OK. Here we have the "results" of the cap wear test. Seems to me the Plastigauge did not take a good hard squeeze up at the chain guard cap. That is the one that will almost go on without requiring much pressure to push down the lifters at all. Like we were just discussing, the left is where the lobes end up lifting the Cshaft out of the head the most....and that is where the plastigauge was compressed the most as a result. To really do this test and press the Plasti properly, the shaft should lay more or less flat across what ever lobes are poking down.
There probably is an engine position that would make this happen but I am not going to try to figure it out now. The test was okay. I can look at the clues and make a good estimate as to how much cap wear has happened. Looks very minimal. All the journals on the Inlet Cshaft are pretty close to showing a .025 mm clearance, the far right is showing .050 mm clearance. I am pretty sure that is because that far right does almost no pressdown work on the lifters during the install. SO the far right is prolly most accurately showing the clearance. We will go with an inbetween guesstimate. .025 ~ .050 ----call it .038mm. That is right on the tightest spec for brand new. Maybe I am being a little optimistic judging this to be aprox .038mm across the board but at this early stage, no reason to be too suspiscious. I treally doubt if any of the caps are out of Standard spec.
I applied grease to the journals as directed by the Plastigauge instructions. Used Silicone spray (maybe a bit too heavy) on inside of the caps. The directions suggested the use of a silicone mold release agent. I think all the oily wet stuff might have melted the Plastigauge a little bit. All it is a thin rod of wax. Next time I use it, I will just press it against the journals without any grease. It will stick on its own, I'm pretty sure. Also, the silcone could have been nothing more than a quick misting over the caps. There is always next time.
The Exhaust Camshaft seemed to press out the Plastigauge more uniformly for some reason. The Exhaust Cshaft looks fine for cap wear too.
far right showing unpressed Plastigauge at oil channel 
oil hole blocked by Plastigauge
measuring indicated clearance
fresh Plastigauge
* Last updated by: Rook on 10/20/2011 @ 12:16 AM *
