Cover the Deck
When honing cylinders in an engine block use duct tape to cover the deck. Then take a sharp razor knife and carefully trim out the cylinder bores. Doing this as a pre-honing procedure helps keep honing oil out of the coolant passages and thread holes, which reduces loss of honing oil, and also keeps contaminants out of the oil.
Kevin Elam
Kevin’s Machine Shop
Liberty, MO
Custom Engine Common Sense
This might seem obvious, but how many of you have rebuilt an engine for a custom vehicle or show car only to find out a few years later that something happened to the low or zero mileage engine?
It’s simple: If your customer is rebuilding an engine for a custom vehicle and/or show car, recommend that the engine is the last thing on the list. With the car being ready to drive at that point, there is less chance that something might happen to the engine such as flat camshafts, condensation in the engine oil or wiped bearings, just to name a few.
Protect your customer and yourself.
Bill Crum
Engine Pro Tech. Committee
Dowel Pin Removal Tool
Have you ever installed a solid dowel pin in an engine block slightly cocked or pressed in too deep? I found a way to make a tool that puts them in perfectly every time.
It’s easy, just take a long head bolt from a Ford 351W engine to make a 5/16? dowel tool and use a Chevrolet 350 head bolt to make a 1/4? dowel tool.
1) Chuck the head bolt in a lathe (head side out).
2) Machine the top of the head bolt flat.
3) While still in the lathe drill the center to about .004? bigger than the dowel size and the desired depth. For the 350 Chevrolet head bolt dowel tool, I drill them to about .275?-.290? deep.
4) Take the tool out of the lathe, get a hammer and install your dowel (you can guess what side of the tool to hit).
5) Brag to all your friends about your cool new tool.
Jeff “Beezer” Beseth
Beezer Built Inc.
Newtown Square, PA
Shop Supply Fees
Many of our customers complain that they can’t afford to charge a particular customer for a special reamer or some other tool they needed for a particular job. The costs of grinding stones, oils, cutters and other consumable tools should be passed on in the job costs. An easy fix for this problem is to do what everyone else in the industry seems to be doing.
Charge a fee for shop and EPA charges. Average your monthly shop supply costs and divide them by the number of jobs you do per month. Some, if not all of these costs should be added to each invoice as a shop supply fee. This will help cover your costs of the supplies and tools you need to keep your tool supply current.
Ray Goebel
Engine Rebuilders Warehouse
Dania Beach, FL
Carbon Insert Preparation
When installing new carbon (indexable) inserts into a boring or milling cutter always dress the cutting edge with a carborundum stone. A few swipes along the cutting edge and around the radius is all it takes. This slight “dulling” of the edge will smooth the resulting surface finish. This also enables you to hold a tolerance easier and prevent vibrations that can lead to chatter.
Jim Kovach
Kovach & Assoc. Performance Engine Rebuilding
Parma, OH
Removing Excess Gasket Material
I have an easy way of removing leftover gasket material from cylinder heads. Spraying the surface with brake parts cleaner will help soften the material and make it easier to remove. Then use a new razor blade and carefully scrape off the leftover gasket material. Hold the scraper as flat as possible to avoid cutting the cylinder head surface.
Mark Adams
Carquest of Howell
Howell, MI
Clean Your Head Thoroughly!
A problem that can cause catastrophic damage is the blast material used to clean cylinder heads during rebuilding or machining (i.e., glass bead shot) that can get trapped in the water jackets. Even after vigorous cleaning and air blowing, the small particles can drop into the cylinder areas during assembly.
To prevent these particles from doing this we fill all water openings with a thick foam shaving cream. This prevents the particles from escaping the water jackets during assembly. When the engine is fired up and the water circulates the shaving cream dissolves.
Charles DeFrancisco
Motor Motor Sports
Leicester, NC
Hold it Tight
I have found it difficult holding a one- piece rear seal housing while cleaning the gasket surface. A good solution is to clamp the housing in a connecting rod vise. It makes it easy to clean off the old gasket material and holds it in place while tapping out the old seal.
Brad Stephens
Seagrove Engine
Seagrove, NC
Engine Builder Shop Solutions is sponsored by Engine Pro,
a consortium of 14 engine parts specialist WDs operating 33 branch
locations serving engine builders/rebuilders across the U.S. Shop
Solutions published in each issue of Engine Builder Magazine are
awarded a $100 Visa Gift Card. Winners will be chosen by
the staff of Engine Builder Magazine and the Engine Pro Technical
Committee.
To submit a Shop Solution simply mail your entry
to Engine Builder Magazine, Shop Solutions, 3550 Embassy Parkway,
Akron, OH 44333; or email to Shop [email protected]. Shop
Solutions may also be emailed to [email protected].You must include
your name, shop name, shop address and shop telephone number. Submitted
Shop Solutions not published will be kept on file and reevaluated for
publication with each month’s new entries. If you include your email
address you will be emailed notification of publication if your Shop
Solution is chosen.
