YOU Wanted MORE Compression, So We Decked The 383 Stroker! 

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"When you're dumb, but smart enough to know you're dumb. Wouldn't it be nicer just to be dumb?" My new favorite quote.

"Cleaning Guy is getting some lip on him" I love it! Family is everything. Great job guys

I respect the transparency and honesty with this shop and realization that all things aren't perfect, we do the best we can. I remember a recent video where he said "it's just the world we live in" and there's a lot of machinist that just don't have that mindset. When your talking tenths, even thousandths in some cases, all we can do is rely on our instruments and realize tenths is temps, smudges, oil, dust, just metal to metal contact variances, different instruments or how two different people use them. Stride for perfection, rely on the instruments because it's the best we can do but realize it may not be perfect and nobody will ever know. It don't get much better than this shop and I know the old man has to be so proud to have this young man excel so much in the family business. I don't trust many people to work on my stuff but I would trust these two guys with anything I have.

Thank you, seeing this shows what I paid 30 years ago for as a sixteen year old: I worked min wage aftershool jobs and then put what is today $3,000 into machining and assembly of a 350 long block. Last weekend that same 350 took me and my kids over a mountain highway to the beach and back and still keeps up with traffic -- plus there were a whole lot of burnouts and 6,000 rpm shifts 25 years ago

I've been a job shop/prototype machinist 35 yrs. It's interesting to see the specialty machines in an engine shop. Really cool!

Talking about temps and size variations, I visited a high end tool maker shop once and they had a dedicated metronomy room that was permanently climate controlled to 60 degrees to keep consistency in measurements across the board.

You guys have so much character. Showing the mistakes takes courage especially on social media. Thank you for sharing.

that’s awesome to see that engine block getting decked to within a thousandth of an inch

Thanks for today's episode guys, much appreciated

I laughed that you actually edited in a second clip of your dad vacuuming the floor. I love your dad! 🔧👍🏼

What a great partnership you two are. Neither one outdoes the other but the father gently steers. I wish my old man had have been that way. Thanks for making these vids.

Best Sunday breakfast videos ever... and the compression cowboys will be happy today lol. Stay blessed guys, thanks ALWAYS. 🤙🇺🇸🇷🇺🤘

Love you two working together. Puts a smile on my face

Learn from toolmaker. take last 3 passes at the same depth of cut and you will never be surprised at where your finish dimmension ends up. Works for turning, facing, boring. everything. Idea is to keep the same forces on cutting tool. If you are taking 2 passes at 5 thou and lasrt pass at 2 thou- the last pass will always have some spring and take more material off.

I'm convinced that everyone who has run a machine tool has snuck up on a dimension, just to have it sneak on past the operator! I certainly have!

Checking the original deck height just proves out the line hone again. Nailed dimension and deck height with the line hone which gives you a great place to start from. It's awesome to see people good at their craft!

I used to stick sandpaper to a mirror and sand a little off the main caps to bring bores into spec, this was my home garage way of doing things. Having a dial bore gauge is really helpful and something even a casual engine builder should have.

You guys do great work I wish I had someone local that had as much passion as you both. You guys care about the customer not how much money you see.

This is one of the best channels on youtube. Showing the details of your works. Not editing out mistakes. having some fun banter with your work. Thanks for sharing your videos.

David v. Stated if the crankshaft spins by hand its good enough. He found that a 350 sbc can twist up to 1/16 the of a inch on the dyno! At that point there is no way the mains are in alignment. The oil film is also extremely stiff. Interesting information I thought.

Given that you were aiming for a 'perfect 5 thou below deck height', recommend you just reset to 4 thou below deck height and proceed to take 0.5 to 1 thou of the other bank. Engine has now been machined so that both banks are essentially equal - job done. Having said that, I would be perfectly happy with a 1 thou descrepency between banks.

He ordered a big bottle of hot sauce

Cleaning guy: Long time British car restorer, short time Hobby Machinist. I have the same problem: sneaking up on the final cut. I found machining everything in METRIC, that final cut was easier, with no over-cuts. Jus mi 2 pennies.

