by Andy Stacy | Jul 15, 2026 | ASSEMBLY
If you’ve ever had to make a locating dowel pin, plug, or any misc. part from round stock, you know how frustrating it is if you don’t have the right size material on hand. Instead of grabbing a bolt or an old valve stem, I keep a couple of inexpensive...
by Andy Stacy | Jul 8, 2026 | BLOCK WORK
For anyone running an old boring stand like ours where the bar sits directly on the deck I’ve found that dry Teflon lube is really helpful. It makes it much easier to slide the bar around and keeps it from scratching the surface. Any wet lubricants would hold...
by Andy Stacy | Jul 1, 2026 | TOOLING
My lathe does have a 4-jaw chuck, but this small one is quicker and easier for small jobs that need to be precise. I machined up a spud for the small chuck, and I just chuck it in the lathe’s 3-jaw. It saves a lot of time. Randy Torvinen Torvinen Machine...
by Andy Stacy | Jun 24, 2026 | CYLINDER HEADS
I needed a spring seat cutter pilot that wouldn’t hurt the guides on a special set of heads. I tried 3 different pilots that came with the cutters I have and couldn’t get better than .005 runout. I used a Chevy oil pump shaft as that’s excellent...
by Andy Stacy | Jun 17, 2026 | CAMSHAFTS & VALVE TRAIN
We all know the challenges of flat tappet cams these days, with what seems to be regular failures. When I break them in, I like to preheat the oil some to get better flow right off the start. Also, adding an extra quart of oil perpetuates extra “splash lube” as well....
