Hey Adam, you posted that video of your work. Many people would not have posted given there was a problem. That speaks volumes for you big chap as an honest, sincere person with high values. Please don't beat yourself up, your online posts (some may consider good, bad or mediocre) are a source of education and inspiration to us out here in RU-vid land. Please keep sharing your knowledge and experience, it is very much appreciated by most folks here. Many thanks for sharing all your work Adam, sincerely Joe.
Glad you got the Franklin book... he's a local treasure of ours. Look for his episodes on YT... he has one where he makes one of his barbecue pits.... the episode starts with him pulling an old 500gal propane tank out of a ditch... he takes you through cleaning the tank, cutting it, welding on the hinges, etc... barbecue metal work dream! Everyone here will love it.
Fill the water jacket with tight packed sand up to the area you want to be shaped. Then using a spoon cut the sand back a bit and then fill the area with J-B Weld. Then just machine the J-B to the shape you want. After the J-B sets after a day or three just remove the sand. We have used J-B Weld to repair blocks and manifolds many times. Great stuff, sticks to anything, can be machined or shaped with a grinder.
My dad always told us kids that the only people that are not making mistakes are the people that aren't doing anything, that's how we learn, keep up the good work.
If you have pride in your work it's really frustrating to realize that what you put time into is going to be useless. Doesn't really matter if you did everything right or not.
It wasn't your fault with the intake manifold - the customer wanted it done, right? I have even more respect for you now, as there seem to be far too few people these days admitting to not knowing everything, and then showing humility once they've learned the lesson. Thanks for being an honest, regular guy with an awesome channel, and no BS.
Thanks Ant! I have nothing to hide here, just a regular guy and I make mistakes myself. Maybe we can all learn from them and what not to do in the future.
Excellent video as usual, definitely appreciate the way that a shop teacher took the time to package those cutters. Reminds me of a couple great instructors I had.
I've got a free standing 1HP belt grinder/sander with 2" x 60" belts. I built it myself. It is the most used tool in my shop. From just deburring, parts sanding to hardcore grinding, it is my go to machine. It was a simple build with common metal flat stock and thick walled square tubing. I even designed my own automatic belt tension system so that the belts can be changed without tools in mere seconds. It makes it quick and easy for stepping up in grits. Oh yeah, it will scare the poop out of you when the belt snaps. 😬
+Abom79 I would love to see you build one. With your talent and machinery, it would be great to see your design. Keep doing what you are doing. I have learned so much from you. We are forever grateful.
With the intake manifold, I would have liked to seen stainless steel keylocking thread inserts for the bracket mounts where there was the hollow spaces, with a little bit of loctite for insurance. It would have been a nice touch considering the automotive application and the softer base metals. Also you could have sleaved the new four barrel design where you milled into those cavities. Not saying that would be the correct thing to do, but probably would be better then leaving them open. I not sure of the specs but reducing or increasing either space for vacuum or intake channels could drastically affect performance. But if I was the customer I probably would have asked for the inserts and sleeves in this manifold re-design
Especially intrigued with your broken cast iron repair. Its uncommon to find someone that can do that with a high degree of competence. In depth metallurgical knowledge is a must. A future video maybe? Cheers.
yes I would have loved to get that on video. Every time I do a cast iron job I get many comments on "why not use tig" Seems like in this day many people coming up in the trades arent aware or know how to properly burn an electrode, and how good it works.
Buffing wheels on the bench grinder are great, they don't do well with large burrs but for small sharp burrs they are much faster in my opinion than a belt sander. At work I would hit the large burs on the belt and then finish it on the buffer.
Adam great sns. On the manifold yes your learned what to look out for next time. They located everything though on this job, and you were doing what they asked. I think they did not really think it through to start. I like the new bench grinder, the scotchbrite deburring wheels are really handy. The first real air compressor my Dad bought was from Montgomery Wards and was an as-is special which we fixed up and got working. Keep going with the BBQ it looks like you really enjoy it.
Thanks for the excellent videos. You not only set a great example as a machinist, but as an awesome individual, as well. Modesty, humility, integrity, etc. Great content from a great guy. Cheers. :)
MANIFOLDS FROM SCRATCH! ARE THE BEST FLOW PRODUCING MANIFOLDS! You'll need 1/4 plate for the valley 1/2 for the (cut out) gaskets to heads, and some good rectangle extrusion for the ports! And now the trick is to cut them like blocks of wood, every piece is different. Bolt 1/2 to heads on block! Cut fit weld!
I'm really enjoying these Saturday Night Special episodes Adam. You cover all the bases including my passion of BBQ. Aaron Franklin is a BBQ genius! I watch his videos, and I think that you have of his needs to be added to my recipe book collection! Brother you put a lot of work into your videos, and I for one truly appreciate it!
