Can any one guess what he is making?

[Oldmanmopar]

Check this out It is called a volstro.

This is a attachment he bought for cutting around cylinders to create a void so a piece can be pressed in around the top of a bore. Subarus and Hondas have a issue with blowing the top of the cylinder out from over 20 lbs of boost. He will make a piece that presses in around the bore that he mills out . Then drill all the head gasket water holes and machine the surface. It was very expensive but a very useful attachment if you know how to use it. It is hard to find shops that do this for HP engine builds. Usually because they don't have the equipment or they don't know how to us them. Check the video Pretty cool attachment.

 

[Garrett Ellison]

Thanks for sharing, it looks like he is building a serious career out of this. How long has he been machining and where did he get his start?

 

[Oldmanmopar]

He is 34 yrs old. He started at a "Martin sprocket gear machine shop" on co-op from Vo-tech at 16, He bought his first mill and lathe at 18. He went from there to a engine shop that did Alcohol. Nitro. and Diesel motors. for about 8 yrs. He was the machinist and mechanic on this car. and many others.

He also does methanol street bike motors and Harley's. The sprint car was a 636 Kawasaki methanol. the ATV's he raced were Methanol and some were Nitro at tracks where we could cheat. Steve Kiss 2005-2007 atv nationals place first in many races .

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[HemiMark]

Outstanding!

 

[Oldmanmopar]

I stopped down to the garage tonight to see what he is doing. He is back working on the head fixture. Here what I saw. This is one adjustable clamp to clamp the cylinder head

there will be one on each end. The pins just pull in and out and he has several different lengths. They'll have aluminum blocks that slide on them for cushions so not to mark the heads where they are clamped. They are not near done they get 1 3/4 diameter shafts welded to them.

This rotary table was on the bench. I asked him what he is doing with that? He is doing super modify NASCAR spindles for Tony and Matt Hirschmans. New Troyer cars. He has to square the caliper ears on the mill. and mill the mounting plates. I guess they need to be true after they are welded at the fabricator. Pretty cool he is already getting that kind of work.

Nascar spindles

The word is spreading fast that he is doing machine work again . Jobs are following him from work he did for racers and engine shops in the past. He not only has a reputation for quality work. He knows how important it is to get the work done quickly. Shops rely on machinists to finish their work to get paid on their end.

he also is doing "Darton sleeves" in Race Motors.
Darton Sleeves Incorporated

New CBN cutters, which most older shops don't use are critical for a mirror finish when using MLS gaskets.

 

[Tooljunkie]

A man on a mission.
I wouldnt want to be in his head..its probably pretty cramped in there with all that knowledge and ideas.

A real craftsman.

 

[Oldmanmopar]

I was in his head as he was growing up. I thought I could help update some wiring problems. There are to many wires for me to get a grip on things going on in there. LOL. He knows where they all lead to that is all that matters.

His knowledge of things in this field is unbelievable . Where and when he learned all of this ? I would let him work on and build his own motors he would race with starting at 13yrs of age he had his own bridgeport mill to use at a friends.

At 16 yrs old he would come to the stands and watch the rest of the race he already won. Fans were amazed and they would keep on coming back. It wasn't long and he was getting paid invitations to come to local tracks to promote ticket sales. He was so commited on going faster he kept making his own engine parts including pistons that were not available.

He would shave his new tires bald and regroove them to cut reciprocating weight. Many iron parts were remade using aluminum.

 

[adriver]

^^^^^^^^^

I've seen this before.

 

[Oldmanmopar]

My son's much younger but that is about the way he thinks.

Curtis Sparks from "Curtis Sparks Racing" came to our race trailer in Illinois. He asked my son what hell he was doing to the motor on his 99 air cooled 400 He was just pulling away from the Liquid 05 450's?

When he told him he made his own 15-1 piston. made his own transmission gearing. and modified the troublesome (Curtis Sparks Flat side carb). Made it Kick start, Totally did away with the Battery and the rev limiter in the CDI. And many more tricks. It revved like it was electric and pulled like a diesel. Curt was amazed that they never thought of some of his Ideas.

The quad weight was under 300#

he also raced 250r's and 450 liquids. He had several , He took a picture of all of them at the track one day. He has been clocked at over 94 mph on the track.

We have videos that are really hard to believe how fast he was at a young age. That is him to the right and these were 4 of his quads he had at the track that day.
from the left

The gray one was a yamaha 426.

Then his stock 250r

Then a 400 made into a 460 screaming monster.

