The work you have done for my business for many years is second to none mate. you are very reasonably priced & i will always continue to use your business.
Those other businesses want you to keep quiet on costings because theyre ptobably charging a brand tax ie: cossie build where they can overcharge unsuspecting punters.
Lee, you guys need to take a day off building engines and do a thorough, top to bottom, cleaning of all the machines in the shop, that lathe looks absolutely atrocious. All that swarf and the cutting oil it contains is monumental fire hazard, besides looking grodie.
I had to smile when the old chap was saying that they had no idea the lathe gearbox was out of oil......there's a sight glass within 2 inches of the on/off lever, you can't fail to notice it everytime you switch it on.
0:00 I pulled apart my first engine when I was 14. '59 100e prefect side valve. I love your show!!! You guys are EXACTLY the type off engine people I love to deal with. Thank you 😊😊😊
Keep being open and transparent. 100% treat people the way you want to be treated. I'd prefer to deal with people/companies like this. Than those who aren't. Times are changing with the internet.
I applaud your honesty Lee, you know your stuff that's obvious to anyone who watches your output. Anyone who puts out the sort of content that you do always attract the haters. I have been subscribed to you for a few months now and I'll keep watching because you are who you are.
I know people go on about safety equipment , but I would hate to see anyone hurt because they did not follow basic safety procedures... for example, wearing protective eyewear... a must in a machine shop . If had not have been wearing mine I would not have been able to watch you great videos... be sensible guys
The transparency thing is an interesting one, because my takeaway from your videos is how complex and involved everything is. I think you're spot on with what you say and about certain industry types keeping things "secret", but I think the industry does itself a disservice. A line item on an invoice makes something sound simple, whereas matching somebody machine something is both very satisfying and shows what a skilled job it is
Hi, It looks like you have the 'square head Student'. I had one, and after some time I felt it was running a bit 'rumbly' so took the top off, my problem was the split shaft at the rear, the needle roller had disintegrated,, ouch! OK easy fix, new bearing, make a new shaft and much better. I decided to make an 'oil cleaner' as it is difficult to clean every last bit of swarfe out, so extended the oil filler cap down into the oil with a copper pipe with a magnet at the bottom, simple mod, but ensures any metalic contamination is caught and does not find its' way to the 'Gamet Bearings' 😁👍
I had my apprenticeship working in a machine shop that built machine shop equipment. Most "machinists" are not in the mindset of the importance of .0002/. it's a challenge. Not a middle finger or eat a ditch. Just a fact. It's just math.
The motor trade in general has a terrible reputation. The public really don’t understand and no matter how good the job or how cheap, they always think it’s expensive or poor workmanship, give them all the details, with all the cost and all the different scenarios, then they can make an informed decision. If you don’t do this, you’re a cowboy
You are dead right Lee. Transparency translates to integrity. And as a punter the more you demystify the better I feel about paying for fair a fair dinkum approach. The videos are a lot of fun.
Hi Lee & all. I have always been in to car electrical/mechanical work, I have worked at a few places over the years and also had my own mobile car repair business, where the customer could come out and watch me work and the could see there was not doing anything underhanded and I had a good reputation I even use to work on trading standards staffs cars. I also agree about being up front with everything, the only I was a bit touchy about was trade secrets (certain ways to do something that made it a little easier, or how to reset service lights, or enter service modes, etc) By the way, this channel is one of my best, I watch all of your videos (ho the safety switches on the lathe are interlocks and can also be over ridden in the service mode lol)
Jealousy is an awful thing with some people, do not change Lee the way you do things. Regarding the lathe gearbox oil, I have to check/top up with oil all my lathes, vertical mills, surface grinders etc every six months or sooner when I notice the sight glass is getting low, they are not the most oil tight of machines once they have a few years on them but can still produce work accurate to a few tenths of a thou.
Can't believe an engine engineer had never checked if the lathe gearbox had oil not a shop i would use one look at that filthy lathe and i would be out the door
If businesses object/criticise best practice, they will become history. Customers want to trust in you, fundamental. Your approach is absolutely right, the business will grow!
Old lathe are great, but when they are well used and not serviced and kept clean, the run out will be bad, and I would not trust using it for anything precise
A friend of ours converted his A series mini race car to a Honda B18C…on the first meeting it kept popping out of gear by itself…a bit of a head scratcher but as it turned out he didn’t even think to put gear oil in the gearbox and for years he raced the A series! Those in the know will understand…
The old saying goes, a thief always works in the shadows! Lee, it looks like you’re doing a good job, keep up the content and don’t worry about the minority. They will only hold you down, let them drown themselves.
