SINGLE CYLINDER SURFACING Some single cylinders are tough to mount to a surface machine because of their irregular shapes and lack of external bolt holes. On these, I’ll tap a couple of adjacent head bolt holes and use thread inserts to hold them down from the bottom....
CAM FIT INSURANCE We often just get the job of installing cam bearings, but we’re not assembling the engine. We keep a supply of old camshafts around to use for a test fit. This is good insurance against our customer having a problem when it comes time to assemble the...
LIFTER BORE CHAMFERING TOOL I purchased a one inch Chamfering cone and welded a 6 inch extension to it. This is for chamfering the top and bottom of lifter bores in blocks. This saves time and leaves a better finish than doing them with a stone and grinder. Kevin Elam...
FORD FE OIL TUBE REPAIR After reading the article on building Ford FE engines in the May issue of Engine Builder, I was reminded of a solution I came up with to repair cracked Ford FE blocks. It was not uncommon in their hay-day to see some oil in the cooling system...
POINTS OF CONTACT I needed to mount this Desoto Hemi from a nostalgia dragster on my align bore machine. It does not line up with any mounting holes on my end plates, so I have to drill new holes. Once the block is in close position in relation to the boring bar, I...
FE FORD I.D. They all say 352 on the side of the block, but this is how to identify which FE Ford block you have. A 352, 390 or 428 is cast in the bottom of the front right side water jacket hole. It’ll take a flash light, but you’ll see it if you look in the bottom...