Cylinder De-glazing Tool

It is always a good idea to measure everything u can while its apart, when u don’t have a history with the bike. Its not a big deal to weigh the pistons, but if u have a scale it doesn’t hurt. i had a buzz in a motor once and it turned out to be a heavy piston. New pistons are usually within 2 grams of each other. One of mine was out by 8.
If u put 1 piston in(using your old base and head gasket) u can place a piece of plastercene on top of the pistons edges, above each pin boss. Then torque the head .Now bring the piston up and past TDC. This will squish the putty. then u can take the putty out and measure the thickness. or u can use 2 pieces of solder through the spark plug hole.
Or u can do it mathematically. remove base gasket, install 1 piston ,add barrels. bolt down all 4 corner studs using a home made sleeve over each stud. now bring piston to TDC and measure how fare the piston is down in the hole at the edge with a dial indicator. with this # u can ad the gasket thickness to find your total piston to head clearance.
You don’t have to worry about this stuff if u know the motor is stock and the cyl has not been milled .
Measure the thickness of the old base and head gasket. this will tell u if they were stock thickness..018" base and .043" head gasket. this should be the compressed thickness.

well now i get it..some...i like the homemade sleeve spacres and bolt down method...also am pretty sure i saved the gasketts...am i correct that i'm checking to see that the pistons tops measured at the wrist pins is gonna be below the cylinders edge? by how much...i am gonna re-read my rebuild chapter with your tips in mind and see if i can wrap my head around it more a little better before asking more silly questions....thanks mark1122