by Donnie Hurt | Sep 1, 2019 | PISTONS & RINGS
RING INSTALL PLATFORM When I opened my shop, I used to struggle with holding pistons between my knees while installing rings. One day I noticed that on the common shop cart, most piston and rod assemblies would fit perfectly between the handle and the cart. It holds...
by Donnie Hurt | Sep 1, 2019 | CRANKSHAFTS & CONNECTING RODS
BALANCING ACT When adding heavy metal to a crank while balancing, the correct placement can be determined by adding the effective gain of your tungsten slug by moving this adjustable device to the approximate location on the counterweight and dialing in the exact...
by Donnie Hurt | Sep 1, 2019 | LUBRICATION & COOLING
WINDAGE TRAY WINDOWS Many OE and even some aftermarket windage trays do not do a good job of draining the oil in the tray back to the sump of the pan fast enough. The two worst that come to my mind are BB Chrysler and FE Ford. The oil really pools up on this style and...
by Donnie Hurt | Aug 1, 2019 | DISASSEMBLY & CLEANING
CHASING DOWN NEW THREADS If you don’t have a thread chaser for the right bolt hole size, it’s pretty easy to make one. You can modify a bolt of the correct size and thread pitch. Cut the head off & cut a groove in the threads, length wise. Now put it...
by Donnie Hurt | Aug 1, 2019 | CYLINDER HEADS
PLASTIC PRESSURE TEST PLATES I started making custom pressure testing plates out of 1” thick HDPE high density polyethylene (same material as kitchen cutting board). This stuff is cheap, machines like butter and can be worked like wood. I cut it with a table saw and...
