You can buy a premade spray booth or you can set up a makeshift paint booth using a cardboard box on its side. For extensive spraying you can cut a hole in the box and connect an exhaust fan to remove overspray. If using…
Steve Rich Sterling Bearing Inc N. Kansas City, MO
A quick and easy method to get CC volume on piston valve reliefs, valve head dishes or anything else is to fill the area with clay. Drop the clay in a buret with a measured volume of fluid and see how much the fluid level goes up. I…
Randy Torvinen Torvinen's Machine Menahga, MN
If you are using an old household oven for heating parts, you most likely have found it small for some jobs. I made a sheet metal enclosure that sits on the open oven door to expand its size. The enclosure is insulated with some sheet insulation found…
Lyle Haley The Shop Doc Andover, MN
When assembling push lock style fittings, we have found that clamping an old male fitting in the vice with the new push lock hose end tightened to it, prevents the new fitting from becoming scratched or marred. Adam Cofer Salina Engine Salina, KS April, 2020
Adam Cofer Salina Engine Salina, KS
We made our drum fans serve a dual purpose. There are no more 12-volt fans with switches and wiring for our engine test stand. Do you need to change a cam or fix a timing cover leak? Just roll the fan/radiator assembly out of the way to…
Jim Wright Motorheads Garage & Machine Shop Elyria,OH
Sometimes you may attempt to make a short tight bend in a piece of steel or copper tubing. If your tube bender will not make as tight of a radius as you might desire and know that if you try by hand it will kink, try this.…
Steve Albrecht Goderich, Machine Shop Ontario, Canada
This one is admittedly not totally engine related, but can definitely apply. Sometimes thinking outside the box and re-purposing a tool can be a great time and frustration saver. I came up with this one while doing brakes on the shop truck. After putting a steel plate and…
Jake Sampson Sampson Racing Engines Inver Grove Heights, MN
I made these lift chains for the 3 most common sizes with nuts to keep them together. I welded the T-handle to the top of the bolts to speed up installation. Because of their low cost, I have them stored where ever I might need…
Randy Torvinen Torvinen's Machine Shop Menahga, MN
Removing stubborn open dowels is easy with a spiral bolt extractor. Just give it a light tap, twist and gently pull up. The force is evenly distributed all the way around and most of the time, the dowel can be reused. Dave Matton D and D Auto…
Dave Matton D and D Auto Machine Bloomington, MN
When you need to shorten or chamfer a bolt, it can be difficult to mount it in a lathe Chuck without boogering up the threads. An easy solution to this problem is to take a nut of the same size and pitch as your bolt and make a…
Ben Hoitink BES Racing Engines Guilford, IN