Hey Hambers, Long story short; I put new vortec heads on my Gen I SBC and need to find TDC. I have one of those tools (piston stop) that screws into the #1 cylinder and have used it on other motors, but with the vortec head one of the valves took a little bite out of the threads. Does anyone know a neat little trick that I can use to find TDC? Thanks early.
stick your thumb over the #1 hole and have a buddy crank it over with a wrench.when it stops pushing your thumb off the hole..its at TDC. disconnect the battery first..and take out all the spark plugs
I guess I should take the rockers off both valves and get a piece of all-thread to make deeper penetration and contact the piston.
To REALLY find TDC the piston stop is the only way to go. If you have valve inerfearance remove the push rods for #1 while doing it. Thumb over the plug hole is like horseshoes only close but no ringer !LOL
yeah ..i ment it only to get close..piston stop or dial indicator down in the hole is the only ways i know to get right on the money
On the piston stop I would guess that you could just slim the bolt a bit by grinding away the threads from the portion that will be past the actual plug hole. You MUST use some sort of stop or the equivalent of precision measurement of before and after distances down the cylinder (harder way) to get TDC. Even careful dial indicator measurement of TDC at the actual top cannot get you more than close within 2 or 3 degrees, and the very accurate stop method is easier anyhow.
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