been tearing down my 5.0 longblock in stages as i can buy parts, etc... got tired of snagging rough casting edges on the block, so grabbed a couple of files and worked down the rough edges. anybody else this crazy or am i unique... one spot on the bellhousing flange i'm going to stamp my name and the date in when i get it finished.
Stamping your name in the block? Thats alittle odd. As for deburring thats not crazy at all. Ive seen engines completly smoothed and painted. Looked very sharp. I was going to do that to my 383 but just said forget it. Its a ton of work and ive got enough aluminum to polish as it is.
Do it, deburring, on my engines and sometimes the ones for my friends. I always put identity marks on the parts of engines I build. Had a couple guys try to return stuff that I didn't build.
Yep, if you do a lot of engines its nice to have some ID on them. You can tell for sure if its one of yours then.
Yeah I get into that kind of thing as well, a good way to lose/waste a few hours unless you get into the Zen thing, and then you start to meditate on the finer points of what's in front of you. I've also done my initials on the engine, chassis and body.
Files are highly underrated. Everyone seems to think that tools need electric motors in them or they're useless. A selection of handfiles can add the human element so often missing in a modern build. But your still not getting my die grinder...
I think people jump straight to power tools WAY to often. X2 if its the first time you are learning something. IE... Metalshapeing... your first WHOLE project IE bowl or what ever should be completed start to end with no power tool... that way you know why the power tool does what it does....
I agree 100%. Theres been a good number of high quality cars built over the years with little more than a Lincoln buzz box, an Oxy/acetylene torch and a selection of hand tools. They're a convenience...NOT a necessity! There was a time when an electric DRILL was exotic to many!
My dad was very skilled with hand tools, Files, Wood saws, etc. I remember alot of my friends would love to watch him work with them because of the hands on skill level he had developed from years of working with them. It was a thing of beauty compaired to watching a power tool do the work.
Smoothing the rough casting lines and sharp edges gives the engine a nice look when you paint it, also prevents cuts. B
seems to me that my shop teacher told me that in afganistain the "machinest'" was givin a 3" cube of metal and told to file down to within .002 ( with various files) a ball that was + -.002! that was their entrance into gun making class.
I had a similar experience in shop class, was given a metal cube .025 larger than the required final size, and told to get it to with 3 thou with files only. It was a valuable lesson in the finese of files.
When I had the forge I used to make first year apprentices use nothing but hand tools for the first year. It teachs patience, hand/eye coordination and the skill of using hand tools which they will retain for life. This was how I was taught (and it never did me any harm lol), mind you when I started at 15 years of age an apprentice had no choice other than hand tools, boys (by law) were not allowed to use machines until they were 16 years. One job that used to really impress them was hot filing, I'd clamp a red hot job in a vice and using a farriers rasp (really coarse teeth) rip the surface off with a few strokes, you could take off 3/16ths" or more in one heat. I'd tell the apprentice with the right tools and knowledge who needs a power tool. Usually the look on their face was priceless, 'shock and awe' best describes it. Before power tools that's the way work used to be done, my generation was perhaps the last to use intensive hand skills as we transitioned into the world of power tools. Mind you, given the choice now of hand or power I'll take power everytime, and finish by hand if I must.
The Jalopy Journal
