The Elephant In The Room: unloading the load from a B-body.

[fullmetaljacket]

Over the time that this idea was running through my head, I decided that the Moroso types were the best to work with even though the letters were larger.
Why?
Less body hammering work over a small surface area thus less distortion when grinding the letters almost flush with the rest of the surface.
Basically, I laid the valve covers over a small shop anvil with the logo face up and carefully hammered the letters as flat as I could using special flat face body hammers like the ones below. Patience, patience. All of this was while flipping the valve cover over and over, but mostly gently working the top face flat.

View attachment 1483872

Here one can see the first M letter being massaged down and then gently going under the grinding disc to smooth it out even more. Too much hammering and the letters may cut themselves out like a stencil cut out, so patience and gentleness is paramount here. These valve covers are thin as it is, so they need TLC on all fronts.
Once all the letters are flattened, a gentle pass over with a light grit disc will prepare them for one of the last phases of prep, a smear of body filler.
As a note, these things are vulnerable to distorting if the bolts are tightened too much. Invest in good gaskets and no excessive tightening will be needed. If distorted, they can be straightened easily on a flat anvil.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Here one can see the first M letter being massaged down and then gently going under the grinding disc to smooth it out even more. too much hammering and the letters may cut themselves out like a stencil cut out, so patience and gentleness is paramount here. These valve covers are thin as it is, so the need TLC on all fronts.
Once all the letters are flattened, a gentle pass over with a light grit disc will prepare them for one of the last phases of prep, a smear of body filler.

View attachment 1483887

Once the smear of body filler is applied, dried and smoothed over with fine wet sand paper, they are ready for a light coat of primer sealer followed by a stealth coat of Hemi orange paint. To further add some invincibility, an old school Ramcharger/Superstock(413-426) decal can be applied such as here and Wha-la, a stock steel cover as long as you can believe your own true lies. LOL.
Another rare item these days are the valve cover breathers in anodized aluminum. These here are steel believe it not only because I've not seen or ran the aluminum ones for years now. I have not been able to find the aluminum types as of lately. Super light.

Whats the big heist? Stock steel covers weigh 2-3/4 Lbs each for a total of 5-1/2 Lbs.
The Ninja covers.... 3Lbs total. Shave 2-1/2 Lbs and look STOCK baby cakes!

 

[Big bill]

That’s a great idea.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

That’s a great idea.

Yes, when the results of the weight shave revealed itself, I was ecstatic and this was years ago sometime in 2002 when I was preaching the true lies.
While on the subject of stamped aluminum anodized products, the car has also been running one of these on the Dana as an undercover cover. The drain/fill plug is also aluminum and the piece has no markings or logos to deal with.
Painted semi gloss black and it looks like one of those heavy factory steel covers. Another plus is that it manages rear end lube temperature better than a steel cover. This also applies to the valve covers as far as engine oil temps.

This would only work off course if your differential is stock and not running the special heavy cast aluminum girdle cover with the load bolts for the bearing caps.
Those things work great, but weigh 7 Lbs or more. The anodized unit is just under a pound.
A properly built Dana for a warm to hot street car should need no more than a simple cover, especially if it's a light automatic car.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Yes, when the results of the weight shave revealed itself, I was ecstatic and this was years ago sometime in 2002 when I was preaching the true lies.
While on the subject of stamped aluminum anodized products, the car has also been running one of these on the Dana as an undercover cover. The drain/fill plug is also aluminum and the piece has no markings or logos to deal with.
Painted semi gloss black and it looks like one of those heavy factory steel covers. Another plus is that it manages rear end lube temperature better than a steel cover. This also applies to the valve covers as far as engine oil temps.

This would only work off course if your differential is stock and not running the special heavy cast aluminum girdle cover with the load bolts for the bearing caps.
Those things work great, but weigh 7 Lbs or more. The anodized unit is just under a pound.
A properly built Dana for a warm to hot street car should need no more than a simple cover, especially if it's a light automatic car.

View attachment 1484200

Take a close look at Titanium bolts throughout. Double Titanium worm clamps keep the hoses tight in place. Aluminum March pulleys are actually a hair heavier than the steel stockers, but with the benefits of a deep groove for the belts.

 

[Badvert65]

Why double clamps on the hoses?

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Take a close look at Titanium bolts throughout. Double Titanium worm clamps keep the hoses tight in place.

View attachment 1485036

Why double clamps on the hoses?

Extra peace of mind. Those things were so light that I wanted a little insurance. Even when I was running steel ones, I had two.

