Actual video of MotorMeister rebuilding engines

[svandamme]

Merry Christmas y'all

[fanaudical]

Well, at least we see a micrometer and a torque wrench. Squishing paper to check clearances is something I remember my grandfather doing.

I find the lack of cleanliness during assembly appalling - but that's probably just me. I guess you work with what you have...

Anybody else see the welded cam lobes and the "fabulous finish" on some of the lobes and rollers?

[JackDidley]

If they cleaned out the ports after cutting the valve seats, that motor probably lasted a long time. Sometimes you work with whats available.

[Zeke]

These guys are as good as most of us in the 60's with our SBC engines. They ran, that's all that mattered. Put a big cam in and shave the head .030. A 4-cylinder hot rod makes more HP today than what we got spending money at the 'speed shop' back then.

And WAY better mileage.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by JackDidley

If they cleaned out the ports after cutting the valve seats, that motor probably lasted a long time. Sometimes you work with whats available.

I saw that. There may have been some steps skipped like lapping the valves to the seats? They did not bolt the head down to the mill when they were cutting the seats. Maybe it reduces some kind of machining risk?

I would not have been surprised if I had seen a couple of goats (Not talking MJ/Brady/LeBron) walking around in the shop.

I will say that when the motor started no one seemed surprised. They have done it once or twice.

[asphaltgambler]

OK, I watch these guys all the time, really amazing what they do. Saw the title, fully expected to see MM, then laughed out loud!

[TimT]

Dockside engine refresh. Bohai Bay, Hangu District, Tainjin, China.

[Scott Douglas]

Watching this video reminded me of the first engine rebuilding I was exposed to when our then next door neighbor built his SBC. Of course it was a lot cleaner conditions, even though it was in his dad's garage. It wasn't all that long after that that Dad had my brother and I rebuilding the engine in Mom's '64 Studebaker. By the time we'd reached high school age our neighbor trusted us enough to build a SBC for his '57 Nomad. When my brother rebuilt the engine in his Cameo, Mom let him paint the inside of engine in the house because it was winter time and too cold out in the garage.

[Evans, Marv]

It's better than the repair experience a friend had a long time ago when his pidkup died in a small village in Saudia Arabia. The local mechanic took a rock and whacked the engine. My friend fired him after that.

[A930Rocket]

OK, I’m feeling a lot more confident in rebuilding the engine in my 330 CI.😂

[LWJ]

I have seen much worse. Looked long and hard but can’t find it. Some teen hot rodders made a video about how to turbo a car or similar. I think they were Russian. Ported the head with absolutely zero adherence to protocol. Well the whole thing was that way. I think the motor blew shortly after reassembly.

Hilarious.

And they were serious.

Not as much dirt in the shop as our Pakistani friends though.

[shinrai]

I lived in China for many years. They rebuilt engines on the sidewalk while squatting. Parts and oil all over the place. Things worked fine afterwards. We take things too seriously.
But if we pay a premium for things to perfect then I see where the MM reference comes in. Terrible.

[red-beard]

That is rough concrete, not a dirt floor. It is a rebuilding shop, not a hospital. I'm more concerned with the lack of PPE during the machining. Honestly, that was a reasonable rebuild. It is just not a US machine shop. There are probably more engine rebuilding shops in the world than ones that look like the US machine shops.

They seemed to be doing the right checks. I think a few steps were left out of the video (hot tanking the heads after machining). On the squished paper, that was a common clearance check. I've used plasti-guage in the past. That was a soft metal foil that they then mic'd afterwards.

There are Truck rebuilding shops like this in every town on a main road in Pakistan. It has been a while since I lived there, but I'm sure it is not much different.

[A930Rocket]

How does the squishing of paper check clearances? When they put the paper in and the crank doesn’t turn, means it’s good to go?

[JackDidley]

Originally Posted by A930Rocket

How does the squishing of paper check clearances? When they put the paper in and the crank doesn’t turn, means it’s good to go?

They used a micrometer to measure the thickness of the paper to get the clearance.

[Scott R]

Cant be Motormeister there are new parts everywhere, Jerry would never use new bearings.

[sc_rufctr]

"Good enough" seems to be the standard they're working to. They're doing the best they can with what they have.

But as mentioned some of the cam lobes looked really bad.
- How long do they expect that engine to last???

[cstreit]

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

"Good enough" seems to be the standard they're working to. They're doing the best they can with what they have.

But as mentioned some of the cam lobes looked really bad.
- How long do they expect that engine to last???

Long enough to get paid and for the truck to be too far away for it to matter.

Yeah - probably won't last long - but I bet they do the whole thing for a few hundred bucks.

[aigel]

The lack of PPE is astounding. Safety glasses and closed toed slippers would go a long way. The shirts are also dangerous around all those rotating machines, but they may be culturally mandatory. So much misery you can avoid with very little PPE, especially thinking how hard it must be to get proper care if you do injure yourself in that town.

What is the "coolant" they put in the radiator and are they using used motor oil for machining fluid when honing the cylinders? Then the guy sucks and blows the fuel lines. All not too healthy, that's for sure.

The floor may be concrete, but how about not throwing the crank right into the dirt and rather stand it up? I guess the floor is too uneven and the danger of the crank falling on open toes is too big?

I bet there is no new cam or cam weld / regrind because a cam grinder is a very specialized tool that they can't afford. They don't have a crank grinder either, only lapping / polishing it on a lathe. Can't do any quick fix like that on a cam.

Lastly, I like the team work, these guys are making up for the lack of vices and work benches by helping each other out. It is incomprehensible to us here in a first world country how little money and resources these folks have at their disposal. It looks to be easier to hire 12 guys to do the job of 2 people with proper tools. I also think they did a good job checking tolerances which I bet they keep pretty open.

[svandamme]

Originally Posted by asphaltgambler

Saw the title, fully expected to see MM, then laughed out loud!

Misshun accomplished.