Aha! but the deck height is easily checked if you assemble the cylinder with a half of the crankcase, then take a strip of paper put it all the way in the cylinder, hold it firmly in place and make a press inprint of the edge of the main bearing bore.
Then it is just a matter of add the distance to the center of the main bearing bore. Now you know close enough the total height from the crankshaft center to the cylinder head. Subtract half of the stroke and rod length (center to center) from the total height, and what's remaining is the distance from the piston pin center to the cylinder head..
1mm is the closest the piston should ever get to the top surface, that can be fine tuned with the thickness of the base gasket, but don't be surprised if you find that original pistons turn several millimeters under.
When I have a chance to tune that distance, I like to have the pistons turn fairly close, say max 1,5mm as with too big distance the combustion tend to be cold and uncomplete on top of the pistons and that induce a large carbon deposit buildup! A coke buildup that eventually makes the pistons hit the cylinder head...and when that happens...
It happened to me. Suddenly bangbangbangbang, of course it was in the middle of a long tunnel all hell broke out! Sounded like it all came apart and an expensive bottom end restauration was due imminently! I sent for a trailer and took the wreck home...Imagine my relief when I removed the heads and saw it was nothing else wrong than thick ugly layers of oil and soot on the pistons and cylinder heads...
If I had known better I just had to do as the instruction book says...regularly remove the heads and scrape off carbon deposits. I could have done that on the side of the road in a half an hour and been back in the wind much happier and a fair bit less poor..
I have to add, that was an old clunker with more issues than one...engines with fresh plugs, round bores and healthy piston rings runs a lot cleaner but regular maintenance does not hurt.
In the picture is me having piston ring issues in another engine...I caught it before bangbang happened again, learned at least something from earlier experience...
