Tag: XL Tech Stories

Old School Repair: This Dude Welds A Crankshaft Back Together Like A Boss! It Was Broken In Two!

Dec 23, 20211320 Engine Tech, 1320 Tech Story, Apex Engine Tech, Apex Tech Stories, ENGINE, TECH, Tech Stories, Videos, XL Engine Tech, XL Tech Stories

Old School Repair: This Dude Welds A Crankshaft Back Together Like A Boss! It Was Broken In Two!

If you watch videos from other countries, where guys are doing repairs that would seem nearly impossible without modern tools, you start to appreciate and understand what our grandparents and great grandparents were doing to make similar repairs. It’s a true testament to how good something can be even without CNC machines or what have you. In this video, the only equipment used to fix this completely snapped crankshaft is a drill press, a stick welder, and a lathe. The lathe isn’t anything new, but it does seem to work well, and the guy using it clearly knows what he’s doing. But the lathe could be 50 years old or 5, it’s all the same.

Watch as this guy cleans and machines each end of the broken pieces, which might actually be from two different crankshafts, slides them together, indexes them, and then gets his arc welding on. He then straightens the crank, machines the crank, and finally drills the oiling holes in it and then sends it on its way to be used in some truck or what have you. It’s impressive and you’ll dig it.

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Qarantine Cruise Photos: The November 2021 Quarantine Cruise In Had Some Epic Machines. Check Them Out!

Dyno Proven 500 Horsepower Combos: Three Stock Bottom End 5.3 LS Combos That Will Make You 500 Horsepower Or More.

Dec 23, 20211320 Engine Tech, 1320 Tech Story, Apex Engine Tech, Apex Tech Stories, ENGINE, ENGINES, TECH, Tech Stories, Videos, XL Engine Tech, XL Tech Stories

Dyno Proven 500 Horsepower Combos: Three Stock Bottom End 5.3 LS Combos That Will Make You 500 Horsepower Or More.

I get asked about LS engine combos all the time, and the overwhelming majority of them are from people who think that they need to build an engine with all aftermarket parts. When I ask them how much horsepower they want to make, the vast majority say something like 450 horsepower. This makes me shake my head, because making 400 to 500 horsepower is simple and doable if you have a 5.3 LS that runs. Stock they make 350 horsepower, so anything you do from there will make real power improvements. A camshaft and headers will make over 400, and when you combine an intake, heads, etc, there are real power numbers to be had. And then there’s nitrous! Okay that’s another video, these are completely naturally aspirated combos that are based on a stock bottom end 5.3L.

Check out Richard’s combos, dyno results, and more in the video below.

Video Description:

HOW DO I MAKE 500 HP WITH MY 5.3L? DO I NEED FORGED INTERNALS TO MAKE 500 HP WITH MY 5.3L? CAN MY 5.3L MAKE 500 HP WITHOUT BOOST? WHAT IS THE BEST CAM TO USE ON MY 5.3L? WHAT ARE THE BEST HEADS TO USE ON MY 5.3L? WHAT INTAKE SHOULD I USE ON MY 5.3L? CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO ON THREE (3) DIFFERENT 5.3L BUILDS THAT NOT ONLY EXCEEDED 500 FLYWHEEL HP, BUT DID SO WITH THE STOCK BOTTOM END (STOCK BLOCK, CRANK, RODS AND PISTONS). ALL YOU NEED ARE THE RIGHT HEADS, CAM AND INTAKE (WITH HEADERS) AND YOU TOO CAN REACH THE 500-HP MARK.

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Facebook Find: This 1980 Z28 Camaro Is Throwback Greatness I Would Drive Like A Boss

Valvetrain Tech: If Light Weight And Low Reciprocating Mass Matter So Much, Do Stiffer Valve Springs Cost Horsepower?

Jun 26, 20211320 Engine Tech, 1320 Tech Story, Apex Engine Tech, Apex Tech Stories, Apex Video, ENGINE, ENGINES, TECH, Tech Stories, Videos, XL Engine Tech, XL Tech Stories

Valvetrain Tech: If Light Weight And Low Reciprocating Mass Matter So Much, Do Stiffer Valve Springs Cost Horsepower?

 

Roller rockers, roller lifters, beehive valve springs, lightweight valves, lightweight locks and retainers, and the list goes on. These are all things designed to aid in controlling valvetrain at high rpm and under extreme power levels, and they do this by reducing the load required to move and control these components. So it would make sense that lighter valve springs would also be good for that. After all, anyone that has built an engine before knows that spinning the engine over by hand is very easy when it is just a short block and gets harder as you add components. If you have an engine with no spark plugs in it, and no rocker arms, then it is still really easy to spin by hand. But when you also have to turn the valvetrain, it becomes much more difficult.

So if you had an engine that didn’t “require” heavier valve springs, because it wasn’t going to be run at high rpm or didn’t have a camshaft that needed the extra valve control that heavy springs provide, would it make more horsepower with lighter weight springs that the others? Logic says yes. Or at least it seems like it does. But what does the dyno say?

Luckily for us, Richard Holdener knows because he’s done this very test and here it is so you can see for yourself.

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Solid Axle Swapping The NBS Chevrolet Truck Continues: Let The Welding Begin!

May 09, 2021SUSPENSION, TECH, Tech Stories, Videos, XL Suspension Tech, XL Tech Stories, XL Videos

Solid Axle Swapping The NBS Chevrolet Truck Continues: Let The Welding Begin!

I hate watching these videos, because all it does it make me want to buy an IFS 4×4 so I can solid axle swap it. It’s been too long since I had a lifted truck and now I want one. Thanks a lot Bruce Cook! I did not need to add anything to the list of things I want to buy and build.

In this new video series of his, Bruce is taking on a new off-road project and doing things a bit differently. He’s built other trucks and stuff, but always with help from different shops or manufacturers. This time he wants to do as much as is humanly possible, on his own from his wheelchair. As he puts it, he’ll have to have some help with heavy lifting, but nothing us upright folks wouldn’t have to have a hand with. He also knows what he can and can’t do, like setting up the new gears in the axles, but that’s about knowing his skill level and has nothing to do with the chair or his injury.

As a big fan of Solid Axle Swaps in general, and with one floating around in my head for a future project, this one is right up my alley. And since we like following other folks project around here, we figured this one looked like fun. So watch, and let us know what you think. And maybe Bruce will inspire you to get out into the garage to do some wrenching this weekend.

CLICK HERE IF YOU MISSED THE OTHER EPISODES OR DON’T KNOW Bruce Cook’s STORY

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