Reminds me of some of the contractors I've worked for. Never have time to do it right,but plenty of time to do it twice. Your channel rules. Work ethic and integrity. Always taking time to do it right a d explain how to do it right.
I have a mill, lathe, turret lathe, surface grinder, and some other old machines I got from my friend when he bought new equipment. They are old and he made scrap metal with them. He needs more precision than me. I'm just a hack. I have done some single cylinders for my friends and myself. I love your videos. It takes me way longer to set up and sometimes I have to buy tooling that costs more than sending it out. I try to learn and sometimes I throw parts away. Keep up the work. I learn from you.
Yup,if I could get a truck and do a 500mi one way trip to Akron ohio ,a buddy has a couple of milling machines and lathes and some other equipment he pushed back in the corner of his shop since he's doing a lot of CNC production now. He's still got a few machines set up,but it's more for himself. All they're worth to him at the moment is scrap value.
@@MrTheHillfolk I'm an hour from Akron. My friend just started under cdl hauling. He had a 9k lb mill on last week. Let me know if you need them moved.
I remember way back in the day we knurled used pistons to tighten them up in the bore when we did a ring, bearing, and valve job. Sioux valve grinder that was originally dry with a coffee can full of oil hung above it to drip while I ground. Black and decker vibrocentric seat grinder, I must be old lol
Been assembling engines for over 50 years, thought the grey sludge was a normal part of break in. I think it’s time for the local machine shop to get up to speed. Once again, thanks for the information
Thanks Again Daniel. and yes we requested to have over sized pistons to next available size and the response was “there isn’t any, only std bore” Love the videos and quality you pour into the machine work.
Love the way you explained the need to check tolerance of any work on clearances no mater who does your machine work. You sound like my grand father and father who had a black Smith and small machine shop just out side of your town of iva until early 60s thanks for all the great work you do and keeping the trade correct ❤
Thank god for an honest man. I do this type of thing every day and that's exactly how things are. I bore for .003-.004 short of size. .0025 will work but safer to leave a margin or error. Well done.
Where i work the service truck i drive i had to remove the cylinder heads due to them being cracked and leaking coolant into the engine oil as well as burning it. This engine was replaced 4 years previous to my employment and when i removed the cylinder heads Stevie wonder got ahold of the ball hone and honed it. No cross-hatch, just stayed in one spot. And this engine was built by a very well known engine rebuilder / used engine dealer by the name of Dahmer powertrain here in kansas city. So i removed the engine and had it bored and honed correctly by a reputable well known machine shop. It pays to do good work. My company will never do business with Dahmer Powertrain again. By the way it was a 6.6 Duramax. Great channel. Keep up the good work. Quality work is hard to find these days.
Super interesting. I didn’t know the Toyota V6 could be rebuilt. I thought once they were done, they were done. I have a 2GR-FE and hope to get a gazillion miles out of it.
This always goes back to. It’s never the machinist fault when you don’t have the tools to check the work you paid for who really pays the engine shop always blames the builder every machine shop I have been to is way behind months and when you get something it’s usually junk nowadays glad someone actually cares about it being done right.
When I was running the shop we measured everything before it went to the machine shop and measured everything we got back. Then we assembled the engine. I was never a fan of having the machine shop assemble engines because it was too easy for somebody who wanted to cut corners to hide that in the assembled engine. I never had a bad machining job with the "regular" shop I used but I did run into problems when we couldn't get the job done by the regular shop due to scheduling problems. If you NEED to know the actual size of things I've found the mid priced Chinese tools will get the job done. When I was teaching we had students using that stuff all day and it was definitely close enough ( 5-6 tenths ) to my Starett & Mitutoyo ( made years ago) tools.
As always, a great video for learning new stuff. I watch several RU-vid machine shops and I like seeing the different machines that do the same jobs and how they have changed over the years.
I don't doubt it a bit. Back in the 80's I bought a rusted El Camino from a guy with a fresh 350 and I could see the Engine Rebuilders tag right on the front of the block.They were a volume shop located in Little Rock. Pulled the motor for a swap and thought I'd just freshen it up and there it was, bored .030 with 4 cylinders still sporting shadows in the middle plus a 307 crankshaft.
