Been pretty busy in the shop with this whole Covid crap going on. Engines getting rebuilt, parts being made and so on. Will start posing pics of things going on in the shop.
One project going on. Got a local college kid that lost his internship to covid and was needing work. So I have him and a local HS kid tearing down inventoried core engines. To date they have 56 tore down. The parts are getting separated and arranged in category's. Makes it easy to use them.
Here they are ready for a days work. Took 3 weeks to get 56 tore down. about 55 to go. This pic represents 52 engines worth of pistons.

Also in early May, got a new piece of equipment. Serdi 4.5 headshop. This is used to rebuild cylinder heads. All I can say is it is NICE! Fast and accurate

Balancing a 292 crank on the T&S balancer.

Another new product in the shop. Billet 2 groove waterpump pulleys. 292 version and another for 194-230-250.
These are needed for Power steering and air conditioning.
Hard to find the right part for either engine, especially the 292.





Also the piston pallet got too big, so we started another one. So far have 95 engines tore down. Picking up 2 more 292 this weekend.
Over 80 heads on this pallet

Over 100 Chevy 230-250-292 have been torn down this summer to date by the 12Bolt Crew. There are about 30 left. We will have parts a plenty!

Added 2 292's to the collection today. Pulled behind the trusty work horse.

Video of 292 being disassembled by the 12Bolt crew.
https://youtu.be/TvGm-fbAQfA

Wow you have all kinds of goodies Tom! I'll have to look at my water pump pulley to see if it is setup for power steering. If not I will be inquiring on buying a 292 pulley. Watched the video, those boys have tearing down an engine to a science. Good work by those two, and valuable experience for them as well.

Well the guy's have done it! They have toredown all of the complete engines in inventory at 12Bolt.

This may come as a surprise, but the number was 135 total.
Here they are on the last engine yesterday. The college kid starts back to class on Monday.

Now that there is a lot of 292s, I don't car who you are!

Chopped up a 250 block that was junk. The bores are at 3.975 and .060 would be 3.935. The deck is cut .015 and the thin side walls are .150.

So what was wrong with it? LOL What a shame on a chevyII block

We always offset bored all our non-Mexican performance and race blocks because they were always too thin on the major thrust side like that! .150" isn't bad, most are around .100" when they are .060" over.

Larry,
This is a block that was saved by using molasses. It was rusty and stuck. The pistons cam out nice, and all the rust is gone as seen. The bores were beautiful, but the lifter bores were pitted from the prior rust. Good guinea pig block for the CNC and Sunnen SV-15 diamond hone. That is why it is all machined. Including the allign hone. Did not want to rebush the lifter bores, I have so many blocks. Good eye on the ChevyII casting.

I'm getting ready to clean some rusty parts with a citric acid and water bath. I have a rusty block I may dunk just because I can.

Tom,
So, how many hacksaw blades did the two young lads go through?

Cool pics, was that done on a band saw?
Cuts look pretty clean and straight.

Tom is well known for his Sawzall skills.

I do have some sic sawzall skills, but these were do on our Johnson Dake band saw.
Amazing how fast it cut the block up. All done in about 30 minutes.

It just goes to show bad core shift can be on these or any motor
for that matter. And the heads are no different when it comes to core shift.

I once had a shop cut one laterally to make a windage tray / oil pan welding jig. The shop said it took them an entire shift to get through it.

Tom would it cut a block from front to back?

Not that saw. But do have a Doall vertical that would do it. Have a couple more practice blocks could see about doing that sometime. Have to rig up a counterweight to keep tension on it so I can walk away.

yeah not like a laser huh LOL

Which way would you like to see one cut? Like a deck plate or vertically down the middle of block? Front to back?

Like a deck plate. But just above the main cap to keep the block oil pan rail as one. If you could/wanted to and depending on the Price I mite buy it from you and use it as a jig rather then useing a whole motor.

like this

https://i.postimg.cc/J4kc6zRF/oil-pan-fixture02.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/43J6xvpC/oil-pan-fixture03.jpg

https://postimg.cc/Wq8t0FFG

https://i.postimg.cc/26BhcCWG/frame-buildup-19.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/bwz0ycXY/frame-buildup-16.jpg

Yep pretty much just like that.
Thank you Frenchtown.

