Improvised 470 engine tools

[natemoore]

Rear oil seal installer made from 4" PVC cleanout, some plywood, and a piece of a wooden closet rod.

 

[natemoore]

Re: Improvised 470 engine tools

Rear oil seal installation tool when the Quick Seal makes the seal too slippery to hammer in.

 

[natemoore]

Re: Improvised 470 engine tools

Harmonic balancer installer made out of all-thread, a piece of black pipe, some fender washers, a few nuts, and the thrust bearing (optional) from the Snap-On harmonic balancer installer that wouldn't work with Mercruisers extra-deep harmonic balancer.

 

[natemoore]

Re: Improvised 470 engine tools

Oil pump alignment tool for part no. 91-14822 that apparently is NLA for real.

I made three collars out of Corian material like so: First I squared up my drill press table. Then I drilled three holes in the piece of scrap just slightly smaller than the hex shaft. Then I went almost all the way through again with a bit just slightly larger. This left a lip on the inside of the hole. Then I forced the collars onto the hex shaft. This left the collars snug on the shaft. Then I glued the three collars together after cutting them out.

I used the spring, washer, and steel drill bit stop collar to hold the Corian collars tightly against the gear body. This both squared it up and stiffened it so it could be used as an alignment gauge.

When I mounted the distributor on a vice and spun the shaft, it was not by any means perfectly straight, but I definitely got it to within about .010" to .015", compared to the 0.150" of play it has without the collar. I'll bet I could shove that Merc alignment tool in my block and get that much wiggle (.010 - .015" that is).

When I inserted the distributor into the block, it was stiff enough to move the oil pump to the correct alignment, as opposed to the distributor shaft moving to the pump.

 

[sikpupy]

Re: Improvised 470 engine tools

Wow, these are great, thanks for the effort of posting. I already knew I was in for some homemade tools, but, you helped me to see the picture....with a picture. Thanks for takiong the time to post them.

 

[natemoore]

Re: Improvised 470 engine tools

Here are some more I made when I rebuilt my transom unit.

Top is an exhaust bellows installation tool I made from a picture on the web. I had to make educated guesses about dimensions, but the size of the oval plates is dictated by the exhaust hole in the bell housing. I used a stack of fender washers welded together to make the oval plates. I have a welder and grinder, so this was easy.

Below that is an extended nut driver to get to the hard-to-reach hose clamps.

The next two are just improvised grabber/poker/pullers I needed to help get the exhaust boot on.

Bottom is a crimping tool made from cheap pliers and a 1/2" nut welded to the pliers, drilled out to 3/8", then split with a hack saw. This idea came out of a SELOC manual.

 

[natemoore]

Re: Improvised 470 engine tools

With a little ingenuity, you can make bushing pullers and installers out of threaded rod, nuts, washers, and sockets. This is the shift bushing in the bell housing.

 

[sikpupy]

Re: Improvised 470 engine tools

Ha ha ha, niiice. We should start a McGyver club. Then again, if i showed my make-shift tools, I think i would be booted from the club, lol.

 

[natemoore]

Re: Improvised 470 engine tools

Ha ha ha, niiice. We should start a McGyver club. Then again, if i showed my make-shift tools, I think i would be booted from the club, lol.

That's okay. We'll just call it "The MacGruber Club."

 

[rjwoodrome]

Re: Improvised 470 engine tools

Remember what they say.

If the women dont find ya hansom.
At least they find ya handy.
Remember to keep yer stick on the ice..

I too have some garage engineered tools.. some times its quicker to make it than to try and buy it. thanks for the ideas.

 

[natemoore]

Re: Improvised 470 engine tools

My other past time is guitar building. The funnest part to me isn't making the guitar, but making the jigs. Very satisfying compared to trying to get a *%$# exhaust boot on a bell housing.

 

[alex3012red]

Re: Improvised 470 engine tools

You guys are very helpful, thanks!

 

[sikpupy]

Re: Improvised 470 engine tools

............. Very satisfying compared to trying to get a *%$# exhaust boot on a bell housing.

Yea, I just can not wait, lol.

 

[livin4real]

Re: Improvised 470 engine tools

Nice job on the bellows tool, could've used that when I swapped mine out last fall. I did make a shift cable socket for the 170 we just sold when I was swapping bellows. Just bought an impact socket the size I needed then welded a nut onto the end then sliced a grinder blade width all the way down one side so I could slide it over the shift cable and onto the nut. Then just used a wrench on the nut that was welded on. Originally tried it with a regular socket but wouldn't hold shape enough to break the nut free. Wish I had a pic, let it go with the boat.

 

[achris]

Re: Improvised 470 engine tools

.... Originally tried it with a regular socket but wouldn't hold shape enough to break the nut free.

If you were trying to remove the old cable, why not do what I do? Just cut off the old cable and use a standard socket.... Or is that too easy?

Chris.......

 

[livin4real]

Re: Improvised 470 engine tools

I wasn't positive at the time I was going to replace the cable and what fun would that have been anyway? lol

 

[natemoore]

Re: Improvised 470 engine tools

Homemade Valve Spring Compressor Tool

My machine shop didn't do such a hot job on at least one of my valves, because it's getting stuck and causing bent pushrods. So, I had to make a couple of valve tools so I can double check them this time.

The first is a valve spring compressor tool that I made out of a Task Force pry bar from Lowes. All I used was a grinder, welder, and drill press. This was hardened steel so I had to sacrifice a couple of old drill bits to get through it.

It works well, except a longer bolt would be helpful when reinstalling the valves.

 

[natemoore]

Re: Improvised 470 engine tools

Homemade Hydraulic Lifter Compressor Tool

This tool costs about $175, so I whipped one together using an extra thick Simpson tie down strap and a steel rod form Lowes. I used the picture in the repair manual as a guide. Trial and error process to get the fit just right. Works well.

 

[natemoore]

Re: Improvised 470 engine tools

This freak show was my first attempt at a field expedient improvised hydraulic lifter compressor tool. It started with a spring tensioner wrench that came with my attic ladder kit (I never throw away metal), then grew to an ugly, freakish, scary monster-like pain-inflicting device or perhaps a dental implement bwahhahahahahah!

It's back in the scrap pile.