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Square deck the block or not?

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Old Oct 31, 2009 | 10:55 PM
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Default Square deck the block or not?

I removed my motor today with a whopping 4 passes!!!!! Due to several issues. (Don't ask) I'm doing all the break down and reassembly work myself so I know exactly what has been done and if something goes wrong, it's my fault. (I'm tired of spending good money to a business that charged out the nose and end up with pure frustration due to poor workmanship and then get the run around when it comes to fixing problems, etc.

Before putting the heads back on should the block get square decked so the heads and block match up perfectly. If the block is decked then I'll have to completely remove the rotating assembly which might not be a bad, to see any potential problems.

I've seen builders surface the heads, clean up the block and reassemble them without machine the block head surface. What do you think???????????????????????????
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Old Nov 1, 2009 | 05:25 AM
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Default Square decking

I would do it + also check the alignment of the main caps by align boring.

It may take more time and a few more $ but cheap insurance to insure all is square and within tolerances.
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Old Nov 1, 2009 | 07:57 AM
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It well worth the money to have this work done, Factory work is ruff to say the least. I your going to have this done I would recommend having the cylinders lightly honed and installing new rings. Cheep insurance that far into it.
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Old Nov 1, 2009 | 09:41 AM
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Well worth it and you'll sleep better . Deck the block. I didn't deck mine and put multi layer cometic head gaskets on and I'm thinking I have a head gasket leak...not sure though.
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Old Nov 1, 2009 | 10:45 AM
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def worth the money to have the block decked-but make sure you don't take it to some hack using 1950's equipment.take it to a high end machine shop that has the lastest equipment-otherwise you could be worse off afterwards
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Old Nov 1, 2009 | 11:46 AM
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The block was fully machined, from line honed both cam and crank, balanced, fixed the crank journal, assembled as a long block...................from a sponser here on LS1tech.

The motor has maybe 2 hrs of total run time. The cylinder walls look brand new when I pulled the head. I'll get to the crank, etc this week and see what it looks like.
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Old Nov 1, 2009 | 12:43 PM
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Originally Posted by Cliff
The block was fully machined, from line honed both cam and crank, balanced, fixed the crank journal, assembled as a long block...................from a sponser here on LS1tech.

The motor has maybe 2 hrs of total run time. The cylinder walls look brand new when I pulled the head. I'll get to the crank, etc this week and see what it looks like.
If the engine was already "fully machined," then the deck should be square already, depending on how good of a job they did. If you don't trust that they did a very good job, then you could have it done for peace of mind, but it may cause you to run a thicker headgasket so that the quench distance doesn't get too tight.

If you want to check for yourself how square it really is, and how far the piston is above/below the deck, you can use a deck bridge to measure. They are not very expensive, and it's crucial information to know.

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