The guys got the pistons pulled from the rods. 3 55 gallon drums were filled with just pistons. Here are the rods.

They also started pulling cam gears from cams. These get reground into a RV style cam.

Those are impressive pictures. Will you just scrap the pistons> Did you run across any useable propane pistons?

Sorry, I don't sort thru used pistons.
Here is more progress pics.
Cams sorted and stripped.
Used therm housings
Oil pickup tubes
Used carbs

Always impressive to see what you're up to out there in Iowa Tom!

Wow! Lots of parts. The cut-up of the engine is cool.

Making a jig to machine chambers and valve throats in the CNC. This should really help production. Also have a worked up head sent out and scanned. We are working on the program to do this.

That is cool! What a time saver while eliminating human error.

Tom, You have all the cool toys!

The head fixture for CNC is nearly done. Had time over the weekend to install and set it up. Programming is next. We have a head out being scanned, from that the program will be made. Might not be long before the chips start flying. I have plenty of cracked heads to practice on.

That looks like a serious piece. Looking forward to seeing how it works.

Got a used vise for the shop. Cleaned it up and painted it. Made a larger anvil for it and installed it. H13 tool steel. This vise weighs 220 pounds!
The other pics are taken out working on heads.

Good pictures . That is a nice old vise. I love old tools.

Tom,

What's going on with the 1965 drag car?

Not much has went on with the drag car. The shop is so busy, not much time to work on that. All my spare time is spent creating a more efficient shop.

Kinda figured that, Shops looking great!
Are you making torque plates?

Yes, I make TQ plates. Usually have 2 in stock. Shipping them out all the time.
Made in my shop.

Nice!
How much are the torque plates?

I rent them out for 75.00
Have a BHJ unit that could be sold.

BHJ unit?
What is that?

BHJ is a brand name. It is made from either steel or cast iron. Would take 400 for it. Delivered. Nice, but not as nice as my new units.

Are yours aluminum?
How much for one of yours?

Hank BHJ torque can be had in steal Or alum And a price tag of
956.25 and is a 4.060" Bore In Plate.
here is the link to theirs
https://honingplates.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=60

I seen those,
Was wondering if Tom wants to sell me one?

I have not listed my aluminum units for sale, but could. Send me a email and we can discuss it. tom@12bolt.com

Thanks Tom,

got your email.

I have missed updated for a while. A few things have happened and plenty going on.
Parts, heads and engines going out daily.
Got a New Hwacheon HL-460 lathe in April. It is 3 phase and runs perfectly on a VFD, even added a potentiometer to vary the speed. It is a Geared machine. Weight is 5200 lbs. For general use in the shop.
Also picked up a 1983 Chevy shortbox truck with a integral 250/ 4 speed. It runs bad now. Plan on documenting the problems it has, fix them and then start stepping into areas to improve the truck and engine.

Good stuff! Clean looking pickup!

A little past the beginning stages of making a new intake manifold. Made to fit the stock chassis of a ChevyII, Camaro, Chevelle and the other GM stock chassis. Maybe not a G series van. Don't have one to test fit.
The runners are longer, cross section of port is smaller to raise the velocity. Also is made to fit up with a flat edged lump like a PES lump.
Water heated. No adaptor needed as it will be a direct bolt on for the Holley carb.
The first one is a 3D printed part. And it weighs only 3 lbs. Going to coat the inside, machine it to fit the carb and bolt to head and it will get real world tested on the 65 Chevelle wagon.

Really interesting, especially the smaller runner/port size. I just happen to have a set of PES lumps.

ToM,
That intake looks nice.
Have you thought of making the ports divided?

This intake should really help boost TQ.

Beater, good for you to pack away those lumps. Who knows what else you may have stashed.

Hank, No plans on it right now. Going to be making a block into a flow test bench to test this and other intakes on a head and flow thru the cylinders. Second test will be on the engine. More people will want it as is and not a divided port. It is pretty hard to divide the ports in the head.

I'll be following this. As you know low end torque interest me for my 292 truck engine. I thought I had my intake.
Too much stuff stashed most of it legal.

