checking bearing clearance

what tool can i use to check bearing clearance, i was using plastigauge but i did a search and says it is not very accurate.will the didgital micrometer work or should i buy some other tool.

If done correctly, Plastiguage will be within .0005" of actual running clearance.
A dial bore guage with a micrometer is the most accurate method.

thanks randy.i am sure.0005 will be close enough for my engine.what is the correct way of doing it, i have been told to only use a very short chunk, but it seems to go oval on me, maybe too short,using a pice about 5/16 or so long

Use a long enough piece to go completely across the face of the crank journal on the mains and long enough to go across half the rod journal; (the width of one rod)..

ok,thanks randy.will start to do that later today.25-30 th on the rods and 30-35 on the mains is what i read in my search.using either 0-40 mobil or 5-50 synthetic.thanks,kyle.

In my oppinion, That's a lot of clearance for THAT oil.

ohh,i thought that would be pretty good,what oil would i have to run for these clearances?
i will see what my clearances are actually before i decide on oil, will post them when i get them hopefully later tonite or tommorrow, they sent main bearings for a 400 sbc by accident.had to go pick the right bearings up this afternoon.

I was at the machine shop yesterday where my new A460 block is. We were checking the main bores to get the right bearing clearance. we took a Micrometer and mic'd the crank journals,then calibrated the dial bore gauge to the mic. The only bearings I had to check with were a set of Clevite 1X. The #1 journal measured .003 but the rest measured .004. So we did some switching around with the bearings and found that the one set that measured low on #1 were off by .001. So guy's don't take for granted that if one journal is good that the rest will be also. I will be shooting for .003 on the mains ,so I will going w/a standard and not the 1X.

so i plastigauaged everything to the best of my amateur eye and everything was between 20 and 30 thousandths. there wasnt even enough difference to be noticable between the old bearings and the new ones. but the old bearings were scuffed up pretty good.i was using a standard napa oil filter and running in all types of mud, maybe i should be running a higher quality filter. a bit of sludge in the oil pan,maybe some dirt. the pcv valve fell out once. but i change the oil regularly.the crank looked pretty good.but will probably have to be turned again next time.hopefully it stays together.first time putting new bearings in an engine myself.dont have a whole lot invested in this engine so i thought it would be a good one to do myself.cam shaft and a set of hyper pistons.only about 1500$ invested.enough but as everyone knows, definately not alot.thanks for the help guys.kyle

so what grade oil should i run in this with the clearances where they are??it is my understanding that 0-40 is as thick at operating temperature as 15-40. just thinner when it is cold. also the same with 5-50 and 20-50. thanks.kyle