Engine Builder Shop Solutions: November 2010
Cleaning Up Cam Bearings After Installation Once in a while you may get an engine block that has an imperfect or misaligned cam bore. Rather than taking the time to scrape the newly installed cam bearings to fit by hand I took old cam cores and made cutter cams. Verifying the cores are straight, I
Engine Builder Shop Solutions: October 2010
GM Castech Cylinder Heads I’m sure most of you know by now about GM’s 4.8L and 5.3L Vortec Gen III and Gen IV V8 engines with Castech cylinder head castings. GM has sent a Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) for Castech specific cylinder heads that are prone to cracking. GM’s TSB #06-06-01-019B covers 4.8L and 5.3L
Engine Builder Shop Solutions: September 2010
Mounting 2.3L Ford Heads on Serdi-Style Machines Many Serdi-style seat and valve guide machines mount off of the valve cover side of the head. Some heads, such as the one on the Ford 2.3L OHC engine, do not have a valve cover rail on one of its sides. This makes it difficult to mount the
Engine Builder Shop Solutions: August 2010
Head and Block Surface Prep Most cast iron V8 heads and/or blocks usually don’t require anything more than a good cleaning. They are not as likely to warp as straight-six or aluminum heads or blocks. But it is unusual to have all the old gasket material wash away in your hot tank. Minimal surface prep
Engine Builder Shop Solutions: July 2010
Use New Head Bolts In Your Rebuilt Engines How much pressure is exerted on a head bolt? In a typical V8 engine, peak combustion pressures could be around 1,100 psi, which means each cylinder exerts about 14,000 lbs. of pressure on the cylinder head at full throttle. In fact, each head bolt may have to
Engine Builder Shop Solutions: June 2010
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
Engine Builder Shop Solutions: May 2010
Don’t Just Absorb Incidental Charges There are lots of bad habits that machine shop owners get into over the years that can suck the profit out of a job. One bad habit is quoting a job and forgetting about the extra costs that are typically absorbed. Many shops do not charge for incidental charges that
Engine Builder Shop Solutions: April 2010
Employee Education Without ASE Machinists Certifications Back in January in this column we talked about dealing with bad employees. This month I would like to express how important it is to keep yourself and your employees up to speed with our industry. Keep in mind that ASE will no longer be offering its Machinist certifications
Engine Builder Shop Solutions: March 2010
Duramax Piston Quality The GM Duramax diesel engine has been around since 2001. Many owners have logged over 400,000 miles and the engines are starting to show up at machine shops for rebuilding. They are also used quite successfully in truck pulling competition. It should be noted that the original (O.E.) pistons from 2001-2005 are
Engine Builder Shop Solutions: February 2010
Cummins 5.9L, M251 Pump Installation Tip There is the new instruction sheet for the M251 Cummins pump (Cummins 5.9L 1989-2007), M350 & M351 Cummins pumps (Cummins 5.9L 1986-1998). The pump looks simple enough to install, however, don’t be in a hurry. If the proper procedure is not followed the gears may bind causing engine damage.
Engine Builder Shop Solutions: January 2010
Dealing With Bad Employees One of the fastest ways to lose control of your business is to let a bad employee take control of your shop and ruin the overall moral. Pay attention to your people and understand that when things change in their lives it can affect the attitude they have at work. If
Engine Builder Shop Solutions: December 2009
Keeping Your Parts Washer Clean I was having difficulty keeping my parts washer clean, and the fluid/solvent was not lasting long enough. By utilizing an old oil filter housing from a 390 Ford motor, I found a way to keep the parts washer clean and increase the longevity of the washer fluid. I keep my 390
Engine Builder Shop Solutions: November 2009
Eye Teasers We all know the economy is a bit slow, but it’s how you address the situation that counts. While one shop may have so much work they can barely handle it, others have had to lay off good people because there is just not enough work to keep them busy. There is no
Engine Builder Shop Solutions: October 2009
Valve Spring Clarification There are many misconceptions on the visual inspection of valve spring free heights. There is a manufacturing tolerance on this dimension. The spring can change during the heat treat processes and squareness during the coiling process. Spring dampers can also influence the free length as they are installed before the spring is
Engine Builder Shop Solutions: September 2009
Parts Disposal I had a customer who needed a timing belt for a 3.5L Mitsubishi. He purchased a core engine to complete the build. There are a few different setups for that engine depending on the vehicle model. I did not want to order three different belts to find out which one was correct, so
Engine Builder Shop Solutions: August 2009
Gasket Surface Cleaning Caution Cleaning gasket surfaces can be a terrible thing to do! Many of today’s cylinder heads, and various parts are made of aluminum. The use of cleaning discs can damage the surface being cleaned by actually removing some of the surface being cleaned. There are also dangers of getting fibers from the
Engine Builder Shop Solutions: July 2009
The Modular Block ‘Main Event’ When performing main bearing housing bore work on an LS1, LS2, Ford 4.6L or other modular blocks the following procedures should be followed. First do all of your cap indexing, with cutting or aftermarket cap installation, then put the final torque on the mains. Next, install both cylinder heads and
Engine Builder Shop Solutions: June 2009
One More Head Gasket Tip In addition to the past two articles discussing head gasket failures, other head gasket failures can be caused by installation mistakes. Head bolts can stretch out. Many manufacturers recommend the head bolts be changed each time they are removed. Another common mistake is not cleaning the bolt and hole threads.
Engine Builder Shop Solutions: May 2009
Top 10 Machine Shop Business Tips Engine Pro recently held a series of 8 focus-group meetings in the Midwest. Each meeting consisted of 8 to 10 machine shop owners and a moderator. Three questions were asked during the meeting. “What’s working? What’s not working? What do you need most to help you ‘make it’ for
Engine Builder Shop Solutions: April 2009
Top 10 Machine Shop Business Tips Engine Pro recently held a series of 8 focus-group meetings in the Midwest. Each meeting consisted of 8 to 10 machine shop owners and a moderator. Three questions were asked during the meeting. “What’s working? What’s not working? What do you need most to help you ‘make it’ for