Rus, thanks for stopping by and leaving some great comments! SNS is full of surprises, but I always try and have some type of metal work in there, as well as anything else that don't quite fit in work videos. It's been a mixed format since day one. Aaron is amazing and I love seeing his videos. I like his BBQ style. You also make some great videos and very pro quality, as well as awesome recipes! Hope you continue to enjoy the channel. 👍🏻
the smartest thing a coworker ever said to me when I was learning how two weld all those years ago he said no one was born knowing every thing you just keep trying
the intake project is just that the customer wanted it done and you stopped an asked an made sure what they wanted. No worries. you did what they wanted an if they didn't know what they wanted that's on them. I enjoy you videos an learn something everytime. Thanks for sharing. I need you email so I can send you some pictures of the charcoal baskets for your smoker.
Nice work Adam. If you don't have the expertise of auto components, don't get down on yourself. The engine builder should have known that. Your work was exacting. I 'ported' a motorcycle head myself years ago as an ignorant kid. Cost me a replacement head & I learned valuable lesson. Man, that double sided trunnion cylinder is jewelry. And that chicken barbeque.... going out to fire up the grill !!
Those angle cutters are a thing of beauty! Sorry if I jinxed ya on the intake when you told me about the job. It is common in race manifolds to do away with the coolant in the manifold as hot air hurts power, those coolant passages are to keep the fuel from condensing in cold weather. I doubt you all have carb icing problems in Fla like we do here. Some JB weld and block off gaskets and he should have a runner, no doubt not the best but for a lot of older v-8 4bbl manifolds aren't available. My old polysphere 318 you couldn't get one until just recently unless you were willing to pay more than the motor was worth for an OEM one.
+bcbloc02 Hey Brian, me and Alex go to Moultrie Ga swap met and finding Mopar parts is like tying to find a needle in a bundle of hey. Alex hates buying new intakes because when you compare the cost to s Chevy, it's out of site. But we love our Dodges! He's working on a single cab Dakota with s 318 and factory 5 speed now, and I'm sure it'll have a nice built 360 soon. 😎
Abom79 Build a 340 it will eat a 360's lunch! The 318 is probably the toughest V8 ever made I know of at least a half dozen in town with over 300,000mi. I know of 0 350 Chevys or 351 Fords with those kind of miles on original engines and parts. If you all ever need any 360 parts I have that junk one out of my crew cab that I will never do anything with.
Good episode, the fit and finish of the hydraulic cylinder looks great, it would be a shame to paint it! I love the picture at the end of you, your dad and grandpa. Yes, take care of yourself, I used to be in great shape, did everything myself, nothing to hard for me of too big to move, now I deal with a list of medical issues daily and some might have been avoided. Be well.
Being human is to make mistakes, being intellectual is to embrace your mistakes and not only learn from them, but to use them as a teaching tool for others. The most important thing is never make the same mistake twice and if possible see to it that no one else has to make it.
Intake manifold may be a loss, but how you set the manifold up, got er aligned, showing how you indicated to align and square the manifold bores was great! So it wasn't a waste of time for viewers. How you got it parallel by eyesight, I swear, you have horseshoe luck lying around everywhere. If only picking lottery tickets were the same odds. :) You should see how some guys custom built "plate" tunnel ram intake manifolds and weld them up. It's crazy what some guys are capable of. And then they have to machine them. It's all good to see.
Adam, I think you did a fine job on the intake... I agree though that is was a bad plan initially, but honestly I appreciate that you show the miscalculations too because the are a lot of things to be learned by screwing up new things. Surgeon Generals warns that polishers/buffers are addictive... If I had one of those in my shop there would be a lot of silly shiny stuff. Thanks Sam
hey adam dont beat yourself up over that intake manifold. i have been foolin with hot rods for over 50 yrs and have lost count of the aw shits. thats what hot rodding is all about. if anyone should have known.its the guy that that gave you the job. it was a learning experience pure and simple.for all of us. there will be more, so dont shy away from off the wall jobs they can be fun.
You would think the fellows who brought the manifold to you would have known better than to try that. Well what the customer wants should be what the customer gets. I have been thinking on a scotchbrite wheel myself. Keep on keeping on.
Dude. One of my best buddies is Ben Franklin. Arron's dad. As you see in his book, Aaron got his start from Ben. Aaron just had a custom smoker built for Ben so Ben gave me his smoker. The smell of it is one that you can just sit on the porch by the pit and enjoy even without a fire going in it. I was going to ask Ben for another copy of the book to send you but I see that you have it. I don't think you can order any of his sauces online. I'll have to see if I can get you a bottle of it. he makes a Cappuccino BBQ sauce that he accidentally came up with. it's so good I'll just go to the fridge and get a swig every now and then.
