PLUG EXTRACTION 101 Many Toyotas and Hondas have spark plug tubes on their cylinder heads. When these heads get over heated, it can melt the spark plug boot in the tube. Some of these tubes do not come off. There is a way to get the boot out quickly and easily. With...

Exploding Piston Trick One of the more distasteful disassembly jobs in our shop involves hypereutectic pistons. It seems that no matter what fixtures we use we still end up with the occasional piston “explosion.” I believe we have come up with a few workable solutions...

Hollow Dowel Removal Tips To keep hollow dowels from collapsing, insert a short bolt or stud, either an American or a metric, before clamping the pullers collet on to it, or just use a pipe wrench or locking pliers to twist it loose. We sometimes just thread the...

BALL PLUGS Ball plugs that can’t be accessed and knocked out are difficult to remove. I use my Heli- arc welder and heat the ball until it is red hot. Then I weld a filler rod to it. When cool, it is usually loose and can be pulled out. If the ball is staked in,...

SPARK PLUG TUBE-ECTOMY When removing spark plug tubes from heads like the Chrysler Magnum’s, it is important to not damage the tube if you want to reuse them and have a secure fit. These heads have usually been in service for a while and will have a rusty bond to the...

METAL CHIPS IN THE MEDIA To save money on media blasting, I use the metal chips generated from my boring bar and brake lathe as a blasting media. I installed a reducer in the feed line to generate the correct amount of air speed, then use the chips instead of glass...