Enjoy your videos. 🙂 Good to see that things have moved on from using a stick with a rubber sucker + grinding paste to seal your valves. My Dad worked in Coventry for Chrysler/Humber/Jaguar etc and taught me how to keep an engine running on the cheap.
I would be quite open about what I did to the competition motors that I rebuilt for other people. BUT there was one "trick" that I told NO-ONE about AND I only did it to my motors... Two of them. Braise up the main bearing housings and caps and then line-bore them so that the crank is offset to the center line of the bore by maybe 10 or 15 millimeters. IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION !!! The idea is that on the power and induction stroke, the angle of the con-rod is closer to vertical when the crank is half way around. That does mean that on the exhaust and compression stroke the con-rod is at more of an angle but it is a trade-off. The power stroke is where you need the maximum energy being transferred to the crank and the more vertical the con-rod is at that point the better the energy is transferred to the crank. BUT BE CAREFUL.... YOU CAN OVERDO IT. Also, it does create problems with any valve gears or chains. To be honest, I have only done it to Kent motors and had to make a custom set of sprockets and chain and bugger around with tensioners and suchlike and a vernier cam sprocket IS A MUST because your cam timing is shot to hell and you definitely need to sort that out. If the motor is a belt driven cam setup then the standard drive hardware should probably work OK as long as you can adjust the cam timing. Other pain in the ass things that you need to sort out is the front oil seal housing in the timing cover needs to be moves so that it aligns with the crank properly again - the rear main seal housing is also needs to be offset but that you weld up and take care of when you line bore the mains. And then the big pain is that you have to braise up all the gearbox mounting bolt and pin holes and re-machine them so that they are the right distance from the crank center line. If you don't then the gearbox spigot shaft is way out of alignment and even IF you manage to mount the gearbox to the motor, the clutch won't work properly and the gearbox front bearing and seal will fail VERY QUICKLY. I was fortunate back then, I worked in a motor shop and was allowed to work on my own stuff after hours and to be quite honest with you, getting a motor shop like yours to do all these mods would cost so much that the customer would probably go broke these days. Only did 2 of those motors like I said and the BHP readings were almost stock but the TORQUE was astounding - so much so that the gearbox would very often cry "ENOUGH". I got protested twice because guys thought that I MUST have at least a 1600 motor, maybe even an 1840 in my little 1300 car but each time the burette test came back at 1298cc with me smiling like a Cheshire cat and all sorts of people scratching their heads and asking all me sorts of questions. FUN DAYS !!!
Looks like you've got an oil sight glass on the front of the lathe headstock and the feed gearbox like my Harrison M300. If they're clean, they should be, then worth checking occasionally and topping up with the appropriate oil. My Harrison also has one in the apron as it contains oil to lube the internal gears and acts as a reservoir as it has a pump to manually pump oil to the carriage and cross slide ways.
The difference is, customer base is made up almost entirely of people who know what they want and know what they want you to do. ‘Others’ will be carrying out work that’s an act of desperation by the uninitiated / and they’ve got away with it … and as for all the stuff about mucky workshops. You’re not trying to be Maclaren R&D are you … it’s about getting a job done & out the door without the fuss in a small town in Deb’n. Carry on … nothing to see here … the only people you need to please are your customers …
I'm probably going to display my lack of knowledge, but how does carving most of a crank's balance weights away work? Surely the engine will be hopelessly out of balance and shake like heck.
All i had was a very large le blonde lathe with a 48 inch face plate to do re bores and head skims and an archdale vertical miller for everything else plus a few manual m/cs, most jobs were no problem.
As I remember you should have an incandescent lamp over moving machine's to stop stroboscopic affect , would you run your car without checking the oil , if that's not had maintenance bet the others are in the same state, more unwanted breakdowns , was a maintenance engineer
yeah they want to keep it a secret because they dont want punters knowing they are charging 2k for just steam cleaning an engine and passing it off as a recon
Lee, business is business, I feel that you should explain everything to the customer the best that you can, if he doesn't understand then you should show him via pictures to help him understand what is going on, other than that it is first come first served.....in your case first in is also first out.
Honest shops don’t keep information from their customers. If they don’t disclose cost of parts, shipping, hours,rate,etc they are probably ripping you off. Unfortunately shops like yours are the exception,not the norm.
The people who keep secrets of how to do it are trying to build an Empire , where they are the Emperor. All Empires fall at some time . They who keep secrets so they are the only ones who know how, are like the empires they will crumble and fail. Keep it up you may be teaching them something they didn’t know
I don’t know why you think relentless negativity is a way to promote your business. If I ever have engine work needing done you’d be pretty far down the list, seems like I’d be asking for hassle.