Progression of forklifts at my shop. First one was over 20 years ago and was a 1990's unit ,pretty used up then. Was still a good workhorse. Second one was a rebuilt 2004 Daewoo, very dependable and did all I needed. Current one should last me a LONG time. Thanks to Curt Lowe (brother) at Onesource Handling for keeping me going.

Starting process of making new engines. These blocks will be baked in a oven 3 at a time to degrease/remove paint. Next step, head to shot blaster to shine them up. Then into the shop for crack detection before machining starts. Doing 10 blocks.

But I count 12 blocks!

Do you clean these in house Tom? If so, what is the temp you bake them at?

Yes Sir. cleaned in house. We use a Peterson bake oven, it is pretty big. It can hold 21 cylinder heads or 9 cranks or 3 blocks or any mix of the above. After that the parts go through a shotblaster to remove all dirt. The look like new. Will get another pic as that gets underway. Pics of the shop tools are on the website. https://www.12bolt.com/shop-tour.html

What temp does it take to burn off the grease & grime? Looking forward to more pictures.
When I was building my 270 many years ago there was no hot tank around and a shop's steam cleaner could not remove all of the old cooked on oil & grease. I brought it home and put the Rosebud on my torch and burned it off and wire brushed the rest. It took a long time. Now it's almost that dirty again.

Beater,
Most parts are cooked at 550 degrees for 4 hours. They look pretty dry when done. The oil and grease are just a powder at that point. It in no way harms the cast iron or steel.

Damn, A little too hot to throw the ribs in with them. Thanks Tom

Tom,
How about the rust?
Do you still have to blast or chemically treat the rusty areas?

All the parts get blasted after going thru the oven. After the blaster, they look like new castings.

Darn, I wish I was a little closer, lol. Just getting started with a 292 build and as usual, I am the last of the Mohicans around these parts with inline motors.

Before and after pics of a block after going thru the shot blaster. Also a row of blocks after crack checking and inspections. Next, pressure testing, boring and zero decking, both in the CNC , And diamond honing with a TQ plate.

Look at all those beautiful 292's!

Tom, why do you leave the main caps in when you bake?

There are a few reasons.
1. It leaves oil in the main bolt holes. Easier to clean later than baked out crusty holes.
2. We cant mix them up with other blocks

12 Block cleaned up. Machining next.

Cleaned up great! Wow!

Blocks are now going thru the CNC. Boring and decking. Crack checking is all done. Next will be honing, 2 kinds. Allign honing the mains and finishing the bores.

Great video! XLNT explanation!

Wow Tom! You have come a long way from the beginning. What a process you have developed. Keep them coming.

I can't wait to view this video. Hopefully this weekend. Anticipation...

Line honing a Chevy inline 6 block. It is a relatively easy process. With the right tools.

Really enjoyed the video. Thanks so much for posting it.

Some of today's work. Balancing of Dampers. When new parts are not good enough.

Thanks for posting that. I have one of your balancers that I bought for my son's 292 (which I am still gathering parts for) and I remember saying to him when we got it that it had been balanced which I thought was tremendious!

Thanks, We try to send out the best parts possible.

Here is a tool we needed in the shop. When Chevy put straight 6 194-230-250 in ChevyII Nova's. The block was drilled in a very specific location to match the front sump oil pan. We made a drill jig to aid in this feat. The drilled hole is on a angle in 2 planes. Very hard to do with a hand drill. This jig takes all the guess out. X marks the spot drilled. Available on the site as a rental.

Made a new video of how we install the bolt in lumps. This work is done on a Head Shop. These machines are used in engine rebuild shops. Really nice to located a head and move from 1 location to the next. The table allows full rotation of head to work on either side.

Made a needed part today. Offy and Clifford intakes use a adapter to bolt on a Holley carb. These adapters only allow the carb to be bolted on sideways or 90 degrees to the engine.
The adaptor made here allows the carb to be turned either way. Lots of chips!
Some edges look bad, need to order larger stock next time.

