BETTER ALUMINUM FINISH For a nice finish on aluminum, I save my chips from boring ductile sleeved blocks and add them at a 20% mix to coarse glass bead in the blaster. I find that it gives the aluminum a brighter finish that doesn’t stain as easy. It removes carbon...

CLEANING INTAKE PORTS After porting an intake manifold or a set of heads, there is going to be quite a bit of sand, aluminum, and other things in the port. It is very important that all of this debris gets cleaned out before assembling the engine. An easy and...

STAINLESS O’RING TIPS Occasionally you find yourself needing to remove stainless o-rings while servicing engine blocks or heads. Instead of trying to pick and gouge the wire out, simply strike an arc on them with your tig torch and immediately touch the tungsten to...

SADDLE PROTECTION If you are shot blasting an engine block but want to protect the crankshaft housing bore surfaces, you can install some used upper main bearing shells in place, then secure them to the block with threaded rod or machine screws with a nut up in the...

WATER PUMP VALVE STAND I use some large water pump pulleys to hold valves while glass bead cleaning them. I rest the valve on the rim of the pulley, the overspray also cleans some of the other valves at the same time. This also saves wear and tear on the floor of the...

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...