To bad the manifold didn't work out. But it sounds like the customer understands the risk they were taking. Thanks for showing the machining even though the end result was not what you wanted... Another example of how you and the rest of the YT machinists community are honest with both the hits and misses. Yea for smoked chicken!
I'd have to say that manifold is, to put it bluntly, fucked....I can understand your frustration, but that's what the customer asked for. You're not to be blamed for it's demise. Excellent job on the welding repair! Fantastic fab job! Thanks for the video Adam.
Great show Adam! Dudes who own the manifold should have known that would happen & now have what they deserve, a big fishing sinker! Man your cooking is on point! I am also from Palmerston North, New Zealand! Small world eh?
Another great SNS, as usual. Looks like someone got some new shades for their house. Glad to see you still have the powered hacksaw. How about covering it again in a video? You've only covered it once. Thanks!!
Adam, Just a word to say that after a few years of listening to Rucker & Fenner promote your channel, I've recently subscribed and have completely signed on with you! I've also been binge watching all weekend. I will be in Navarre this winter sometime and I would really like to drop by and say hello. You seem like a real sweetheart of a guy and when I see the photo of you, your Dad and your grandad at the end of each video, I know that you are a man of honor and family. I hope you say that I'm welcome and I look forward to it! Keep up the good work and thanks for the time you take to make these videos. Maybe Santa will be sending you that 100K subscriber plaque from YT for Christmas. Good Luck!! Regards, Rich
Rich, glad to have you around. Keith and Keith are both great guys and can call them my friends. We all love to help each other out and mention there channels when we can. We're all here for the same thing. Let me know when your planning on being here on your vacation and we'll set up a day for you to stop by. Adam
First let me say enjoy watching the videos and that ram housing" I assume that is what the blue thing was you made new one of," very nice clean work. How many hours go into something like that on average? The other thing is it is 420 in the morning here in Texas watching you smoke meat and it has made me so hungry it is not funny. Made me think of going out today and getting a couple chicken and smoking them up for dinner. thanks again for the videos and glad you taught us" all does not go as planned with some things like the manifold," but you live and learn and one of us viewers may not make the same mistake now that we know what is going on with the project you just did. Have good one and keep them coming!!
Even from where I'm sitting, I can see one of those intake ports is going to be outside the casting surface. The port I'm looking at is the 4th one you've bored. This isn't going to work if you cut through the casting and expose the intake runner to the outside air. Cutting into the water passage is not your biggest problem. If you cut into the vacuum / water passage, you can always install a sleeve. Make it a press fit, and seal it with Bondo. Am I correct in assuming this is going on a small block chev ? If so, use a different manifold. You can buy, off the shelf, a 2 or 4 barrel manifold. This looks like a manifold for a TBI system. I'd go with a different manifold. One that can be modified.
That looks like a 4.3 V6 manifold that they were trying to convert from TBI to 4 bbl....but hadn't though it through very well. Can't say as I blame them for trying as 4.3 carburetted manifolds probably going to be very pricey, and you don't know until you try sometimes. But have to agree....from the start this one looked pretty shaky but it's NOTHING compared to some of the 'backyard engineering' we have seen running around here.
Adam, not your fault about the manifold. But, you are right, it's probably not worth doing automotive stuff unless you have a clear understanding of what you're getting into, and have the tooling for it. Sometimes saying no is the best decision. No harm done though. Chalk it up to learning, and move on.
There is a program called iTools. This program is made to share files between PC and iPhone or iPad. And an app called Documents, helps to organize files on iPhone and IPad.
I just had to replace my gas grill recently, and from the looks of it I got the same one you have. mine is a model 1624 and doesn't have the front mounted table though. That looks like it would be real handy to have, so it looks like i got a project coming up soon. (GRIN) Now I need to basically relearn how to cook on a grill again. charcoal is a much different animal to cook with.
have to agree on wasting shop time on the intake, cut that thing up for nothing,gotta pick up the BBQ book though,that's a great find,awesome video as always
If you could ever get a taste of his BBQ you would cry its so good. Actually, since he has opened his doors, he hasn't sold out. He actually sells out before he opens his doors, especially on Saturday. He opens at 11 am an if your not inline by 8 am you will not get any. he has a I'm last sign for the person estimated to be the last in line for that day. It's become a Face Book thing to post a selfie as the one who gets the sign.
Another great vid Adam.. Although the BBQ part was torture to watch. I almost threw my left over pizza in the trash when you showed those chickens.. LOL .. Damn those looked tasty!