Thinking about air cooled aircraft engine cylinders. We have taper at the top with the intention that it will expand to the correct size when it hits operational temps of about 400ºF. The taper can be as low as 0.002 inches or as much as 0.008 inches! The level of precision in modern Automotive engines is, by comparison, epic good.
I absolutely love your approach to this subject! I can learn more by listening to you talk about it that I ever could reading it. Can ya'll build a motor for my ZL1?
@@powellmachineinc3179 very cool... I'm having trouble deciding what to build. I'm at 623 HP to the rear wheels (2013) on stock short block and heads running E60. I want to go to 7.0L will that be ok?
Another great video! As I watch your videos, I think.....why don't these shops watch your channel to learn the right way to do things? I have learned more from you in the past year about engines and machining , than I have in 20 years of reading and watching others. I wish I lived close by so I could work for you for free just to learn. Thanks!
Pure Gearhead Gold (PGG). You've completely changed the way I'll "shadetree" a motor in the future. The check is in the mail my firend. p.s. A clean shop is a canvas for a happy life. Clearly you must be very happy Thanks so much.
I’m a motorcycle mechanic and recondioners who couldn’t get their heads around tight tolerance have been one of my biggest issues over the years . Current guy is good , I just tell him “ no more than 1 thou - if the piston just falls through the bore under its own weight then it’s loose enough . Did have to take one back that needed a little “ push “ , but in all honesty. If that was my engine , I would have assembled it like that and run it in a bit longer . 30 years ago I didn’t matter what you asked for - they always came back 2 1/2 - 3 thou , basically 3/4 worn out . .
After watching so many of these Machine shop videos I have noticed a trend of really poor machine shop work coming to all these different shops. I know they are out there but I cant believe there are THAT many shops that are turning out work this bad and still able to stay in business. What I'm hoping is "I got it back from another shop and it was like this" is just code for "I watched sloppy mechanics and tried to dingle ball it myself, But I f'ed it away and now I don't want to admit it".
this sounds just like my recent 4 cyl build. i asked the machine shop to just touch the cyls with a hone so i had a nice surface to break in my rings. engine ran great before refresh. i saw shadows on the thrust side and trusted their measurements of the bores as it showed to be in spec for std size pistons. i have skirt slap until the engine is warm :(
@@powellmachineinc3179 considering its just a noise im not very motivated to take it all apart again. i purchased the parts to do it if the chance arrises, then comes the task of finding a good machinist.
Glad to see the keyboard experts are still contributing. Low gear for honing? You haven't ever done this before. The only motors you have done were junk. You don't know how to read any micrometer. Your measuring standards are not accurate. What else might they say. All I can say is that you need to have thick skin to put something up on RU-vid. Yours is a lot thicker than mine. I would challenge anyone who sits behind the pseudonym to say their comments face to face and show me that do actually know what they are talking about. Also the many race winning engines they have built. That's why I have no intention of ever putting anything on RU-vid. You do good work Daniel, Aleesha and Andrew. Keep it up. Have learnt heaps. Retired mechanic/manual machinist in lathes and milling machines in Land Down Under.
It blows my mind the crap some shops think pass as acceptable work! Good thing this block ended up at your shop, because it gets done right and the owner will have a good motor.
The block I'm working with now, a 351W roller block, had all cylinders well within spec although a good honing would have brought those measurements to the spec limit except for one issue - all the cylinders had a .001 to .0015 'dip' on the exhaust side within about 1/2" from the top that put the cylinders out of spec. Odd, I thought. Going in for .020 overs.
I 100% agree with you on measuring tools all around. Maybe I’m just old school or an ass,but how in the hell can someone put out that kind of work and rest well. They have to know that the recipient of the work is going to know who did it. Some characters must just not give 2 damns about their work quality or their character. Nah,it’s about them making a quick buck for nothing and shipping it. Excellent job and fantastic work from the Powell family for making it right for those needing a trustworthy Master of his trade. I wish there were more of us.