08/06/2023 Hello Jim's. I have watched a few of your videos and I am amazed at the control of the specs. I think this is a great addition to your videos. Thanks. Don

Another fantastic episode!!! Looking forward to seeing this engine finished.

We used to put modeling clay in the combustion chamber.Torque the head down. rotate the crank a few times. measure the clearance and shave away. I had a 51, 5 window step side chevy with a .60 over, 12 to 1 straight six. If memory served me right, it cc out to about 244 cu. in. It had a 500 cfm two barrel carb. I never lost to a ford truck with a 289 or less in it. I put it together on a very limited budget in 1971, with the help of my brother who raced a 55 chev at the strip. He took regionals one year. I miss those days.

I worked running cnc for about 4 yrs & i remember one thing about it if i had to go another .017, i would never adjust it to go .017. I might adjust it to take .010 then recheck. If it was right on & i had .007 to go i might then take .004 then recheck. Ofcourse it wasnt a engine shop. It was production cnc & some of the machines & tooling was beraly adequate.

So much cool information. I think you're cleaning guy needs a raise!

Such a great series! I can't wait for the playlist to come back and rewatch it. You all present so much great insight and info!!!

Talking about deck height I had built a 460 30 over shut up beautiful Cobra jet heads by the time I get the block to clean it up I ended up short .020 for piston to head clearance. So we ordered a .020 copper head gasket and I very carefully used aviation permatex very thin coat on the head gasket and the block surface.

Been a mechanic for about 17 years now. I wanna do this now.

Great video! I love seeing you guys work together.

Reminds me of a loco engines that would squeak under load . This was 1981. Was doing an in frame on a Baldwin Hamilton Lima 1943 . the rods were . Over .090 out of round journals are over 9 inches hard chromed and still round then . GE Apparatus service Phoenix AZ resized the rods . When things are round no more squeaking . I doubt the rods were ever checked on these in frame rebuilds . Basic engine fundamentals.

Some of the best running engines I know of the piston came out of the bore. Gasket thickness figured in, get the quench right, and create a MONSTER!

We built a 3.0 4-cylinder Porsche engine with a modified 2 valve per cylinder 2.4 head we sleeve the block with special sleeves and had it decked, after measuring deck height I had .010 sticking above the deck. So we had the fly cut the head for the proper piston clearance. Minimum of .050 and a little bit more for carbon buildup. One sweet machine when we got done put a really big turbocharger on it and a little modification for better filtering for the oil system. Allowing the turbo to always have clean, and the rest of the motor.

looks like the cleaning guy has been paying attention, he almost sounds like he actually knows what he was talking about. he earned that pizza today.

I can't believe how clean you guys keep the shop

Since my 318 was assembled I just measured the depth of the piston from the deck height on all 4 corners with a dial indicator. It was .100" in the hole. I ended up putting MAJORLY ported 360 heads on with larger valves. I cc'd the heads after shaving them ALL of it. Got 9.5:1 out of it. Someday I might deck the block to 10:5-1 but it's probably not worth it. Plus I already had to replace the push rods for the head shave and put thick intake gaskets on. It has an aggressive cam and EFI, it runs (and sounds) GOOD!

Great work guys! Dad is such a gem!

Nice that you have a machine just for decking. I had to constantly change up my Lagun for different jobs. Most of the time I was doing aluminum skim cuts, but did steel quite often.

I’m a formerly trained machinist. It’s great watching you and your dad.. My dads name is James too.. Aka Jimbo

With the abundance of head gasket options out there I always run my stuff at .000 to -.005” piston to deck clearance, but even if it is .005 in the hole you can use thinner head gaskets, but I get it when you’re dealing with the public and customers that are not engine builders you have to set things up so that you don’t have come backs or disasters

.005 is a good deck height. Gives room to play with gasket thickness, to be able to change valve/piston clearance, if using a high-lift cam, without fly-cutting valve reliefs into the piston.

I'm loving that Monza in the background! Looks great with those Center Lines.

