Swapping engines

[JFP in PA]

They have a lot of automotive uses; if you are faced with creating an opening in a metal panel, say a bulkhead, for a wire/cable or tube to pass thru something like a firewall or bulkhead, drills tend to "pull" on the metal, distorting it, which often requires going to a hammer and dolly to beat it flat so that a cable gland can seal it weather tight again. Rotary broach tools cut a flat, undistorted opening of whatever size is required in a single move, just run a deburring tool around the hole and install the cable gland and you are ready to make a weather tight pass thru with minimal time and efffort.

[LoneWolfGal]

A little interlude while waiting for parts to arrive...

I'm a DIYer and proud of it. There was a time, however, when I was semi-pro. My brothers had a shop where they rebuilt customers' engines, and I used to hang around and help. After a while they started depending on me. "Hey, Michelle. Pull the heads off that 327 over there," or "Run this block over to J&S and get it hot tanked." At one point they started paying me for my work. A customer needed his 283 rebuilt, but my brothers were jammed up, so they asked me if I could do the honors. After I knocked out that job I did other rebuilds. Mitch & Jerry's Automotive then had three mechanics. I was 17.

Fast forward to the present day. It didn't take me long to realize that much of my experience with conventional engines was not transferable to Porsche's M96. It was a humbling realization. I'm doing my best these days to play catchup. And thank God for DIY, or I couldn't afford to drive my 986.

I saw another woman mechanic on TV. Pretty and petite, she said, "Hey... I'm a car guy. Deal with it." I can relate.

[tcoradeschi]

Originally Posted by JFP in PA

They have a lot of automotive uses; if you are faced with creating an opening in a metal panel, say a bulkhead, for a wire/cable or tube to pass thru something like a firewall or bulkhead, drills tend to "pull" on the metal, distorting it, which often requires going to a hammer and dolly to beat it flat so that a cable gland can seal it weather tight again. Rotary broach tools cut a flat, undistorted opening of whatever size is required in a single move, just run a deburring tool around the hole and install the cable gland and you are ready to make a weather tight pass thru with minimal time and efffort.

Dang. 2 days ago, I’d never heard of these, and now I gotta get me a set!

Conceptually not all that different from the holesaws I use in carpentry and much quicker than what we used back in the day, which were Greenlee knockout punches (drill a pilot hole, thread the two halves of the punch together thru the hole, and then pull the two halves together).