#41  
Old 01-23-2023, 05:25 PM
Dragncar Dragncar is offline
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Originally Posted by charlie66 View Post
Hey Troy did you get the prob it comes with or did you get a different one ? I see they say you can get different ones . Looks like your block is pretty thick I think you will be safe . Thanks for posting the numbers
I used the probe that came with it. I think they only offer 2 other types. One for hot metal and the other for real thin stuff. Nothing specifically for the inside of a cylinder.

  #42  
Old 01-23-2023, 05:32 PM
Dragncar Dragncar is offline
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Originally Posted by Tom Vaught View Post
I have been posting that info, for years, on the board.
Palbykin went into the 6s in 1996, over 25 years ago, with a 67 2 bolt main
(non drilled for 4 bolt mains) block. Why would I lie?

Do not think there is any "Maybe" about it. Your Block is .060 over and is still great for numbers.

Tom V.
I have been putting it out there for years too. Dan gave me the info and my family had a 66 Catalina Station Wagon with a 389 and thin bores are what killed her.

I will know a lot more when I do the whole block and diagram it all. I am pretty sure the 67 block is a good one.
I will do my std 455 block and my 71 .030 400 block also. And when I pull the heads on the .060 455 HO block I will post them up too.
Its a great tool and worth every penny of the 135$ I spent on it.
Will also come in handy when I do some Jim Hand style porting to a set of 96s for my brothers 4.25 stroke 400 block.

  #43  
Old 01-24-2023, 10:31 PM
CATBIRD CATBIRD is offline
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Am I missing something? How does the flat face of the probe accurately measure the curved surface of the cylinder wall?.....John

  #44  
Old 01-24-2023, 11:00 PM
Dragncar Dragncar is offline
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Originally Posted by CATBIRD View Post
Am I missing something? How does the flat face of the probe accurately measure the curved surface of the cylinder wall?.....John
I tested it on a 3" dia steel cylinder 1/4" thick. came up .249

Kind of hard to test it on a iron block but I am looking for a junk Pontiac block to do just that.

  #45  
Old 01-25-2023, 10:36 PM
CATBIRD CATBIRD is offline
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I still don't get it. The surface of a cylinder bore is concaved, so the flat surface of the probe will still leave a slight gap between the two surfaces. The 8mm probe is about 5/16in. What am I not understanding here......John

  #46  
Old 01-25-2023, 10:59 PM
Dragncar Dragncar is offline
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Originally Posted by CATBIRD View Post
I still don't get it. The surface of a cylinder bore is concaved, so the flat surface of the probe will still leave a slight gap between the two surfaces. The 8mm probe is about 5/16in. What am I not understanding here......John
There is a medium between the probe and the cylinder. In this case, oil. When you are moving the probe down the cylinder and the oil goes away it stops working.
It will not work on any surface without it. Flat, round, does not matter.

  #47  
Old 01-27-2023, 06:13 AM
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You can shape the probe to the cylinder wall with a piece of sand paper or figure out how much distance there is of a gape from the cylinder wall to the probe and subtract that distance from the number you're getting ..

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  #48  
Old 01-27-2023, 04:39 PM
Dragncar Dragncar is offline
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There is a problem with doing that. There is a flat calibration plate on the sonic testers. If you make your probe curved can you calibrate the instrument ?
We have a wiz kid electronics expert at work. He can fix any fixable electronics device put in front of him. Best I have ever seen in my decades of maintenance work. Home schooled, never been to a school in his life and knows more about electronics than anyone I have ever seen. One of those guys.
He is the one who first fired up both my sonic testers. Handed it to him and told him to nerd out on it which he did.
Went and got different types and shapes of metal, steel, iron, brass. Flat and round stock with calipers in hand to check accuracy.
It was accurate on everything we put it on.
Even on the machined 1/4" wall steel cylinder, 3 1/2" inside diameter it showed .249 . That is smaller than a Pontiac 4.12 bore by a long shot and it measured the steel accurately.
I have to believe it would measure iron the same. I need to test it on the kind of iron sleeve you press into a engine block, that would tell you for sure.
When I asked him about sanding it to fit the curve of the bore he was against doing that. Said, how are you going to calibrate it ?

The one I bought

https://www.ebay.com/itm/314314770567
the add says can be used on all kinds of pipeline and those are not flat. The instructions say it can be used on pressure vessels , boilers, tanks ect and those are many times round. Says nothing about only testing flat stock.