I haven't bothered to check with the newer engines like the LS, but the old 350 Chev engines, the clearance was in the bores at standard. If you order a new set of standard pistons, well they have say 0.003" clearance built in. Now you have 0.004 or 0.005 piston to wall clearance. The only place for standard size pistons is a brand new block or one that has been sleeved back to standard.
Stone length should be 1/2 cylinder length. You can shorten the stones as needed. Honing slower always works better than faster. You should have been in low gear to finish. Good job just handy hints from a brother at the same level. Operating old machines into the future and still winning.
I have argued for years that you dont thneed expensive mics and dial bore gauge. I have Chinese measuring tools that are supposed to be made to ISO 9001 standards that i bought from Jegs ,years ago. I agree with you that it's a reference number. I work on snowmobile and motorcycle motors .
Failing to check ring end gap after a rebore is a mistake that only has to happen once to a person to make you a believer! The excessive blowby that resulted from the parts store supplying standard rings to an oversize cylinder required complete removal and disassembly of a newly rebuilt engine to install the correct size piston rings! Check and recheck while its apart, mistakes happen! Been there!
I noticed that there were 3 round fingers that protrude horizontally from the boring head. What are you moving or turning to make these 3 shafts come out of the boring head to center the boring bar in the cylinder? BTW, thanks for the comments about piston/cylinder clearances with standard pistons in a used "UP" non-standard block! I have a 2002 5.3 Silverado LS engine that has piston noise for about 3 minutes total running time at each start up! Doesn't take any oil, but the noise is noticeable only on cold start-ups! Thanks again so much for your videos! Very helpful in many aspects of engine building!
I know there are 4.070 ls3 pistons available for guys that just need to clean up. 0.005 lets you clean the holes up. I wonder if a shop actually did this, this doesnt look like something i would do with a drill and a glaze breaker.
i'll tell ya Daniel ...4 a blind guy....ol Ray...keeps him self busy...!.."ray charles hone job"...!..lmao ...thanks 4 the practical & correct content...!
I have 0-4" Chinese mikes from the 1980s. They are as precise as the Mitutoyos, Starretts, and Browne & Sharps I also use. I also have a Chinese dial bore gauge set from the same era. They're as good as any I've used. I've seen some real crap tools from China, too.
Good stuff. Lot of bad technique out there. I preach this same message of mic piston, transfer to bore gauge, and use the bore gauge in the cylinder. Constantly.
You were saying that 0.005" clearance is too much for a cast piston even when it's warmed up, do you have any experience building demolition derby engines and what clearances they use to keep from stalling when overheated? Thanks
@@powellmachineinc3179 I 100% agree, I was just curious if you had built/machined any for derby. I've run derby over the years and always looking for helping tips and tricks
I was always told that aluminum blocks needed to be machined using torque plates to keep the cylinders from going out of round. However, the people making these statements were not machinists. I was wondering what your opinion is on this.
🔔😎🇺🇲Informative IS entertaining !!!! YeeeeHaaaaaw!! 25 yrs ago at the race shop I did all the block work except line hone. I set it all up and the boss did that. 🙄
Have you run into one of the Toyota 2zz engines with the ceramic bore? I wonder if those show much for taper or out of round over time. You can't bore or hone them.
Just the idea of jumping between metric to imperial specs give me pain...lol On the old motors u probably can get away with semi rebuild (Build simpler and not high HP)Also maintenance was easy and affordable....oill is at cheap preventative med But when technology moved to high HP U better rebuild it right the 1st time
i was an engine builder for 35 years.. more so than any other mechanism, including the human body, requires more attention paid to the details than any other.
When your turning metal, for example, brake rotors. When you make deep cuts 5 thou+, is it better to slow rotation or increase rotation speed, We had on A/C motors and they never overheated @ 5 thou, since they bought new machines with brushless DC motors, I find it overheating often. I Need to cut deep for efficiency. Any tips?
Does your boring machine reference off the deck? And if so, are there ever surprises that lack of bore squareness to the deck means it doesn't clean up as expected to the pistons you already bought?