Don't have enough of your own stuff You had to copy more of my stuff? And you could'nt even get it right the first time to dam funny. You just don't quit do you?My carb plate

And you/And Others wonder Why I don't or won't advertise In the Inliners I have been making these plates for over 15yrs,

Twisted,
By no means are these plates a copy of yours or anyone else's. These were drawn from scratch on my computer. These will bolt on in 2 directions. 90 degree or straight with engine. There is plenty of room in the inline world for multiple vendors. Buyers win when they have choices. Did not know you offered carb plates either.

90% of my plates do bolt on both ways and They fit Both the clifford and the Offey. So don't give that BS you did them from scratch, You also knew I did custom carb plates, Not like you have Not seen them Or any of my stuff. But hey If you say you didn't know. So you believe what you will or want to. You have Burned me in the Past along with Others So I would not put it past you to do so again. Hence the reason I will not send you my stuff to sell Or Advertise in the 12 port right along with the other Venders who will not advertise in the 12 port to much conflict of interest.

Now I think I'm done with this. Topic.

Nice and quiet in the shop. Good time to concentrate on finishing up a bunch of heads. Final valve jobs on the Serdi. Both 1.84 and 1.94 valve sizes. Will get about 8 done in this group. Decking in the CNC is next .
Much more work goes into these than making Carb adapters.
Have a GREAT 4TH of JULY!

Your right on that But it Takes certain talent To get a head to flow and Set track records with it, And to spend count less hours on a flow bench rather than just coping other people's stuff. Then it does to do a carb plate that's for sure.

Nice work Larry. That 194 chamber looks like a runner!
Here is what is going on late this afternoon here at 12Bolt.
Step 2 of shop expansion. Step 1 was prepping a site for a storage building. Step 2 , Acquire the building. 52x96 14 side walls. Many steps to go. The shop expansion is taking place in the old building. Needed storage area for the engines/ parts.

Yep I know it is.

Too quiet in here for me. Busy as always. One thing going on. Cranking out the cranks. One step to making them run smooth.

So why does it spin it counter close wise?

When balancing, the crank or part can spin any direction. You are only inducing centrifugal force and it happens in either direction.
Crankshaft grinders and polishers need to spin so that the cut grain flows opposite of crank rotation. The best analogy is running your hand backwards on sharks skin. There are always tiny flakes sticking out of the surface of the metal.

Making progress. Footings are poured for 1/2 of building. Foundation walls also poured for 1/2 of building. 52x96 building. These walls are plenty stout. 1 foot thick and going down to the footing that is below frost line.

It's SO GREEN there!

Beater,
Sometimes it is hard to keep the growth controlled. The grass and weeds can take over!

Heads, Heads and more Heads. Getting them Done!

That's a lot of heads I have more weeds than heads.

This will be a place to store those core heads and blocks.
Progress.

Progress on the storage building. 24 feet up out of 96.

Made 24 more carb adaptors over the weekend to make up for working on building during the week. None left of the first batch. Got the program changed so there were no unmachined areas. This Am , packed parts to send out till 11. Then headed out to work on the building till 6. Making progress! 36' up. Tomorrow should get 24 more done.

More new parts in the shop. Have had customers over the years ask for heavier duty timing sets. Sometimes under severe use they alum gear will fail. Here is 12Bolts answer. Iron cam gear and steel crank gear. Also adjustable +/- 4 degrees or Zero. Made in USA.
Progress on the storage building by these 2 guys.
[/img][img]

Progress. That door opening is 20' wide and 16' tall. The I beam is 15 3/4 tall and 24' long. Pretty heavy. A bunch of bracing to go on it.

Show and tell on installing a roller cam into your Chevy Inline

Progress on the building. Nearly done with all I am going to do. The tin work will be hired out. Just a little more bracing and electrical. Already have the lights hung. 52x96x14 walls. Also picked up a core 250 from a 72 Elcamino.

Just checking the lighting on the Naked building. QTY 6 400W equivalent LED UFO fixtures. They only consume about 100 W each.

"Let there be light!" If the interior walls & ceiling are white you'll have to wear sunglasses.

How do they connect? Are they like bulbs? One of those would light my shop.

Beater,
The lights are direct wired to 120V. You could put a plug on them. About 1 foot in Diameter and hanging down from roof a couple feet.

