Originally posted by IrradiatedKitty
Ok...I can have the head milled, no problem. But, for obvious reasons, having the block surfaced is gonna be a PITA. I have a 91 CRX with about 175,000 miles on the engine. Could I get away with just surfacing the head?
I understand that the Honda gaskets are designed to seal with up to .004" of clearance. What are the odds that I'd have that much space if I were to surface the head, but not the block?
Also, where can I get a level to check the surface of the block? And another thing, a professor at SDSU, an automotive engineering expert, says tehre's a kind of hand-held mill-file that you can drag along a block surface, and it will take down any high spots. Anyone ever heard of this? thanks 
You can check the block and head for warping several different ways. Take a truing edge (basically a straight edge, known to be straight) and place it diagonally across each. You can look for daylight, for take a dial indicator and run it down to check the degree of warpage. Surfacing just the head is fine, if its the only thing uneven. If its a problem in your block, obviously fixing it will require having it milled as well. Its not terribly expensive, except for the hassle of tearing the engine down. As for hand filing... I wouldn't recommend it.