WINDAGE TRAY WINDOWS Many OE and even some aftermarket windage trays do not do a good job of draining the oil in the tray back to the sump of the pan fast enough. The two worst that come to my mind are BB Chrysler and FE Ford. The oil really pools up on this style and...
EASY CAM CHANGE I had need to change out the cam in a new build 351W. I used sixteen 1/2” longer 5/16” rocker arm bolts and left the lifters and pushrods in place. I rolled the engine upside down and turned the cam around once. I pulled the cam out with the engine...
PLASTIC PRESSURE TEST PLATES I started making custom pressure testing plates out of 1” thick HDPE high density polyethylene (same material as kitchen cutting board). This stuff is cheap, machines like butter and can be worked like wood. I cut it with a table saw and...
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...
SLING YOUR SHAFT I have muscled crankshafts into place and used various methods of “slinging” them. I found this sling to be simple and easy. I built the hooks out of 1/2” steel rod and slid some heater hose over them to protect the crank's bearing surfaces. I found...
CHEAP AND EASY RING SQUARING TOOLS I made many different size tools for quick and easy piston ring squaring when end gapping. I used scraps from leftover cylinder sleeves and turned them to size on my lathe. They don't take up much space for storage even with more...