Considering the cost of IR cameras has come down so much? (it happened because of Covid of all things) Maybe think about finding an IR camera set up you can use to do quick scans of the deck and machinery so you can SEE how hot things are on the fly, so you can take a break and let things cool down. We can remove material with ease, putting material back is a bit of a .....'no'... a lot of times. To me, its cheap insurance to prevent expensive 'oops'.

Great video, I’m learning a lot from the parts washer guy!

To measure deck height I used to install the piston/rod assembly without rings. Find TDC. Cock the piston one way in the cylinder and measure the deck height to the side that’s lowest. Cock the other way, and measure the lowest point again. Add the two then divide by 2, and that’s the deck height😊

You guys put out some gold standard content, thanks, keep it up

I machine diesel blocks for liner protrusion shims. I did 1 yesterday and had to do it for 2 different sized shims in in half the holes because the erosion was so bad. It is nerve racking to change your setup and numbers in your head halfway through all while the customer is watching. It's like working in a fish bowl. I have to be within .002 across all 6 holes and within .001 of holes next to each other. The liners have a protrusion spec of .001- .006. I was .0055-.006 when done. It was a stressful but rewarding 8 hr deal. The cutter tool is hand operated.

It's nice seeing this done the professional way. I did all this myself on a 377 carb'd LT1 build, and boy was it a chore. I had the block decked to the point that my compression is 11.4:1. Measure, measure, and measure again. I decided not to do the line hone, although I kind of wish I did since I did use ARP studs. So far the motor runs well, but it does like octane. Custom thickness Cometic gaskets were a MUST to get things where I wanted them. What a job! Sure proves how much the professionals put into these things to get them right!

Thanks for the education guys, God Bless

I believe you said you guys were in Dunn. I'm in Fayetteville,Nc. If I knew you guys were that close to me, I would have brought my Ls3 block to you guys. I just dropped my block off 2 weeks ago at a machine shop.

Man, i WISH you were my machine shop. Ive gone through a dozen different shops now. From crooked decked heads, to tapered bores, i cant find anyone worth a damn any more.

I'm a gear head. This is exactly what I wanted to do when I got out of the navy. I opted to go into automation, which has been a great career choice. Still wish I knew how to build engines like this. Great job guys. 👍

Awesome job looking forward to seeing the next video.

I have no doubt that the father / son banter during your work, brings as much enjoyment to you both as the results of the work itself! Keep up the great content. The clear explanations are very informative and entertaining.

Great video, very interesting, we practice the same procedures in our shop! We have a f99y rottler and a em103 rottler, makes the hole process of boring, surfacing, and lineboring quicker, enjoy your videos!

Oh no!!!! LOL. Did ya go out and get a 6-71 blower? hahahahah awesome! Thanx a ton for this gentle ones.

Throughly enjoyed your video, thanks for showing everything. Not that I don't like tractors but 350 sbc really hits home..... I'd love you guys to do my motor

Great Old school work with the twist of expertise few have. Calgary Canada

Once again ! Another interesting video . Thanks for sharing !

thats a really nice machine. i have a SV85B with variable speed traverse but your machine looks a dream. i also don't have a fixture to index to cam bore of pushrod v8s (such as a block tru) but on the few american v8s i've done i've never managed to get the set up pretty accurate with a bit of effort. hobby performance engine builder in switzerland. a DRO would be nice. EDIT: just finished watching :). well i go from about half a thou piston recession and usually hit it dead on after pre-assembly. guess the sv85b isn't so bad - just takes maybe a bit longer.

If I take my engine looking for an engine shop,and they say it will be perfect,I keep looking,for the shop that says we will get it as close as we can lol

Should try to take a final clean up cut of zero. I have found that usually get that last few tenths.

Nice work. It is cool to see the Monza in your shop in the background of the intro. I had one (305ci, 5 liter) that I hand-fabricated my own nitrous system. I put the 16lb bottle in the spare tire tub, routed a steel-braided line forward through the transmission tunnel. I put an Edelbrock SP2P with a 600cfm Holley (replaced the stock 2bbl). I cutout the stock airbox with the snorkel to sit on the Holley nicely. What a blast.

He got a solid lift cam and lifters

All you’ve done is give them an unnoticeable amount of extra power and that’s cool ❤

Brings me back to my days with the CK-10 (Sunnen) which WOULD line hone main saddles

I wish I had the type of bond you two have with my dad.

