Born in the mid 90s, so not old enough to have done shop class hands on, but not so young as to not have the urge to learn how to do this myself. Videos like this are the substitute for me, and I appreciate them greatly, even years after they were posted. Thanks!
Some schools still have mechanic shop / automotive classes. I took it a few years back. Wonderful experience. We were like a family in that class. All of us gearheads that loved cars
My shop teacher was a vietnam vet that survived 3 tours and came back only to be paralyzed in a car wreck. He taught from a wheelchair. Despite his shitty situation he taught us a lot of backyard techniques like this that have served me well over the past 40 years.
Survived 3 tours and came back to be spit on and called a baby killer and then paralyzed in a car wreck. If I could shake his hand I'd truly honored. Your very lucky to have been a student of his. These veterans are the reason we have schools with shop classes etc. Thanks for sharing his knowledge and wisdom with those of us who never had such an opportunity. Not gonna find this stuff in a textbook.
Not ‘backyard techniques’ really. It’s from when there were mechanics who could actually fix and do stuff not technicians who need a part number to wipe a dipstick with a rag.
Happy to report that the school I teach at has dual enrollment for welding classes where the kids test to get certified at the end of the year, and our auto-mech and small engines courses are pretty strong. Even started autobody class this year.
We had woodshop in the early 2000s. It’s not school that teaches us. It’s our fathers who should be passing off this type of information. I’m a repair technician for some of the most complex CNC machines on earth. School doesn’t teach this stuff, hard work and good fathers do
That’s the difference between a teacher that’s passionate about educating and ones that hate their “job”. I was fortunate to have a few passionate ones as well. Great tip 👌🏻
When you think all the guys with the hand skills are gone you see a gem like this. Respect to you Sir. I served an engineering apprenticeship and was taught to hand scrape as the foundation stone of workshop and hand skills. Patience and repetition. I never had a bearing or shaft as rough as that one! The genius is the even pressure all round the journal, oh and the skill of the man doing the work.
I did this on a locked up Honda engine with the crank still in the car. rolled the bearings out with a cut nail and used an old copper penny in pliers to remove the melted in bearing material started with 400 and went to 1200. The mic said it was perfect and so did the plasti-guage. Did the rod journals while I was at it, replaced all the bearings and she is still going great after many, many miles. People say Im full of #$%@ when I tell them how I did it, but I learned the technique from my grandfather who rebuilt nuclear steam turbines and hydro-electric generators for over 40 years.
Nope, he isn't. I've saved many a crank that has ran a rod or main bearing doing this. I've even kept at them until they were a couple of thou undersized then manually surface ground the rod cap for a bit more crush. None of the cranks I saved did anything but run for years and years.
I've done that more than once. My personal success rate was about 80/85% of the time I restored crankshafts for sbc motors. It all depends on the damage. That said, it works as good as any crank polishing setup. It's is hard on the arms though. Great Video. Thanks for posting, it brought back memories from 40 years ago.
I have used a similar method like this for cleaning scored journals. The difference was I used on oil soaked leather strap. In fact, I used to keep my "Polishing Kit" with the strap and fresh sandpaper strips of varying grits in a glass jar. I have done a lot of work on Toyotas and found a semi-secret about their crank bearings. Toyota offers and often uses (from the factory) 0.0005" to 0.0015" undersize bearings. So you can measure the journal and match the undersize. I have often saved cash and time by fixing a rod journal without taking the engine out. I once did a test rebuild on a Toyota Paseo with a #3 spun bearing. I bought the car with the engine in a box in the hatch. The only issue was the #3 rod journal meet the out of round spec. So as a test I literally (please don't cringe too much when you hear this...lol) used a hand file and a micrometer, and carefully massaged the high spots to within spec of the low spots then used dry emery cloth to blend. Then used the polishing technique to complete the job. I then selected the appropriate undersize bearing from Toyota. It worked well the engine ran great for 3 years and then I gave the car to a friend and he drove it for another year until it got smashed. He said the engine was still running great, and he was hard on his vehicles. Keep in mind I only did this to see if doing hand machining could/would be successful and durable not to be too cheap (well maybe a little bit cheap). I had a close relationship with an automotive machinist and ...lol...he said he didn't want to know what I did to fix it. But I watched him shake his head when I pulled up to his shop in the car every month or so to pick up other work he did for me...lol. BTW - the machine shop would hav charged me (my discounted price) about about $140.00 to machine the crank plus about the same for a full set of bearings (total $280.00). ...the cost of the two bearing shells from Toyota about $30.00
Mark Burns I've done similar but bearing was welded to crank, it broke trying to remove it, I chiseled it off, ground it back with an angle grinder to about 5% left then finished with a file and emery in the car. 20,000km later was sold still running fine. JDM motors are very forgiving compared to older engines.
