To improve the appearance when balancing connecting rods or other metal objects adding a “soft spot” to one end of your belt sander can help. Machining the end of the platen down about 1/8” will give you a “soft spot”. Finish sanding the part in the…
Lyle Haley The Shop Doc Andover, MN
After being disappointed with a cap splitter, I found the best way to remove tight caps. Clamp the cap in a rod vise and put a rubber coated hammer handle inside rod. Put pressure on the rod by prying against the vise. Then smack the rod…
Scott Ouellette Powerplay Machine Wilmington, MA
We do a lot of crankshaft snout rebuilding. To make the process easier we keep some homespun mandrels that screw into the snout of the crankshaft so it is held secure for welding and machining. Also, by using a copper washer between the mandrel and snout keeps…
Adney Brown Performance Crankshaft Inc Ferndale MI
I balance several engines a week. While correctly loading a bob-weight is very important to the end result, spinning down multiple wing nuts is simply routine and time consuming. I made this notched tool from aluminum tube in two sizes. You can also knurl the OD for easy…
RC Whitcomb Northend Auto Parts Yuma, AZ
The new Gen 5 GM direct injected V-8's only come with a half thrust bearing in the main bearing set. The GM coated bearings are a very nice bearing if a Bi-Metal Aluminum bearing is ok for the application. So far on the…
Jake Sampson Sampson Race Engines Inver Grove Heights, MN
This tip is for the shops that need to cut a second keyway on crankshafts. This tool was made from an old harmonic balancer that I cut the center out of. I cut a second keyway at 180 degrees opposite of the original. Now this allows me…
John Chavis Jr. The Power House Rockingham, NC
When adding heavy metal to a crank while balancing, the correct placement can be determined by adding the effective gain of your tungsten slug by moving this adjustable device to the approximate location on the counterweight and dialing in the exact position to drill. By fine tuning the…
Randy Quam Competition Engines Eagan, MN
I like to check rod alignment before I install the pistons. I had SB and BB Chev piston pins centerless ground .0025” under some years ago. Since then I have chucked other sizes short and ground them in the crank grinder slightly under size. I believe it…
Randy Torvinen Torvinen's Machine Menahga MN
I have a quick and easy way to check or measure the stroke of a crankshaft. I put the crank on some V-blocks on the vertical mill table. I chuck up a BB Chev fuel pump pushrod or any similar round stock in a drill chuck. Position…
Nick Jones Automotive Machine Fraser MI
When cutting the parting faces on rods and caps for resizing, make sure the bearing locating tang is facing the same way for both on the cap grinder. This way, if the parting surface is not perfectly 90° from the side, cutting the cap…
Ron Flood Cedar Machine North Branch, MN