So glad you decided to bump compression to 10.5:1, a modern combustion chamber design works like magic right there on premium pump gas! Wooooo!!!! Love a stroker!

A great show of your engineering integrity to leave in the mistake on the last cut. Mistakes happen, it’s human nature, but the mark of a good engineer is how you deal with it. Top job as always.

My new favorite channel, very fascinating and educational, so glad I found it. Such superb work; combining technical knowledge and having excellent machines and tools and perfecting the usage of them. It’s admirable how you work together and have such keen attention to detail and seek perfection! Thank you for this!

I could watch this stuff all day! Love the machine work. Now it's time to open up the oil return holes, remove flashing, relieve the stress risers, cross drill the oilers. ah... music to my ears.

PERFECT. Your floor sweeper guy is smarter than most experts. Decked within .002" is very good.

Cant wait to see the final product, this is turning into quite the motor so far!

The sanity check explains how you know where it goes. Thanks for sharing your expertice!

I don’t “mechanic” so honestly a lot of this doesn’t make sense. But boy is it interesting! And so easy to watch!

Watching the gift of a father bestowing his years of hard-earned knowledge on to his son is a beautiful thing.

Very informative and just a great lesson on machining a block.

The attention to detail and mastery of craft is refreshing to see.

Man the whole bit about needing new equipment and then getting a pizza party counter offer his a little too close to home. 😢 Companies these days suck to work for. Working with your dad doing what you love must be the best.

Should have let the Cleaning Guy set that last cut... Thanks for your videos!

I absolutely love the work you guys do I’m surprised that you guys haven’t worked on any other modern engines like Volkswagen, my eight cylinder for my Passat. It runs 10 eight to one.

Manual machining is an art, touch and feel thing.

Great video brother, thanks for sharing! Always good to hear someone who knows what they are doing with good knowledge and experience!

Your dad just seems so wholesome. 😊

WELL DONE like you talk about here with the machine warming up the head and spindle i tried to explain that to someone one day and they laughed thought i was kidding on old mill the a large fly head cutter like this, well later that day they happily cut along and suddenly -.003 difference popped up out of no where everything warmed and expanded then they realized why i left the bay doors loading dock and entry doors closed so the heat from outside didnt creep its way inside. now start working the difference of iron versus aluminum block and head. machine and part temperatures can make huge finish impact. Quit one shop they got it in head that "hey we will turn heat down at night save huge amount of money " only to find out dead of winter its -20 outside the shop dropped to 50 degrees crank heat up so the air feels warm but machine and material of parts going to cut are still ice cold, then they expected to jump on machine and start cutting ha ha ha

Like watching you guys cause you don’t try to hide anything

Enjoy your time! Thanks for the info!

Just my kind of Sunday morning show

I am a mew subscriber and like this channel very much. You two do an excellent job explaining your work. I love this series in particular.

You guys have a blessed life there together, hope you never take it for granted

Thanks for taking the time to document your work. I enjoy the content.

🇦🇬 Perfectness is definitely a word👍🏾Love your videos⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. 🙇🏾‍♂️

I think it’s great to see a young man taking on the responsibility of your family machine shop. You just don’t see young people taking on what your doing. It’s also way cool to see father and son working together. Keep it up guys.

Always wondered, when you measure main bearing clearance, and they’re too large, how do you make them smaller by line honing and making it larger?? You showed me that you remove a little material on the mating surface of the main cap. That makes the hole smaller but also makes it oval. Now it can be line honed to the proper size. Fantastic.

This engine has been great content for your channel. I hope you are giving the customer a discount on all the labor otherwise they could have bought two crate engines by now 🙂

I would have stopped at +.001. Easier to leave then put back on. There is a gasket unless you O-ring the heads and block. Lots of air cutting me thinks ? Lay the block out in the Sun if you want to add a few thousands. I used to machine aluminum gear boxes and hold .0002 on the bearing bores with a airgauge.. So I used the Sun or the drinking fountain from time to time.

Can't wait to hear it run!