in this post you state you had the head machined? this being a rather general term, could you be more specific? if the head was machined to straighten, or 'flycut', that could be a problem.StevenPH wrote:I had my head machined and rebuilt at the same time, but don't remember if he replaced the followers. I know he replaced the guides and valves.
you do state surface thickness is at spec, so hopefully that is that.
hopefully the seats are ok, and valves are sealing properly, sounds so,,
eyeballing piston height isn't telling you much, perhaps a dial gauge, sit edge of dial gauge on piston in a 'flat' part and get a reading. this method is fairly rudimentary, but you can get a fairly good idea of your measurements. you could also take something like a basic t-square, and use the measuring part as kind of a flat edge, run over a consistant part of piston and if you have something to measure with you can get a general idea. (if you have a fine tape measure and convert to mm).
the only thing I can think of as far as a variance of piston height would possibly be wrist pin/pin lock. (or possibly bad small-end bushing).
oh yea; I do hope with the valves, you have new springs and stuff.