ON A MORE PERSONAL NOTE I got a hand-addressed letter in the mail this week. It’s so unusual to get mail that is hand written, that I opened it first. Inside there was a plain note card with these words scrawled in neat block letters, “Hi Steve, just a quick note to...
GET THE JOB INTO THE SHOP When I get a call for an engine rebuild, I am not immediately willing to give an exact price over the phone. I like to give a ballpark estimate and tell them that not until after we take it apart and check out the job completely, will we be...
ROLLER TIMING SET BLOCK CLEARANCE When using a Double Roller timing set on a GM 350 Vortec or a GM K block, you must check the clearance between the cam gear and the bosses around the oil galleys in the block, Some blocks may need to have some grinding done for...
CYLINDER LINER CAVITATION EROSION Cavitation erosion is often found in diesel engines on the exterior walls of wet cylinder liners. The amount of erosion and decay will vary from engine to engine and may also vary from cylinder to cylinder. Vertical strips or patches...
COMBUSTION CHAMBER MOLDS When making chamber molds for a variety of purposes, including holding up the valves on the assembly bench (As opposed to a beanbag or shop rag) common auto body filler (Bondo) works very well. It’s fast and very inexpensive. Just mix the body...
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...