by Donnie Hurt | Feb 20, 2025 | GASKETS & SEALING
This is so simple, but effective. It’s very easy to end up wasting a large portion of a caulking gun tube or even a small tube of gasket maker by losing the cap. I use electrical wire nuts as caps. They come in a variety of sizes, and they screw on very securely. Tom...
by Donnie Hurt | Feb 20, 2025 | LUBRICATION & COOLING
This tip may be helpful for the DIY guy at home to easily remove the plastic barbell plug from an LS engine. Unscrew the oil galley plug at the driver’s rear of engine block. Insert a 90-degree pick tool inside the oil passage and pry rearward on the backside of the...
by Donnie Hurt | Feb 1, 2025 | BLOCK WORK, UNCATEGORIZED
On blocks and heads that have “suspect areas”, I have a “quick check” before I commit to bolting on the pressure test plates. I simply use my blow gun with a brake line attached, and blow air behind the questionable area, with some soap or bubble spray on the face...
by Donnie Hurt | Feb 1, 2025 | CYLINDER HEADS
I had some FE heads with some pretty decent burrs on the valve tips. Instead of slowly turning the valves by hand to file the burrs off, I grabbed an old valve lapping stick and chucked it up in the drill to spin the valves. It went really quickly, and I was able to...
by Donnie Hurt | Feb 1, 2025 | DISASSEMBLY & CLEANING
My small ultrasonic parts cleaner heating element burned out. Rather than scrapping it, I just dropped an electric charcoal lighter in the solution. It heats up faster than before but, there’s no thermostat, so keep an eye on it. Scott Ouellette Powerplay Engine and...
