Dennis, This is my opinion only... Get your cam lift as you planned. It will give you a rough idea of the general "size" of the camshaft. If you have a degree wheel, you can check the duration. Rotate up to .050" lift, re-zero degree wheel, then rotate around to .050" lift again and read the wheel. Then do a compression test. Probably more important for your peace of mind just to know that all cylinders are within 10% or so. The cold cranking pressure will indicate approximate compression, depending on what you learn about the camshaft... cams with alot of duration bleed off cylinder pressure. If you know what heads you have you'll have a rough idea of the chamber volume, if they haven't been milled or ground on. You can fish around through a spark plug hole to get an idea if your pistons are flat-tops, domed, or dished. I borrowed a bore scope from work years ago that actually let you look inside the hole and see what there was to see... know anybody you can borrow one from? Again, this will just get you a rough idea. If the pan is off, you can see if there are any markings on the pistons that might help ID them. Fact is, you really won't know without pulling a head and checking. You can cc the chambers, then measure how far down in the hole the pistons are at TDC... those pieces of information along with the gasket thickness will allow you to calculate the compression pretty close, as long as you have flat-top pistons. Dished or domed pistons will require a little more work. This will get you in the ballpark. How accurately you need to measure is proportional to your need to know. IMHO you should have hard seats if you plan to put ALOT of miles on your car. I'm thinking like 50,000-ish. If the heads have hard seats now, you're all set. If they don't run 'em until they need seats and do it then. We rolled over 100,000K at the Woodward Dream Cruise last week on the '64 Fury. Still runs like a swiss watch. In fact, we've put 5000 miles on it since we picked it up in June. I figure drive it and enjoy it and worry about the valve seats when I have a problem. My $.02 SC -----Original Message----- From: Dennis C. [mailto:dennis.2914@xxxxxxxxx] Sent: Saturday, August 22, 2009 12:35 AM To: 1962to1965mopars@xxxxxxxxxx Subject: Engine Inspection Questions I need to know more about the engine I have in my 63 SF. How much can I learn about the engine without total taking it apart? I'm going to try to measure current cam lift using a dial indicator, If I am correct if I measure on the lifter I well need to multiply by 1.5 to get the actual lift. Is there any way to get an estimate of compression ratio without removing a head? Is there anything else I should look for? I don't know if it has hardened valve seats, I've read that is not necessary and others say it is a must. If I pull a head I'll have it checked. Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks Dennis 1996 Dodge Ram 3500 Van Conversion 1964 Plymouth Belvedere 318 Auto 1963 Plymouth Sport Fury 383 4-speed 1949 Dodge Pickup 289/C4 soon to be changed 1998 Honda Valkyrie Standard ---- Please address private mail -- mail of interest to only one person -- directly to that person. I.e., send parts/car transactions and negotiations as well as other personal messages only to the intended recipient, not to the Clubhouse public address. This practice will protect your privacy, reduce the total volume of mail and fine tune the content signal to Mopar topic. Thanks! '62 to '65 Mopar Clubhouse Discussion Guidelines: http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.org/mletiq.html. ---- Please address private mail -- mail of interest to only one person -- directly to that person. I.e., send parts/car transactions and negotiations as well as other personal messages only to the intended recipient, not to the Clubhouse public address. This practice will protect your privacy, reduce the total volume of mail and fine tune the content signal to Mopar topic. Thanks! '62 to '65 Mopar Clubhouse Discussion Guidelines: http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.org/mletiq.html.