We are getting ahead of work. A little. With heads anyway. A few ready to assemble and a few done. Find them on the website. https://www.12bolt.com/store/c69/Performance_Heads.html
Also making progress on our Storage building. My daughter is the photographer. Tin to follow.
Next to start working on the 1983 C10 factory 250 integral head/ 4 speed manual with O/D and pig slow take off 2.73 gears. It runs bad as is.

Thanks Tom. I'm doing some updating on our cobbled solar system. It's been pieced together over the last 40+ years in Mad Max fashion and some modern efficient lights might help.

Things are looking good there!

Beater,
I love solar power, you guy's in NV should be able to really mop on it's potential. LED's are the hot light to use currently.

Building 2 engines currently. a 250 and roller cammed 292. Short video on installing cam bearings.

Nice job!

It's RED!

Big and beautiful but needs some traditional Americana barn art.

Give me some ideas!

Check out some Amish barn paintings. Some are even like big quilt squares.
https://quiltdom.com/barn-quilt-patterns/

How about a wall hanging?

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachments/c359dc90-1926-4e76-8bde-e9747fbae7dd-jpeg.5490877/



https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachments/7576a1d0-6dba-4bb8-8966-a9a2b6adc182-jpeg.5550854/

That looks terrific!

It has been a long time since I last made these. With the new CNC, wanted to take advantage of the tool changer and the 4th axis. Did it even better and make 2 at a time. The fixture took a lot of time to make, but paid off! The machining is better than ever. Using up about every inch of travels and table.
I made the entire trunion table, A frame support and riser for the 4th axis also.

We would show a video of machining, but the coolant makes it un viewable. So here is the next best thing.

12Bolt's newest offerings. Dual Manifolds for Plymouth- Dodge 201-218-230 flathead 6's and the 25" Chrysler- DeSoto Duals also. And progress on the shop expansion. 24X42

Stage 2 of shop expansion is taking place. We moved core engines and parts over to the new building. Also the Blaster and Bake oven. This allowed the area for expansion to get ready for concrete work. As of today, the concrete is in. We had to dig out 8" of gravel and dirt to prepare the floor for concrete. 2" of insulation and then the radiant floor tubing. Concrete is 6" thick. Area is 24x42 and 14 tall






[img]https://www.inliners.org/ubbthreads...&filename=PXL_20230324_205629307.jpg[/img
]

Have most of the parts/ engines moved into the new building. This is allowing the expansion of the machine shop. Having a forklift is a must! Might be the largest inline 6 Chevy parts offering in the world.

Here is what is going on in shop today. We rework the factory flywheels. Bake, blast, remove gear, grind, install gear and rebalance to under 1 gram. Most shops wont do this.
Lumps being machined in CNC also.
The shop expansion is nearly complete. Insulated and interior tin installed. Wiring done also. Overhead hoist is next and then move the parts in.

Heads lined up to go though the CNC . We deck them on 2 sides. intake/ exhaust surface and the Head/deck surface. Next they are cleaned, assembled and QA tested for proper seal. Also have a bunch of PES intakes done now too.

I like those intakes Tom.

Have worked through all those heads. Pics are example of a head with beehive springs , 1.94/1.6 and lump kit. They are now assembled and on the website. Also just received another batch of PES intakes. Got valve covers to pickup next. My foundry is rocking!

