so easy...
now with the tools, things are good...
need a few "expensive bolts" as Peter at TDIParts.com calls them. I guess a bolt that costs $9.90 is kind of expensive. But that's what you get with a triple square head grade 8+ hardened specialty bolt.
there really isn't any cooler tool than a tap. Esp a sharp new ones. Ron Sutphin really was formative in my respect for tools. The reverence he had for a bottom bracket facing tool and the thread tools was really influential. Back in 1990... June IIRC, that was a great time spent on the second floor of the industrial park like building. Dorms on the right, school on the left, and after school the long ride up the two track to the top of the hill/mt and miles of single track back down.
Half turn of cutting, quarter turn back, half turn cut, quarter turn back... (maybe it was a full turn, but what stuck was the quarter turn back). His explanation of why made sense. And anytime a mechanic at the shop grabbed a tap and started just going at the threads w/o backing it regularly i flipped. SO WRONG. RESPECT THE TOOL. USE IT RIGHT!!!
Tonight. It took a bit of cutting metal to get into the cast iron threads on the manifold, but when they engaged, oh that tool cut the remainder of the stud out like it knew what it was doing, half turn in, quarter turn back, half turn in, squirt of cutting fluid (was using -gasp- PB Blaster) turn, back, turn, back, turn... through. Oh so beautiful.
Nothing really more awesome than a tap. Kind of expensive for a single tap, but now, NOW i can chase, tap, clean, any thread...
Tuesday night, (hopefully with bolts in hand) i'll be putting it back together.
Oh and i brought the bike tools home so i could get the cross bike ready for next weekend.
Heddwch
G
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7 comments:
tapping an "exhaust manifold" huh-huh
sweet. my taps are all old busted up sets from 40 years ago. in the machine shop at McGill there was an auto tap that you chucked into a drill press and just fed it down to keep up the the tapping. Coolest tool ever.
my first title didn't make press:
i tapped that bitch (of an exhaust manifold)
this is the set i've got now... pretty nice... for chinesium
hey, btw we can probably saw out the old cat and smash the guts out of it and reinstall. is it welded in or bolt in? that way you pass visual.
even better idea...
it is welded in (well down pipe to first clamp junction is one piece including the cat).
Smashing the guts certainly would be more satisfying...
get a couple flared adaptors just in case we have a hard time with aligning the butt weld. How hard is it to get on top of the pipe? usually i can weld all the way around alright cause of the angle of the mig head.
we have a hard time with aligning the butt weld. How hard is it to get on top of the pipe?
ok, that's just effing hilarious out of context.
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