BLASTING OBSERVATIONS Here’s a couple of tips regarding soda blasting. Soda is very fine and it can become very cloudy and difficult to observe your work. I have drilled fresh air intake holes around the periphery of the viewing window, which helps keep the area...

CORE PLUG PULLING Some core plugs are notoriously tricky to remove. One example, that I see a lot of, is the deep plugs used in the back two positions of big block Chryslers where the cylinder wall is close to the plug hole. I simply tack weld a nut to the core plug....

SIMPLE SCRAPER I made a few of these simple scrapers to leave around the shop. They're really great for getting after rusty surfaces. An aluminum handle with used carbide tooling bolted on. They are simple to make. Repurpose your bits! Randy Torvinen Torvinen's...

MDS PLUG POPPER Some of the late model Gen 3 hemi engines have plastic plugs in place where the MDS solenoids locate in the valley. They need to come out for block cleaning. They can be stubborn or even break when trying to remove. There is a small oil port near the...

SECRET CLEANING RESERVOIR I noticed a large area underneath the turntable in my spray washer, that I put to good use. I purchased some 16 gauge perforated sheetmetal and fabricated a 10" deep removable reservoir. The solution is already spraying everywhere so now I...

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 in a drill motor...