This is a note from a customer. 64 Biscayne 230 3 sp stick w overdrive. Stock lower end and stock camshaft. He lost 1 MPG at 75 MPH but then made it back up with another mod which he discusses.
"Tom,
I just thought I'd let you know the results of installing the 1.84
intake/Standard Rocker performance head on my 230ci 1964 Biscayne daily
driver. The install went normally in May and since then I've put 5,500
miles on the car. I have driven this car since 1970 in Kansas below 1000ft
elevation and much of that was under federal 55mph mandates. Six years
ago I brought it to the high desert of New Mexico at 6600ft elevation
and the car lost over 20% of it's already meager hp to the altitude. As
a result the car stayed in the back of the shed and driven infrequently
since it was a hindrance to normal traffic flow, especially on the
interstate at 75-80mph. The Clifford intake with 2bbl carb helped but it
still wasn't really drive-able in normal traffic flow because of low
acceleration and frequent kick-down from overdrive going up hills on the
freeway at 75.
The swap to the performance head made all the difference. It now
performs better at high altitude than when it was new in Kansas. Even though
it only has a 230ci L6 with stock cam and lifters on a 3500lb full size
family car it can now easily accelerate and merge with traffic on the
freeway and only kicks down out of overdrive above 5,500 ft on the
steepest of interstate grades. When taken back to visit family in Ks the
performance is now really stellar at the lower altitudes.
Of course fuel economy suffered a bit with the higher horse power
available but recently that has been addressed with a Carb Cheater
auto-tune kit (thecarbcheater.com) that keeps the carb tuned whether
it's just a 2000 ft altitude change on the 35 mile trip into Albuquerque
or a 6000 ft altitude change over the 700 mile trip to Ks. Of these mods
the 12 Bolt performance head made the biggest single improvement in
performance and allows this car to once again be my daily driver for
around town or long hauls on the interstate without any loss of
performance or economy.

Working on the next group of heads. There are 3 more on another stand. Need a longer set of rails to work up these heads.
First step is cleaning
2nd Mag the decks and chambers for cracks
3 pressure check
4 mark each head for problems ( ie bad bolt holes ect)
5 install guides
6 machine for positive seals
7 machine exh seats
8 machine intake and exh seat (roughed)
9 unshroud valve bowls, port, cut bolt boss for lumps
10 install lumps
11 final valve job
12 deck intake/ exh flange and deck of head
13 final clean
14 assemble
Sometimes there are more steps, it just depends on the head.

Ran into one that was severely overheated. No telling how deep those cracks are.

EDIT does anybody really read these updates?

Each and every one without fail.

Yes Tom, keep the updates coming. It's cool to see all the work you're doing, and parts that are now available.

Have a show and tell for you guys. We are working up a group of heads. Some are worse than others. Here is one that had rust issues. The exhaust seats were severely eroded, valves stuck. Once it is chamber worked by hand and decked, it will be ready for action again. These are 1.84/1.6 valve seats. The seats/ chambers are only roughed in in these pics.

Something we provide as a service. Doubt anyone else offers this. 292 engines came with a 168 tooth flywheel. Many people want to use them with a 153 tooth flywheel. GM never made such a thing.
We take a 250 flywheel and remachine it to be used on the 292 with dowel pins as required. The 250 has 7/16 bolt holes and 1 dowel pin hole, 292 uses 1/2 bolts and 3 dowel pin holes.
https://www.12bolt.com/.../Flexplate_or_Flywheel...

Tom,

Nice save on that rusty head! I really appreciate reading your posts and learning from the work you do.

David

Sent this 12 Port head out for heat treating. It is a raw casting from One of the Lands Down Under. Will get started on it soon.

I read every one that you post and enjoy every one that you post so thanks for taking the time to do that!

Tom,
I, too, look forward to your posts. Amazed at the operation you've got going there.
Wish I lived closer so I could make it to an open house.

Pete Geurds

Here is a painful repair. Valve cover bolt hole. Previously "repaired" by someone long ago. They must have broken off the bolt and then drilled on either side of it. Only 1 of those 2 side holes went full depth.
I thread locked a bolt into the angled hole and then milled it off. Then mounted the head into the CNC with the VC bolts inline to the machine. I also have the exact bolt pattern in memory.
Milled the correct bolt hole into the pad. Installing a new insert into the right spot.

Update on RUSTY the cylinder head. This is from a few posts back. It had rusty deck, chambers and exhaust seats. After the new seats installed , bowl enlargements and hand porting was done. The final decking was finished. A total of .030 was milled from the deck. Same as is done to almost all of our heads. The pitting is gone.

Good save!

We have started making side covers again.

Holy Cow...and I've spent a week and a half putting a DRO on my Jet 16 Drill/Mill.

I have also installed a DRO , but on a Bridgeport. Well worth doing.

We started the shop expansion last year in March. Life threw a big curve ball at me since then. Now getting my feet back under me. The shop expansion is nearly complete. This is the area that holds the majority of inventory, and packing. Also made a impossible to find bolt. Making another casting to include 292 water neck with bypass hose also.