Perfect Engine? Then pin it !

[Gothic]

The tip, tired of trying to set the top end perfect only to have it slip at the last moment ?, straight pins are yer friend, drill thru the heads, and into the valve covers, once thru the heads, line up yer head on the block, drill into the block and then align the other end, push the pin in, and vola, no slipping, now on the covers not to deep, but enough to hold the pin, for hollow cover just add a piece of scrap plastic, align the cover to the head and use the head as yer guide into the cover, nip off the head of the pen, and BAM! all lined up, yes this how I do all my engines, also works great as an exploded view, nip a lil of the excess, and slide it all together, can even use something thinner,

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

Most excellent! The troubles I've had was getting the intake manifold to line up sometimes.

[Gothic]

I have  had that Issue, now I know not all manifolds are the same, so test fit it, shape/ sand, file, so it sits right down in the valley, using a pin vice, now I drill threw the intake, into the block, or cross ways into the heads, wait what? leaves a hole in the intake from the pin, just take some small piece of plastic, make a plug, and shape, after the pin is in, once in fill, file, sand, shape, once done ya can use wire's, fuel lines, ect, to cover any minewt imperfections, or leave just a nub above the hole, file the pin, to smoothness, and it will look like bolt head, not perfect, but enough to fool the eye, or drill a lil into a lil bigger piece of plastic round, or tube, slid over showing pin ya kno what to do from there,
use small gauge wire, ya can do all this, before asemble and paint, oh yea, use super whatever ya use on the pins, like at the covers, to or from the block, any solid base, the really kewl part about this, is ya no longer have to glue to the edges, once its all sanded, even'd out, pined, just apply the glue to the pins and slide in place, no more glue goo along the edge, or finger sticking, oh and before I forget, want super kewl T bolts to hold yer Valve covers? drill out where the bolts go, use yer favorite kolor wire, super glue from the underside  of the cover, take a piece of aluminum foil, cut ya tiny lil sliver, and twist like a candy wraper, at the twist slide down peircing the aluminum about center, lil tap of super stuff, once cured take an lay'em out, so the wings are flat on the bench, trim to scale with sharp exact, do not drag, but force the blade, like a chop, all this will go on with "Wicked" and ya will see how it looks first hand.....

[BUCKY]

Very cool tip for making sure things are lined up! Thanks for adding this info! It's sure to help us builders that struggle with things that don't have positive locators, and even some that have locators that just aren't right in the first place!!

[BUCKY]

I thought I might bump this thread, so some of the newer members can check out this method!

[Gothic]

Feb 18, 2018 8:11:48 GMT -6 BUCKY said:

I thought I might bump this thread, so some of the newer members can check out this method!

Thanx brother