Then a methanol/nitro 2 stroke that many came to watch go.

He had it set up that at wide open throttle. it would suck the fuel right from the tank.A 2 stroke will take as much methanol as you can throw at it. But if it diesels you are not stopping the run away until the tank is empty or you can get your hands on the petcock.

Once it happens you are on for the ride until the bull runs out of fuel. Something like a rodeo. I saw him go a lap and crash and I have seen him go two laps out of control and win the race after calming it down.

He always came in with that same smile on his face. Weather he was on a stretcher or riding off with the flag.

 

[Oldmanmopar]

Texas in 2007. we were sitting and talking about selling and buying a sprint car

2009 we did it. I felt a sigh of relief knowing he was in a cage and I bought the best safety gear you could buy.

Now he is watching "Lights out" and "Radial against the world" Its only a matter of time and money$$$ he wants to build a factory body 25.5 200 mph boosted Duster

 

[Oldmanmopar]

Just some more pictures of the progress I saw on this fixture today. He made two large swivel brackets They are not near done he said.

I am holding the clamp in place to show where it will be welded on. The swivels will allow tilt left to right. While the fenner locks used on the shaft will allow tilt front to back. These are being made strong enough to hold large Diesel truck heads.
They will lock tight in any position with lock handles for up and down/ left to right and the Fenner locks to lock the shaft from spinning/front to back.

Pretty simple design once you see it. But to think of all of this and build it from scratch amazes me. How can I tell him to do things my way when he wants to change my old ways of doing something. I will get pictures of this in use . there are two sets of heads here. Big block Chevy and Hemi. I ordered valves and keepers for the Hemi heads. Hoping they will be first.

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[RustyRatRod]

He is a genius. That's all there is to it. It comes easy to him. You should be proud and I know you are. What a wonderful legacy to have and he has you to thank for it. Heck, I am proud for you.

 

[Oldmanmopar]

What I was watching him do last night was locating these brackets so the move on the same axis As the swivel bearing. He ordered the same lock handles for the top to lock them. Not to prevent up and down movement.

I told him that that the riser adjustment when using both fixtures will prevent up and down movement. He came back with this answer: "There is .001 clearance on the bearing races. It is critical to eliminate this movement to prevent chatter on the hardened seats. You would never see this with a naked eye so many shops don't care. I noticed this at the shop where I worked."

When he showed me everything he found on our new heads from "Shady dell" a while back. I couldn't disagree. And Ryan at Shady Dell never touched them they were right from the manufacture in the box. They look so nice all shiny and new the average person wouldn't see the defects. I didn't see them I bolted them on Years ago. The guides were not centered with the seats cause by something moving when being machined. Plus many other issues. The second set were prepped by the first Co. Bought on line.

The new heads we just bought from another manufacture had even more issues. Assembly line type manufacturing is never the same as a one on one machinist start to finish.

Don't destroy a motor. Whenever you buy a machined part have a local machine shop you trust check it. Its called "Blue printing" Checking "all specifications" at least twice .

 

[Garrett Ellison]

That’s right, the more work production line machinery does, the more slop and the worse the tolerance gets. It’s best to buy bare head as and get them set
finished by a professional builder.

 

[barbee6043]

I too am truly amazed at people that just seem to have been born with these abilities.

 

[Oldmanmopar]

He is not done they need to be cut to access the chamber and some big rotating cranks or dials. I had him put a head in for pictures of how it will work.It can be tillted ,rolled , or turned to any position and locked Then any surface can be leveled to be machined. Or plumbed to bore or cut

 

[RustyRatRod]

So......just curious, do yall plan to offer machining services to the Mopar community?

 

[Oldmanmopar]

Yes that is why he is doing this. He wants to be able to do motors for people that get turned away for normal rebuilds. Finding a good machinist with with access to good machines and not owned buy a company setting high prices for all is rare.

He wants to eliminate wait time and hassle for the people that want to do there own work at home to save money. Just do the needed machine work for the do it your self-ers that don't have the equipment .

 

[Oldmanmopar]

Its done and he is using it on a 5 valve head. This fixture is built strong enough to do large iron Diesel heads. He has done many in the past at HTA . So he knew what issues they had with the fixtures they used. He made his own. It is totally adjustable . Now he is going to ad a built on digital level. to plumb the guide to the spindle???? Don't ask its beyond me.

here are some pictures from a minute ago

He made every piece except the chrome handles.

Started this thread on Feb 19. It took him 1 month between other jobs and after he got home from work.