Loved it! I was born in '55 and shop started in 7th grade and went thru 12th. Today they teach crap subjects like "philosophical ideologues of America hating Eastern European People". Its no wonder why Im the only guy in my neighborhood that cuts his own grass, fixes his own appliances, works on his own cars and on and on, cause they never had shop. Barring all that great tip and you can use that same procedure with a stick to start a fire, where you could melt your own metal and make your own crankshaft...thats how the Flintstones did it.
this was a incredible video. Thank you so much for keeping the knowledge alive. Its stuff like this that isn't being passed on to the kids. My daughter is 4 now but when she is old enough she is going to build her first car with me from the ground up. My daughter will never rely on someone else to fix her car unless its her choice to do so, not because she cant fix it herself.
had a diesel mech. instructor show me this 44 yrs. ago . started out with 400, worked my way to crocus cloth, with a file! had to be sure to keep the file rotating on the circumfrence of the journel. thanks for showing this!
The 4 years of machine shop I took in high school were completely instrumental in my life. Its the only reason I am now a well paid cnc machinist working full time in america. I am extremely proud to be keeping american manufacturing alive. And to think I almost diddn't take that class... Who knows where id be right now... Completely changed my life and my entire way of thinking.
@@groutaone I did the exact same thing, but will the engine last ? I’ve done a couple of pulls and it hasn’t blown up thank God but do u guys think it’ll last ?
You are very lucky! They removed all those curriculums from our local schools due to lack of interest. Now, we have a society of people that can't screw in a lightbulb!
I'll have to disagree with u. Kids in our area all in to imports turbos drifting to diesel powered 4x4 trucks. These kids are amazing with computers and use that (skill/trade) to figure out there problems or tuning these cars when they do motor swaps etc. yes there are plenty of punk kids but there not ALL bad. I would even bet some of these kids know more about newer technology then u do.
As soon as you said "a black shoe lace like you would put on a pair of skates," I had to hit like. These bush style repairs are life savers when you are flat broke, or in my case, when I was teaching at a small school in the Caroline Islands where we didn't have budgets for sending things out to a machine shop, or off Island te get repaired.
I also learned this trick from my grandfather, a lifelong machinist. Saved many crankshafts , in/out of the car. I usually used different grit of emery cloth. Just ignore the ones whom don't believe it.
This help me to save money for a new crank for my car. Iv been rebuilding that engine for 3 weeks i havent had much time because of work but now it runs it has new bearings same crank and i drive it back and forth to work now
So nice to hear other people took shop class. Learned from the class using one's own hands too. I remember this old trick tough to me by Mr. Byrd. Keep on a polishing too.
Very awesome idea glad I found your video thought I might have been in the situation but I'm going to give your technique a shot I think it might just give this Car a life for a while appreciate the video you're awesome
make sure you use a micrometer to measure out of round on rod journals egg out often. Also radius oil holes remove sharp edges. If pitted from rust forget using it. Plasitgauge clearances for proper clearances when installed. I did this alot long ago. Nice video Thanks for helping others.
I've always used emery cloth strips. But I like your shoe lace technique much better. 360 degrees all at once. Yes, much more effective technique. Great post thank you. I liked & subbed.
Had a lot of shop classes but I never learned that. Could have used that on an Rm400 crank I just installed with a large ridge where the seal had worn it. Ended up pushing the new seal in just a bit further which I wasn't really happy with. Great tip.
that polishing trick does work , ive been doing the same thing at my shop with shoe laces and valve grind compound,just make sure you clean it really good when your done,including the journal holes,good luck
nic Tech tip for valve grinding compound you reminded me of. Dab some on the end of a Phillips screwdriver for pesky partially damaged Phillips heads. It grabs awesome, I’ve snapped tips off screwdrivers where I’ve slipped previously on the same fastener . Works on some other screw heads too, use your imagination 😬
Great video I have done that on a few lawnmower & gokart engines When I was a kid my I watched my Dad do this on a 6 cyl. With the block still in the truck
What a cool thing to share with us man! I am really a fan of wet/dry paper and have polished metals and wood. I polish jewelry down to 12,000 grit. But your trick with the shoe lace is priceless. Well taught and well demonstrated. I took auto shop but I had already become a pretty good mechanic and figured I would study woodworking instead. Like the other comments, Shop classes were the best. I took electronics too.