Life isn't a box of chocolates. Coming up against problems and seeking a solution is part of that life. Lee is just showing this part of the journey in a trade where to the average person it's almost rocket science and open to abuse by the less scrupulous participants. Personally I'd like the truth, wouldn't you ??
All I've learned from your comment is that I definitely wouldn't want you promoting my business... his channel is very successful and has massively promoted his business. I'd probably stick to whatever it is you think you're good at.
The amount of problems / unhappy customers you seem to have is on another level
The work you have done for my business for many years is second to none mate. you are very reasonably priced & i will always continue to use your business.
Those other businesses want you to keep quiet on costings because theyre ptobably charging a brand tax ie: cossie build where they can overcharge unsuspecting punters.
Those old machines were built to last, we used old Olivers in our metal shop and they were so much better than the newer ones!! Great video thanks.
Lee, you guys need to take a day off building engines and do a thorough, top to bottom, cleaning of all the machines in the shop, that lathe looks absolutely atrocious. All that swarf and the cutting oil it contains is monumental fire hazard, besides looking grodie.
cutting oil is mostly water - it won't burn.
I had to smile when the old chap was saying that they had no idea the lathe gearbox was out of oil......there's a sight glass within 2 inches of the on/off lever, you can't fail to notice it everytime you switch it on.
Open and honest is the best policy. don't change and keep up the awesome videos.
Its a Colchester Master and will have a sight glass for the oil level, keep your eye on it.
0:00 I pulled apart my first engine when I was 14. '59 100e prefect side valve. I love your show!!! You guys are EXACTLY the type off engine people I love to deal with. Thank you 😊😊😊
Keep being open and transparent. 100% treat people the way you want to be treated. I'd prefer to deal with people/companies like this. Than those who aren't. Times are changing with the internet.
I applaud your honesty Lee, you know your stuff that's obvious to anyone who watches your output. Anyone who puts out the sort of content that you do always attract the haters. I have been subscribed to you for a few months now and I'll keep watching because you are who you are.
I know people go on about safety equipment , but I would hate to see anyone hurt because they did not follow basic safety procedures... for example, wearing protective eyewear... a must in a machine shop . If had not have been wearing mine I would not have been able to watch you great videos... be sensible guys
Gearboxes need oil? Who'd of thunk it?
The transparency thing is an interesting one, because my takeaway from your videos is how complex and involved everything is. I think you're spot on with what you say and about certain industry types keeping things "secret", but I think the industry does itself a disservice. A line item on an invoice makes something sound simple, whereas matching somebody machine something is both very satisfying and shows what a skilled job it is
Hi,
It looks like you have the 'square head Student'. I had one, and after some time I felt it was running a bit 'rumbly' so took the top off, my problem was the split shaft at the rear, the needle roller had disintegrated,, ouch! OK easy fix, new bearing, make a new shaft and much better. I decided to make an 'oil cleaner' as it is difficult to clean every last bit of swarfe out, so extended the oil filler cap down into the oil with a copper pipe with a magnet at the bottom, simple mod, but ensures any metalic contamination is caught and does not find its' way to the 'Gamet Bearings' 😁👍
I had my apprenticeship working in a machine shop that built machine shop equipment. Most "machinists" are not in the mindset of the importance of .0002/. it's a challenge. Not a middle finger or eat a ditch. Just a fact. It's just math.
As a filter and turner .0002 is a grind tolerance not something you try for on a lathe without using emery paper on that last bit.
Lucky escape on the Lathe - take that as a sign to check the gearbox oil on all the other machines? :)
100% open you can't go wrong. Keep doing what your doing channel is great love watching engine builds.
The motor trade in general has a terrible reputation. The public really don’t understand and no matter how good the job or how cheap, they always think it’s expensive or poor workmanship, give them all the details, with all the cost and all the different scenarios, then they can make an informed decision.
If you don’t do this, you’re a cowboy
Lee jealousy will get them no where, keep doing what you’re doing 👌
You are dead right Lee. Transparency translates to integrity. And as a punter the more you demystify the better I feel about paying for fair a fair dinkum approach. The videos are a lot of fun.
Hi Lee & all. I have always been in to car electrical/mechanical work, I have worked at a few places over the years and also had my own mobile car repair business, where the customer could come out and watch me work and the could see there was not doing anything underhanded and I had a good reputation I even use to work on trading standards staffs cars. I also agree about being up front with everything, the only I was a bit touchy about was trade secrets (certain ways to do something that made it a little easier, or how to reset service lights, or enter service modes, etc) By the way, this channel is one of my best, I watch all of your videos (ho the safety switches on the lathe are interlocks and can also be over ridden in the service mode lol)
Honesty and integrity......don't change Lee.
