a full set covering likely oversizes can be made in minutes. Carefully measure off the bore of the engine, cut strip, tune length to perfection with a caliper and file. Repeat for any oversizes up to biggest acceptable size, drop results into your shirt pocket or wallet. Now, when you are looking at that 350 Chevy block, you whip out your 4" strip and hold it in very top of bore to measure the unworn area there (Bonus! Your strip of steel also handles the job of chipping away any carbon there!) and eyeball...if the 4" strip fits exactly there, block is still on its original bore. Next, move it down to slightly below top and test in several orientations, looking for slop in the high wear area. Amount of any slop can be eyeballed to guesstimate needed bore size for cleanup, or you can easily make and carry .030 and .060...if .030 has to curve to go into biggest gap area you can find, block will likely clean at .030...if gaposis is at or approaching the safe limits of that type block, you know to keep looking. Any sort of organized checking brings psychological advantage at the fleamarket, too...seller knows he needs to back away from bogus claims of perfection and start talking price. I usually sharpen a bit of the edge at one tip to make scraper use more efficient. Two conceptually related tools I often set up when looking for something specific: A piece of light gauge electrical wire or string cut to a measurement (Is that wheel 15" or 16"?), and for looking for something needing a bit of precision, a sliding pocket caliper decorated so: Paint a strip of typewriter correction fluid white across the area above the numbers of interest, mark the lines needed in black pen on the white. Now you can quickly and instantly tell if you are looking at a 3/4" or 11/16" muffler bearing, even in bad light and without your glasses. The correction fluid comes off with a quick scrape of your fingernail or squirt of carb cleaner when the caliper returns to general use.
Great info Bruce ....but how do you check the fluid level in that muffler bearing without carrying a clawtooth screwdriver? JH
If you want to fool your buddies you can boil a cloth measuring tape and it will shrink...... just think of the look on their face when they find a 350 with an inch over bore
Whew...that goes well with the racers who politely offered the tech inspectors their own bore micrometers, so the inspector wouldn't have to bother getting out his own... which, oddly, might have shown a larger bore than the one proferred by the racer.
Great post! I thought I was the only one who uses cheap go/no go gauges. On a related note, you can do the same sort of thing when setting valvespring heights, if you don't have one of the fancy specialty height mics....and inside mics/snap gauges don't easily fit...so, find your installed height on the spring sheet. Get a piece of 1/8" drill stock or rod...cut it to exact length, 1.90" or whatever. Put a single shim, generally .030, on the head; place the valve, retainer, & locks in place; pull the retainer up firmly until the valve is fully closed; & put your gauge into place. Still a space? Add shims as appropriate. Gauge is too long? Well...then you get to try +.050 locks, different retainers, or, worst case, longer valves.
Tech inspector's?? Yup....... ustta leave the wheel bearings a little loose on the back of one of the race cars we got a bit more down the straight Anyhow I'd always jack the car up fior em and swing the jack into the tire a little just to preload the bearing and avoid the lecture........ Did you get my mail?
"....but how do you check the fluid level in that muffler bearing without carrying a clawtooth screwdriver?" I normally just dip a french fry in the lubricant well; not only does it give level, if the fry tastes better than a normal drag strip french fry, the bearing isn't burned!
As IMCA Hobby Stock inspector, I made my own 23degree angle finder by cutting a radial notch in a Chevy intake valve, installing it into an unmolested head, transversing the combustion chamber I placed on edge a short length of 3/4"X3/16" flat iron intersecting the radial notch. Secure everything firmly. MIG the flat iron to the valve. So, whenever a racer puts up protest money to do a teardown of the "top-half", you're going to pull two random valves anyway for port modifications, drop your 23degree tool into an intake guide and check for the sneaky angle-mill! It will be obvious. Also, a marked off hockey stick handle with roll-cage hoop placements relative to factory windshield opening came in handy. Also carried an aluminum home-made go-no go picklefork to check roll-cage tubing diameters.
Memorize the width of your hand, thumb, little finger, widest part of your boot (shoe), narrowest part (heel), length of boot (shoe), widest span from tip of thumb to tip of pinky finger, dimensions of a credit card (including thickness) and dollar bill (a fiver in Cdn.) OR any other stuff that goes where you go every day. Bad memory? Write all this down on a small card, carry it in your wallet. Wheel bolt hole spacings - mark the 3 popular sizes along the edge of this card as well. All of this comes in handy not only at swap meets, but also when you stumble across something unexpected, y'know, out in the boonies etc.etc..
''Memorize the width of your hand, thumb, little finger, widest part of your boot (shoe), narrowest part (heel), length of boot (shoe), widest span from tip of thumb to tip of pinky finger,'' Von D, If you include the distance from your nose to the tip of your index finger you'll have the complete "British Standard" covered
...and after memorizing all that, have the fraction to decimal chart in 64th's tattooed on your arm...
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