I'm thinking about setting up a small workshop in my basement when I move back into my house. I'm thinking about doing some head work and rebuilding carbs. Of course they'll only be for Ford products, but I was wondering what kind of equipment would be efficient for this. With the heads, I'd be doing work such as pulling the 2V valves from the Cleveland heads and adding 4V valves. Replacing springs and port and matching. What would you have in your shop for this kind of work. Of course, I'm also going to try a used dish washer also for cleaning. Thanks.

-Edited by Admin-

 

Bruin,
First off, let's get something STRAIGHT!
Red Wings RULE!!!!!
OK, now that I've got that off my chest. You're going to need the standard head tools: Valve spring compressor, etc.
What about a compressor? If your going to port, a pneumatic die grinder will help. If always used pneumatics, until recently. Alot of the porting I do, is small fine tuning, cleaning up. I found a Dremel with a flexible cable attachment to be priceless. Its too light a tool for heavy porting but for clean up it makes life so much easier. I'm also a big fan of the stone cutter rather than the carbide cutters. The carbides seem to bounce and slide. If your going to work on aluminum, you may want to consider a welder. I've saved a few intakes and heads by welding the trouble area close and then remachining. Machine shop does all my resurfacing.
Get yourself a good set of calipers and a dial indicator, especially if you start getting into cam dialing.
I'll write more later,
KingFisher

 

dfisher, Red Wings, yeah, keep telling yourself that. But anyway, thanks for the info. I'm going to run a compressor. I've got a small 1/4" drive MAC die grinder now. I'm going to build a bench in a month or so. I'll update with pics as I'm going along. Thanks for the help. Go BRUINS!!!

 

OK, this one's a simple little rig my buddy came up with, but it's proven priceless. (Yeah, I know it's sold commercially, but why not make it for about 5 bucks.)

A good thick piece of plexiglass about 18" square. Bore the center out of it, using a carb as a template. This will allow the lower butterflies to open. Drill holes in it to bolt the carb down (the beauty here is, just drill new holes as nesessary for different carbs). Bolt a piece of angle iron (or shelf bracket, whatever) about 6" long on 2, 3, or 4 sides, to clamp it into your bench vise.

Now, you have a handy little carb rebuilding bench that doesn't take up much space, and works with whatever carb you're using.

Another handy little touch, drill one more hole on one end, with a hole saw, just big enough to snug a small plastic dish into (steal the wife's Tupperware at your own risk), and now you have a handy place to dump all the small parts that always end up rolling around the garage floor.

Also, lay a rubber mat of some sort down, so that when you spill gas and oil all over, it doesn't end up stinking + staining up the floor. When it gets nasty, just take it outside and wash it.

Now, buy a couple cases of carb cleaner, open a window, and go silly.

 

An old piece of carpet can be cleaned at the car wash and small parts don't bounce and roll away when they hit it.