When checking and correcting rod straightness, I use two bars against each other in the rod vice. Since the vice isn’t mounted to the cabinet strong enough for most correction work, this allows you to use it. I feel the two bars gives me a better feel for how much I’m...
Every once in a while, you'll have a hub that wants to stick firmly on a crankshaft grinder spindle. Instead of beating on it with a hammer, when you have precision bearings involved, we keep a piece of scrap steel with two holes that correspond with two of the holes...
This happens to be a Ford flathead V8 crankshaft that my collet puller would not budge. Sometimes, it is easy to use a punch to drive them out, but, in this case, there was not enough room to get the punch in and drive it out. I taped a dowel in front of the hole. I...
This is a way to check the corner radius on your crankshaft grinding stone for wear, while grinding and without the need to shut down the spinning wheel. Grind a notch in an ice-cream stick or popsicle stick for y'all from the north with the corner of the stone. Then,...
RELUCTOR WHEEL INSTALLATION TOOL We made our own reluctor wheel installation tool for LS engines, and it works like a charm. We used junk materials from around the shop, including an old valve stem, and have about 2 hours of labor into making it. A chunk of 1/2" plate...
NARROWING BEARINGS When I need to narrow a set of rod bearings, I have bucks that I’ve turned to the size of the crank pin. Then, I wrap a single layer of masking tape around them to protect the bearing. I hold the bearing to the spud with a couple hose clamps,...