deck height/ piston cylinder too low
 

I'm rebuilding a 79 SC 3.o and just did the hollow core solder measurement on cyl 1 & 4 as described by Wayne Dempsey in his rebuild book. I'm not crushing the 3mm solder at all. The pistons are about 65% domed. I set the solder parrallel to the centerline of the wrist pins. One piece of solder on the dome and one on the flat under the spark plug hole. Very thin copper cylinder base gaskets (I didn't measure but they came with an EBS rebuild kit and look just like the old ones). The Dempsey book calls out 1.25-1.50 mm. I'm at least twice that. Any ideas.
Thanks

What is your cylinder height? What pistons, and compression height? What other work have you done to the engine?

You must measure the base gaskets with a micrometer, eyeballing them won't work.

You are measuring cylinder head clearance, not deck height. Set your deck height to 1-1.5mm and as long as you have at least 1mm cylinder head clearance you are fine. Measure the deck height by using a depth guage on the edge of the piston and measureing to the top of the cylinder.

-Andy

Follow this instruction........
 

This how you check the deck height, pure and simple.

Tony