Last edited by Dragncar; 01-27-2023 at 04:44 PM.
  #49  
Old 01-27-2023, 11:19 PM
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Gary H Gary H is offline
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Originally Posted by Dragncar View Post
I just bought a sonic tester. They cost as much as getting a shop to do it for you and I do not have to load any blocks in my truck.
If I do not like it send it back to Amazon.
What brand sonic tester did you buy, and how much was it? I looked on Atech's website but didn't see one offered.

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  #50  
Old 01-28-2023, 01:17 AM
Dragncar Dragncar is offline
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Originally Posted by Gary H View Post
What brand sonic tester did you buy, and how much was it? I looked on Atech's website but didn't see one offered.
This is the one I bought from a different seller. 17$ cheaper too.
I grabbed a short piece of a old brass cylinder 2 1/2" in dia and I will see how it does on that this weekend.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/16543871685...3ABFBM1uS47L5h

  #51  
Old 01-29-2023, 09:51 PM
Dragncar Dragncar is offline
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This weekend I did some testing with my sonic tester. First I calibrated it on the 5mm steel plate that comes with it.
I then tested a brass cylinder, 130 wall 2 1/2 " inside dia. I checked thickness with a Harbor Freight digital caliper. After setting the instrument for brass I checked the thickness on the outside. It measured about .005 thicker than the caliper.
But the inside measurement was considerably higher. About .070 on the 2 1/2" circle.
I also measured a 3 1/2" inside dia steel cylinder, .210 thick after changing the setting to steel. It was like the brass test effort. A tiny bit thicker measuring on the outside but a larger number than actual thickness when testing on the inside.
I could try putting some emery cloth on the inside of a cylinder and sanding it to fit. That idea came from a comment on Amazon. The only thing you would risk is buying a new probe, seems reasonable.
Or finding out what the space is between the probe and a given dia of a circle you are trying to measure. The probe is .431 wide. Then subtract it like Charlie said and see how close it is.
Any math/geometry experts out there who know that formula ?
It would be easier than actually sticking something in there and measuring it. It would take a little doing but it could be done.
Also will try some different oils, some might be better than others. I just used some Fluid Film for this test.

  #52  
Old 01-30-2023, 12:47 AM
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If you had a fine pin gage set, you could check the gap with various pin gages using them like feeler gages. I'm not sure I would trust one of those meters unless it had a very tiny probe, or was contoured to fit......John

  #53  
Old 01-30-2023, 09:45 AM
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I don't know much about Sonic checkers but I use one regularly in the shop. I paid $1200 (many years ago) for mine and it came with one probe. I want to say each additional probe was around $200. I purchased the the unit I have after a lot of research and finding out it seems to be the most common one used by other head porters. I have four probes, two curved for testing round surfaces and two flat ones for checking flat surfaces. They probes are different for aluminum and iron. If you don't use the correct probe for the shape and material you are working on you won't get an accurate reading. That's just my experience with the unit I have. Others maybe different. I have seen several Sonic tests for Pontiac engine that have shown cylinder walls a LOT thicker than any we have ever tested.... I've often wondered if the test was performed properly and with the correct probe.

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  #54  
Old 01-31-2023, 04:12 AM
Dragncar Dragncar is offline
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I did some testing today with the last sonic tester I bought.
First I used a 4" inside dia air cylinder . The distance under the flat spot of the probe is only .007-.008. Not much.
The cylinder was .131 thick checked with calipers. Used 46 hyd oil on the probe, tested on the outside and it read .134, pretty good.
But on the inside it read .163, not so good. A difference of .029 of what it actually is.

Then I tested a plain steel pipe section, 3" inside dia, .233 thick. Checked on the outside and it came in at .232, very good.
But the inside, where it counts was also a problem. It came in at .278. A .046 difference. Big problem.

So I tried to buy just the probe so I could contour it to the inside of a Pontiac bore with emery cloth and see how that works. Probe was 80 $. But I found a different sonic checker that said it does 2 types of cast iron for the same 80 $. So I ordered it.
It will be here the 2nd and I will let you guys know how it works out.
This is the one I bought. My 3rd (sent one back)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...1AI5Y5G6&psc=1

I need a junk Pontiac block so I can cut out a chunk of a cylinder wall for testing.

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