Where to start

1930 said

Yes I have these things but I have been told that these are not the most reliable cause of deflection on the tool as the piston is pushing against it. Evidently there is some sort of strap that bolts across the cylinder bore and a sort of stop is screwed into the middle of it and this stop is adjustable. I was told to go on Summit site to get a better idea of what the tool looks like.

I was told the tool was easy to make.

Click to expand...

What you are referring to is the dead stop method for finding TDC.

This way you put a stop in the cylinder (they make a tool for the spark plug hole for this also). Then you install a degree wheel and pointer and rotate the engine until it stops. Record the reading, then reverse the crank direction and turn it untill it stops. Then record the reading.

Then split the two readings to get TDC.

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The other way to find TDC is:

Install the dial indicator on the block and make sure that it is parallel to the cylinder bore. Turn the engine over and watch the dial indicator to see where it stops and then reverses direction. Keep spinning the crank in the SAME direction and watch it come up on the next stroke. Stop turning the crank when the dial indicator reaches the peak position before reversing. You may need to turn the engine over a few times to get it exactly, just keep turning in the same direction.