Jealousy is an awful thing with some people, do not change Lee the way you do things. Regarding the lathe gearbox oil, I have to check/top up with oil all my lathes, vertical mills, surface grinders etc every six months or sooner when I notice the sight glass is getting low, they are not the most oil tight of machines once they have a few years on them but can still produce work accurate to a few tenths of a thou.
Can't believe an engine engineer had never checked if the lathe gearbox had oil not a shop i would use one look at that filthy lathe and i would be out the door
If businesses object/criticise best practice, they will become history. Customers want to trust in you, fundamental. Your approach is absolutely right, the business will grow!
Old lathe are great, but when they are well used and not serviced and kept clean, the run out will be bad, and I would not trust using it for anything precise
May be a good idea to give all the Machines a service new belts, adjust free play just a good check over. Save a few quid and time in long run.
A friend of ours converted his A series mini race car to a Honda B18C…on the first meeting it kept popping out of gear by itself…a bit of a head scratcher but as it turned out he didn’t even think to put gear oil in the gearbox and for years he raced the A series! Those in the know will understand…
check the sight glass on the front of the gearbox.
The old saying goes, a thief always works in the shadows!
Lee, it looks like you’re doing a good job, keep up the content and don’t worry about the minority. They will only hold you down, let them drown themselves.
I am not a Karen.
I repeat, I am NOT a Karen.
Ok.
I have to again ask what kind of improvement one should expect from a knife edge job. Just a general guess/estimation. Please.
Cheers Lee, a good explanation for your reason to be.
Enjoy your videos. 🙂 Good to see that things have moved on from using a stick with a rubber sucker + grinding paste to seal your valves.
My Dad worked in Coventry for Chrysler/Humber/Jaguar etc and taught me how to keep an engine running on the cheap.
The lathe has a sight glass for the oil level, no idea how you missed it being low on oil.
I would be quite open about what I did to the competition motors that I rebuilt for other people.
BUT there was one "trick" that I told NO-ONE about AND I only did it to my motors... Two of them.
Braise up the main bearing housings and caps and then line-bore them so that the crank is offset to the center line of the bore by maybe 10 or 15 millimeters.
IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION !!!
The idea is that on the power and induction stroke, the angle of the con-rod is closer to vertical when the crank is half way around.
That does mean that on the exhaust and compression stroke the con-rod is at more of an angle but it is a trade-off.
The power stroke is where you need the maximum energy being transferred to the crank and the more vertical the con-rod is at that point the better the energy is transferred to the crank.
BUT BE CAREFUL.... YOU CAN OVERDO IT.
Also, it does create problems with any valve gears or chains.
To be honest, I have only done it to Kent motors and had to make a custom set of sprockets and chain and bugger around with tensioners and suchlike and a vernier cam sprocket IS A MUST because your cam timing is shot to hell and you definitely need to sort that out.
If the motor is a belt driven cam setup then the standard drive hardware should probably work OK as long as you can adjust the cam timing.
Other pain in the ass things that you need to sort out is the front oil seal housing in the timing cover needs to be moves so that it aligns with the crank properly again - the rear main seal housing is also needs to be offset but that you weld up and take care of when you line bore the mains.
And then the big pain is that you have to braise up all the gearbox mounting bolt and pin holes and re-machine them so that they are the right distance from the crank center line.
If you don't then the gearbox spigot shaft is way out of alignment and even IF you manage to mount the gearbox to the motor, the clutch won't work properly and the gearbox front bearing and seal will fail VERY QUICKLY.
I was fortunate back then, I worked in a motor shop and was allowed to work on my own stuff after hours and to be quite honest with you, getting a motor shop like yours to do all these mods would cost so much that the customer would probably go broke these days.
Only did 2 of those motors like I said and the BHP readings were almost stock but the TORQUE was astounding - so much so that the gearbox would very often cry "ENOUGH".
I got protested twice because guys thought that I MUST have at least a 1600 motor, maybe even an 1840 in my little 1300 car but each time the burette test came back at 1298cc with me smiling like a Cheshire cat and all sorts of people scratching their heads and asking all me sorts of questions.
FUN DAYS !!!
Looks like you've got an oil sight glass on the front of the lathe headstock and the feed gearbox like my Harrison M300. If they're clean, they should be, then worth checking occasionally and topping up with the appropriate oil. My Harrison also has one in the apron as it contains oil to lube the internal gears and acts as a reservoir as it has a pump to manually pump oil to the carriage and cross slide ways.