 

[Badvert65]

OK, where on earth did you find titanium hose clamps? (unless it's a secret).
-Matt

 

[fullmetaljacket]

OK, where on earth did you find titanium hose clamps? (unless it's a secret).
-Matt

McMasters. They have a host of stuff. You just have to know the tinsel, shear strengths of fasteners if those are part of the bucket list. There are soft metals (lighter, but not necessarily safer) and hard metals ( a little heavier but strong) out there.
Some can also be too hard to take work hardening cycles, so caution is not to be thrown to the wind.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

McMasters. They have a host of stuff. You just have to know the tinsel, shear strengths of fasteners if those are part of the bucket list. There are soft metals (lighter, but not necessarily safer) and hard metals ( a little heavier but strong) out there.
Some can also be too hard to take work hardening cycles, so caution is not to be thrown to the wind.

For a minute here I thought I was Henry Hill or Tommy DeVito casing out a pair of trucks carrying precious metals. I almost got into character to spring into action with another great truck heist. One can safely say that these two trucks were light enough NOT to flattened the arc bow on their beds nor register on the scales. Take your pick, Ti or Alu-meanium. LOL. A little humor in between the threads.

 

[MarPar]

For a minute here I thought I was Henry Hill or Tommy DeVito casing out a pair of trucks carrying precious metals. I almost got into character to spring into action with another great truck heist. One can safely say that these two trucks were light enough NOT to flattened the arc bow on their beds nor register on the scales. Take your pick, Ti or Alu-meanium. LOL. A little humor in between the threads.

View attachment 1485387

View attachment 1485388

 

[fullmetaljacket]

View attachment 1485397

Yeah, those are my Boyz.
When the Lufthansa heist was to go down, I told them "abort the mission and never mind the cash, get the Titanium and Aluminum instead. Priceless.
That's why Henry Hill's suit here looks like it's made out of Titanium with a little nickel thrown in for size. LOL.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Yeah, those are my Boyz.
When the Lufthansa heist was to go down, I told them "abort the mission and never mind the cash, get the Titanium and Aluminum instead. Priceless.
That's why Henry Hill's suit here looks like it's made out of Titanium with a little nickel thrown in for size. LOL.

View attachment 1485426

Here's a look at a fresh A-864 Hemi car going through quality control at the end of its assembly. Perhaps the gents are either writing up its release forms or applying the brakes for adjustments to its left side front hood alignment and front bumper adjustment on the same side.
These factory race cars probably left the factory in (eye appeal approval from 20 feet) just because they knew that they were going to get abused in so many ways, hence the disclaimer sheets on the windows and stickers in the glove box compartments. Note: no side mirror on the drivers aluminum door.

 

[MarPar]

That's why Henry Hill's suit here looks like it's made out of Titanium with a little nickel thrown in for size. LOL.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Oh, and talking about lightweight anodized items, here's some good humor ice cream. How about a pair of anodized aluminum ignition keys? Every ounce counts. LOL.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Oh, and talking about lightweight anodized items, here's some good humor ice cream. How about a pair of anodized aluminum ignition keys? Every ounce counts. LOL.

View attachment 1485715

Oh, and talking about lightweight anodized items, here's some good humor ice cream. How about a pair of anodized aluminum ignition keys? Every ounce counts. LOL.

View attachment 1485715

Titanium header bolts saved 1/4 pound over the steel ones. Collectors have slip on ends for a rather special and unique exhaust system. You think the infamous Silver Bullet had a unique exhaust system? It did, but this here is planet Mars.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Titanium header bolts saved 1/4 pound over the steel ones. Collectors have slip on ends for a rather special and unique exhaust system. You think the infamous Silver Bullet had a unique exhaust system? It did, but this here is planet Mars.

Titanium header bolts saved 1/4 pound over the steel ones. Collectors have slip on ends for a rather special and unique exhaust system. You think the infamous Silver Bullet had a unique exhaust system? It did, but this here is planet Mars.

The original site to Apollo/Trick Titanium where a good host of tricks happened during the Pro-Stock era's witching hours.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Titanium header bolts saved 1/4 pound over the steel ones. Collectors have slip on ends for a rather special and unique exhaust system. You think the infamous Silver Bullet had a unique exhaust system? It did, but this here is planet Mars.

Trick Titanium in Troy, Michigan provided these four 6AL-4V titanium K-member bolts way back in the 1990's. It was back to the scene of the original crime in Pro-Stock history by working with the successor of the successors of the crew that worked closely with Ted Spehar's Motown Missile program.
There was some rather interesting fasteners still on the shelves, dust and all.

 

[gooser]

trick it is nice stuff

 

[fullmetaljacket]

trick it is nice stuff

Years in the taking, making and then faking.