Thinking Outside the Book Is your business up to date on your Yellow Pages listing? I hope not! In the good ol’ days if someone in your area needed machine work they would turn to the yellow pages. How do DIYers find your shop today? - According to Yelp, 85 percent of...
Dead Lifters and Cylinders We had an interesting issue with Cadillac Northstar heads. We did a normal blast, dye check, valve job, stem height adjustment, and surface as requested. We also did our normal vacuum test before sending the heads back. We were then...
Piston Ring Squaring Tool I made a quick and accurate piston ring aligner for checking end gaps out of a .030 over, 454 Chevy flat top piston. Just chuck the piston in a lathe and turn the ring lands down to a little under 4.000 ̋. (Mine is 3.995 ̋.) The bottom of the...
Easy Oil Pump Screen Install I just clamp the screen in my brass jaw vise and use a plastic dead-blow hammer to drive the pump onto the screen, being careful to keep them in alignment. This method started when I did not have a driver for an oddball engine. Now I do...
PLASTIC PISTON PACKER I recycle the thick plastic trays used to store and ship 1-liter soda bottles. They work really well for keeping piston and rod assemblies in order, and protected from damage as you move them about the shop. Trays are very stable when you set...
HONING-CUTTING OIL This helps save me money, time and storage space. Honing oil is not just for honing, it is a cutting fluid. I use it on taps and dies, for cutting lifter bushing and machining on my lathe. I also use it for surfacing aluminum heads on my CBN...