1. Cylinder bore to piston clearance was TWICE what Diamond recommended.
2. Valve to guide clearance was .006”! (At least one of the heads was brand new out to the box)! But worst of all, they had no means of measuring the actual rod length, compression height, or deck height. So, they cut the deck .050” too far.
Result, pistons contacting the heads!
....let that be a lesson to all.
On the other side of the coin, it's possible for an aspiring gearhead to acquire a few tools and spend the time on it...verifying an awful, awful lot.
Maybe not with "super duper, world renowned famous race engine builder" type of accuracy, but certainly with enough accuracy to tell if somebody smoked his lunch that day and screwed it up.
For 1. A 5" mic (piston) and a low line import dial bore gauge (cylinder) will give you piston to wall within a few tenths or so. No, it won't give you .0001 resolution...but what it can do is tell you if you're in a safe ballpark range that makes sense. And the gauge will come in handy for checking other things out.
For 2. a 1" mic to measure valve stems and a small hole gauge for your valve guides will give you stem to guide clearance with similar resolution.
...Enough to know whether to send it back or run it.
I'm talking about maybe a 200 dollar expenditure, and a little bit of practice to do a minimal check to see if things are making sense.
It's possible to CC your own heads (or in the case of the hemi, CC your piston domes 1" down) with about $5 worth of tools. It will get you within 2cc or so and is plenty accurate for a home hot rodder. There is no reason you need lab quality/durable stuff for something you might use once every 7 years.
I feel this book is still relevant and useful:
https://www.amazon.com/Engine-Blueprinting-Rick-Voegelin/dp/0931472210