Thanks for this, can't believe I didn't think of it myself. I have a nice used crankshaft I'm rebuilding a engine with and wanted to do something like this to clean up the journals. For mine, I'll be looking for 800 or 1000 grit because it's in great condition.
3/4 inch wide strip of emery cloth, about 18 inches long, with a gorilla tape backing. Tape ends together with the abrasive side to the inside. Lay crankshaft in a homemade crank cradle, use a drill to spin the emery cloth around the journal while turning the crank by hand. I have done this a lot to polish out sbc cranks that most people would have trashed. If they don't have real damage, this works great.
Great job! If you know how to mic, and have skills, people can do a lot of things like this themselves. One thing I woulda done different is, every time you give it a look, rotate the crank shaft so pressure sanding is spread in more areas from the shoelace. Keep up the great videos!
A couple of tips. Move your pull direction around the journal so you don't have more material removed from one area due to pull pressure. Even wrapped around the journal, you are putting more pressure on the side receiving the pull. Also, move side to side as you spin so you aren't polishing the centre more than the sides. The centre still gets more than the sides, but shouldn't be too bad with 400.
I graduated highschool not that long ago, 2018. Autoshop or as we called it AutoTech, was honestly the one and only reason I came to school everyday. I was lucky enough to have the class for 3 years even better year 2 and 3 were block schedule so it was 2 class periods. man, I was ready to drop out after my highschool heartbreak then dealing with her being the TA in my autotech periods, then my two best buds eventually dropped out senior year leaving me a lone wolf. man I loved autotech it gave me something to enjoy going to school for. taught myself how to weld senior year, i was the teachers go to guy for jobs nobody would do or do properly aha. just those 3 years taught me everything i needed to go and learn my vehicles inside and out. funny how my trucks look beaten tatterd and decrepit but day in and day out have never left me stranded and continue to run strong as my neighbors seem to always have their newer low milage vehicles always breaking down on them while my 236k mile 5.9 dodge ram 1500 gets the shit beat outta her with my lead foot yet never has a problem. some of my neighbors in my apartment complex are starting to notice im not just another oblivous 20 year old kid after seeing how i diagnose and fix or temp fix their issue. old timers seem to have forgotten about tappin starters with a hammer when they stick lol god i miss autotech and the competitions we went to. even learned how to do ac work with just a set of gauges, kitchen scale and few cans of the good stuff aha
almost spit my drink out when I saw the crank. so rusty. you did an amazing job cleaning it up. I still wouldn't use it, but it made a great example for your video. thumbs up
qman61698 use it for a doorstop. Seriously. I just cleaned up and painted a junk Briggs crank and bolted a weedwacker flywheel to it and voila, gearhead doorstop.
I have spent the last two days under my 69 chevy van with a 350 to prevent having to take out the motor. The motor almost seized. I turned it off quick and saved it. To save time I start with 220 and take out all the imperfections. Then I go to 350, then 500, then 1,000, then 2,000, and finally 5,000. The difference is amazing. It shines almost like a mirror. This was caused by the bad cams and lifters out there. Always use Diamond Like Coated (DLC) lifters to stop this insanity. I have taken out so much metal from the pan. The bearings also look like crap. When you do this your crank loses size so if you put back in stock bearings to the crank grind it will be loose. To really know what undersize bearings you need you first need a stock set and plastigage. Tomorrow I install the new bearings and plastigage the rods and mains. Then if I still have some trouble with too large of clearances I will know what undersize bearings to order. Watch Steve Morris. He runs up to .007 in race engines. He uses 70 wt. oil. I like to use 20-50. It is not a race motor but a strong, about 375-400 HP motor. I have a lot of trick parts in it. When you do this you trade time under the car for taking out the motor. In my van the motor has to come out from under the van with the heads off. It is a lot of work. I am super pleased with the results. I learned this on You Tube and watch all the real pros to learn. It has saved me a lot of headaches. I am 76 and have worked on cars, boats, motorcycles, and airplanes for 60 years. You never stop learning. That is why to watch Steve Morris and others. There is nothing like experience. Politicians should learn this lesson only they are only interested in POWER. I know. 50 years in civil rights, legislation, and fraudbusting gives me the experience and knowledge of how the system works and does not work. Cars and motors are much easier than politics.
