I'm curious as to why you need a friend to measure pistons? If you don't have micrometers look at Shars tool company, I got a set of 1-4" for an incredibly cheap price. I realize it is probably chinese, but for as much as I use them it is fine, and as far as I can tell they are dead accurate. you can spend a $1000 on a set of starret if you would rather, but if you are going to be fiddling with these engines you should have a set of precision measuring tools of some sort.
