> I went to a VW shop in Santa Cruz (across from Volks Cafe, can't
> remember the name - anyone know about them?) yesterday to talk about
> checking the internals of my 1700cc pancake. My initial thoughts are
> to get a dial indicator set and check the many tolerances myself. The
> guy at the shop says to bring it to their place and they will do all
> the testing for free as long as I buy parts from them, and his theory
> is that the dial indicator set is too expensive for a weekend
> mechanic.

You can buy a dial indicator for $30. It won't be a Starret, probably
will be a Chinese import, but you don't need anything more than this.
You'll also need to buy a magnetic mount, another $30.

For anyone who does any kind of measuring of runout, you are crazy not
to have a dial indicator set.

You should alos consider a vernier caliper with dial indicator. Again
this will set you back another $30.

I find these two measuring tools to be invaluable not only for working
on cars, but also in my woodworking shop.

Drew Jenkins  86 Synchro
drew@sunrise.com