That technique works fine. I have even used just plain emory paper and spun it around with my hand. Score marks are not a problem as long as they are not real deep. Nics that stick up can be a problem.
great vid sir i learned this in my auto class at the tech college i went to works great if you really want to shine it good use a thin piece of cardboard and a little buffing compound
Been a mechanic or over 50 years and it's fun to watch someone using the old school stuff I was taught. I realize you're just using this crank to demo the technique, but looking at the close up shot at 3:25 I can tell you this crank needs turned without even using a set of mics. Notice the center is polished, but not the outside edges? The journal is "barreled", in other words, it's worn in the shape of a whiskey barrel. If you plasigauged this journal when you're done polishing, the string would probably be shaped like a football at the low end torque spec. This rod end would have a lot of lateral thrust and you would probably see a significant oil pressure drop as the engine warmed up. You might even notice the thrust machining on the rod caps are really shining if you examined the piston that came out of this cylinder
I need to do this with one of my journals on my Honda crank so I can use it again, looks so simple, almost like I can do it with the crank still in the block..
Ive done this on many engine builds absolutely nothing wrong with it, the only time you wanna spend the money to machine a crank is when you spun a bearing and it ate the journal otherwise if its just a rebuild with a tired high mileage engine totally fine. Ive even cleaned up cam journals like this too.
you should give your hs some recognition that was way better that my school from the 60s or either of my oldest sons school from the 80s or my youngest sons school from the 90s. at least they had at home schooling on mechanics from me.
backyard machining is fun when its all assembled and it runs and propels a vehicle and a lot of people forget some people do this for fun (while learning)
My old shop teacher in 2012/2013 showed me this and with crocus cloth,I like it better because it's a little more heavy duty with that cloth backing, trick works a treat. Measure everything out and order the right bearings and good to go, plastigauge to double check oil clearance, "if you know the rules, you can break them"
My shop class was pretty dismal compared to what it sounds like you had. All we had was a piece of crap Kia that just got rolled out of the shop each class, and we got to work on all the rich kid's vehicles... Not much more than oil and brake changes, I guess they figured we'd just end up working at Jiffy Lube or something. I've learned more in the past year on RU-vid than I ever did in school... So I am very grateful you shared, thank you!
This is an oldie but a goodie, used this about 1973. If you soak the rest of the crank in DRX or use electrolysis, you will end up using that crank again
30yrs ago a friend spun a rod bearing on his 1942 chevy 1ton[military ]truck on a road trip. Pulled the oil pan, laying on his back, spent a week sanding/polishing the crank in a Denny's parking lot. He still has the truck. 1942 Chevy Truck Runs Again Part 2
That sounds like something I would do in a parking lot on the go lol. But I just spun a bearing in my civic this inspires me to rebuild my engine I put them together but never did bottom end bearings.
when i was in the navy back in th 60's i had a 46 fprd with a olds engine in it and i was driving it back and forth frpm maryland tp new york state on my off weekends , any way on leave for 20 days i was racing my 46 and spun a rod bearing , pulled the pan and the crank was toast , but i had to get back to the base in a couple days and thought i was screwed . my grandfather told me to get a leather belt and cut a piece and wrap it around the crank and put the rod back on, after i soaked it in oil i did and i drove it all the way back to the base , taking it easy and not flooring it . and i drove it for a week like that until i got a heavy foot and spit rhe rod out. fastray
+Bohappenstance Click Theres a guy on youtube that builds internal engine parts out of JB weld on Briggs engines, but you cant build a rod, they break.
I literally just did this.. I'm kinda very broke. but had good new 1000 grit wetordry... and finished with 2,500.. looks new and hopefully I can get my 4x4 back on the road.
The important part is the journal not be out of round. It will run ok with a couple of nicks and slight scoring. When removing pistons may people nick the journal with the rod bolt. Put 3/8's fuel line over the bolt when slidding out the pistons. I bought a 2 to 3 inch micrometer to check out of round and size. You still have to know size of crank to order the right size bearing unless you have an old bearing shell to get the number off of it.
My old Saab had an oil leak so bad that it caused low oil pressure and spun the bearings. I fixed the oil leak and did this. 35k miles later she is still rocking solid.