The difference is, customer base is made up almost entirely of people who know what they want and know what they want you to do. ‘Others’ will be carrying out work that’s an act of desperation by the uninitiated / and they’ve got away with it … and as for all the stuff about mucky workshops. You’re not trying to be Maclaren R&D are you … it’s about getting a job done & out the door without the fuss in a small town in Deb’n. Carry on … nothing to see here … the only people you need to please are your customers …
Here it is 11C and has just stopped raining... 24mm in the last 6 hours... not weather to enjoy.... NZ here and winter.
If the customers are happy, then just ignore everything else.
Nothing wrong with being open and honest
I'm probably going to display my lack of knowledge, but how does carving most of a crank's balance weights away work? Surely the engine will be hopelessly out of balance and shake like heck.
Just a stupid question, those counterweights that you knife edge are they not meant to counteract the mass of the conrod and piston?
Don't worry, the rods are like chopsticks and the pistons are drilled 🚗👌
Was that a split on that rb25 head? Just on the web separating the ports?
'Dark Secrets!' 😅 Worked with so many great shops both in Scotland and England... You either know or you don't....
The main problem is simple people don't like honesty or being open and having an opinion 😅😊
All i had was a very large le blonde lathe with a 48 inch face plate to do re bores and head skims and an archdale vertical miller for everything else plus a few manual m/cs, most jobs were no problem.
Love the classic equipment
I wouldn’t call that cycling that’s an electric bike
Try riding one. You still have to pedal so half a workout.😊
There are Northern prices and Southern prices north don't get iner London allowance definitely cheaper in the Northern area
As I remember you should have an incandescent lamp over moving machine's to stop stroboscopic affect , would you run your car without checking the oil , if that's not had maintenance bet the others are in the same state, more unwanted breakdowns , was a maintenance engineer
Honesty is for sure the best policy so please say that you are driving to work and not cycling as that's a motor bike.
Nothing like a mouse balance.
Come on Lee clean the lathe it looks a mess
yeah they want to keep it a secret because they dont want punters knowing they are charging 2k for just steam cleaning an engine and passing it off as a recon
Lee, business is business, I feel that you should explain everything to the customer the best that you can, if he doesn't understand then you should show him via pictures to help him understand what is going on, other than that it is first come first served.....in your case first in is also first out.
Lee keep up the good work, what you pay for you get! ps where do you keep the chocolate digestives in those poncey new cabinets?
That's an E bike. No wonder that you still have to go to the gym.
Issac (not sure this is how you spell your name, so apologies if wrong), were are your safety glasses 🤕.
looks good mate.. i have cbn inserts for you.. if u want to go trough hardend material on special cranks... :) bR R - Dane in CPH Airport
The lathe is now haunted by the mouse ghost poltergeist ! 😊
Is that lathe. ?
Old machines but to Las forever if maintained not like the new stuff ment to break after a set time
Honest shops don’t keep information from their customers. If they don’t disclose cost of parts, shipping, hours,rate,etc they are probably ripping you off. Unfortunately shops like yours are the exception,not the norm.
👍
The people who keep secrets of how to do it are trying to build an Empire , where they are the Emperor. All Empires fall at some time . They who keep secrets so they are the only ones who know how, are like the empires they will crumble and fail. Keep it up you may be teaching them something they didn’t know
yes watched the video calling you out it was crap at least yours are in HD ! lol! 🙂
If they can't take the heat get out of the fire?
Ctm performance engeneering...new video "calling out" Lee? #Random
Magic Smoke.
main dearlers are over 150 quid an hour
Electric bike ! Get a proper one that’s not cycling to work
Yeah flash and lazy !
Flippin’ eck
Ignore the naysayers keep moving forward. 🇳🇿P.
You’re obviously annoying certain other specialists. Don’t change the way you do your business.
I don’t know why you think relentless negativity is a way to promote your business. If I ever have engine work needing done you’d be pretty far down the list, seems like I’d be asking for hassle.
Life isn't a box of chocolates. Coming up against problems and seeking a solution is part of that life. Lee is just showing this part of the journey in a trade where to the average person it's almost rocket science and open to abuse by the less scrupulous participants. Personally I'd like the truth, wouldn't you ??
Realism is not necessarily negativity. I would use Lee as 1st choice becuse of the honesty i have seen.
All I've learned from your comment is that I definitely wouldn't want you promoting my business... his channel is very successful and has massively promoted his business.
I'd probably stick to whatever it is you think you're good at.
@@jodyhalse1 didn't realise I was promoting his channel, I kind of thought I was talking common sense. Ah well.
Sound like just the customer that i wouldnt want