I've got a good picture of a total fail I pulled at work if you'd like to share that. We all watch you make good parts all day long. I have no idea where to send it to, but you'll get a good laugh.
I live in austin. franklin's bbq is a way of life here in austin. its a staple in many homes. you can get in line at 7am and MAYBE get lunch at 1pm. it is crazy delicious. they will walk down the line when they are almost out of something and tell you, that this person in line is the last person to get food. and everyone after goes home with nothing even if they been waiting 2 or 3 hours. if your ever in austin, hit me up and we can go down there and share the experience.
Hi Good vids. As a possible future project, How about making a live center? I think using an off the shelf morse taper and good steel with common tapered bearings like for trailers, a good quality live center could be made.
You are a RU-vid creator, so you have a Google account with Google drive. Create a directory in Google Drive, install the Google Drive app on your iPhone and drop all your phone videos in that directory. You can access Google Drive on your computer, and download the videos to your editing program. Been doing it for some time and works awesome.
You will find that you want to run your straight edges across the wheel. The wheel can wear uneven if you don't run edges across the face. I use these wheels every day and it gets me upset if someone uses my wheel and they have got it out of shape. They will deburr something round and grind the center of the wheel by not moving the part across the wheel..
Hey Adam, an idea for a great build might be a hydraulic wood splitter then you can split your own wood for smoking. lol plus it would be a cool build.
+Abom79 the other way is to iMessage yourself on another device and upload from there as it keeps the slow-mo Do you edit on a computer? as the original 240fps file can be slowed down using most PC based video editors without loosing quality.
Why not just use a mount like a receiver hitch mount welded under the welding table? Weld a plate for mounting the grinder to a box tube that will fit the mount Think truck receiver. Plus you can use the mount to make other things to mount in it. Small vise, v plate with strap to hold long shafts vertical. Heck make another mount for your other grinder and get rid of the pedestal it's on and make a rack for the grinders and accessories and swap the grinders as needed.
You could also make a new mount plate to mount both grinders back to back on the same pedestal and turn them around for whichever one you wanted to use. If you wanted to get fancy, make a swivel plate that indexes them and locks in position kind of like an indexing head. :)
adam, i enjoy watching your videos because you're genuine and you show the wins as well as the losses. and i think i'm gonna get that book, and i can't bbq a hamburger..
Adam that was one of the best videos I have enjoyed for a while now. The mix of things you showed was relaxing and informative too. I always get hungry when you show your smokin meat and the machining pictures with the music wow relaxing too. Keep up the well done editing of your videos. Remember quality over quantity that I said to a factory supervisor long time ago. Thanks for sharing again Your buddy Manny from CA close to Stans place :))
Adam Enjoyed this S&S You have really made your channel a very good one. I always look forward to visiting :-) I am sure your family is very proud of you!
Ha Adam Donn't sweat it about the manifold the guy that asked you to do it should have known exactly that there was a possibility of cut through. The thing was never going to work from the start even if there was enough material to cut and that is not on you. Some people just have got no idea. I am still hoping that one day there will be smell a vision to get a real appreciation of the BBQ. Dave
I agree David! As soon as I saw the initial setup I went "Oh NO!". Even IF everything had worked adapting a 4-bbl carb to a 2-bbl manifold is not gonna work well. What *I* would have done (and the owner should have done) is make a flat plate adapter out of about 3/8" steel and put a Holley 500 CFM (Ford pattern) 2-bbl on the manifold. In fact without having the parts in front of me It might have been easier than that.I once adapted one to a Chevy 2-bbl intake. Plate. Drill a few holes. Some countersinks. Using a mag-base drill to do it all. Layout and drill the old fashioned way. The throttle bores lined up perfectly to begin with so the rest was gravy!Ran good too!
I am pretty sure that even if that intake would have worked out the air flow through it would have been so turbulent that they may as well have just slapped a 2 barrel carb on it.
Great SNS Adam! Loved the photo roll at the end with some good tunes! BTW, I always have had problems doing whole chickens. You seem to have nailed it right off, nice!!! Also, hickory is my goto wood for smoking and if I am doing pork, I like to toss in some apple wood chips and splinters here and there. The resulting flavor is unreal, especially if the pork is a bit fatty like ribs. It comes out tasting like bacon! LOL.
Thanks Brian! I'm still experimenting with the wood choices, and I'm sure that will continue. Whole chickens are pretty simple and only take me about 3 hours. I like to cut out the backbone and open them up. Seems to cook better to me.
Nice sns Adam👍maybe that inteke can be fixed by welding some aluminium plates on those holes?? That chicken looks good!! and Adam, thin cook is a bad cook😃😃
