AGGRESSIVE SOCKETS The easiest way to remove a protruding pipe plug, like rear cam galley plugs, is to use a stud remover socket of the appropriate size. These have a very aggressive, tapered left handed threaded inside that really digs into the outside of the plug...

CLEANING KEEPERS When cleaning valve train parts it is so easy to lose the tiny keepers. We always keep any extra keepers we have in case of losing one, but there’s always that one head that you don’t have extra keepers for. We purchased a very inexpensive item on...

COVER YOUR GLASS To make the glass in our glass-beading machine last longer, we cover the inside with duct tape, leaving a small open port to view the work. When this gets cloudy, we remove another small piece of the tape. Our glass lasts much longer now before it...

LAP IT UP Allen head bolts get stripped out easily. If they are showing signs of wear, before trying to remove them fill the recess with lapping compound then install the proper allen bit. This will make it a little tighter and have better grab so it doesn’t strip as...

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...