As promised, some pictures of homemade tools from my Dad's collection;
I mentioned he was a diemaker at Chevrolet for 26 of his 35 years with GM, so he had access to any kind of machinery or help imaginable. As a result he/they made a lot of tools that were either not available in the marketplace, or just because they could make them for free rather than having to purchase them.
I hit the "mother lode" yesterday - Here are a few I found while I was unpacking:
Homemade tubing bender, for bending 1/2" fuel lines -
This is a good one. It doesn't look like much, but it is made from a turned down cap screw. The small end fits into a connecting rod (piston end) and you swing the rod past the weight on the crank. This is either to (a) ensure you have adequate clearance or (b) use as a fixture to grind the crank weight until clearance is acheived. I've done this at least a couple times.
Homemade tool for pushing the rear axle pinion yoke off the pinion gear shaft (for those stubborn applications) -
Fixture that emulates the bolt pattern of the exhaust side of a Chevy Big Block cylinder head, for use in fabricating header tubes -
Pretty simplistic but still counts: a Drift pin for aligning bolts; I use this one for lining up suspension bolt holes for rear upper and lower control arm attachments -
Homemade tool that keeps the flywheel from turning while torquing attaching bolts/torque convertor bolts/harmonic balancer bolts or installation. The beveled edge is placed in the ring gear teeth and it rotates until stopped by the bellhousing alignment pin or some other feature on the block/trans:
Valve spring compressor for use when the cylinder head is installed on the engine. The cylinder is filled with compressed air and the locks can be removed to repair a seal, or replace/shim the valve spring -
To be honest, I'm not sure what these are for. They were in the tool kit with all the rear end set-up tools. One of them looks like it might be for holding the pinion yoke to keep it from turning:
Homemade bearing/seal installer (fits front wheel "dust cups" too, I believe) -
Homemade slide hammer, for removing the rear axle ring gear/carrier after the caps are removed (for Pontiacs, which are a press fit) -
This is the tool for checking pinion depth when setting up a rear axle. The round portions are held in the carrier saddle and then a depth gage is placed on the flat. The flat is machined to match the rear axle shaft centerline and the depth is measured from there to the rear face of the pinion gear (for Pontiac) -
These are used to keep the pinion yoke from rotating, while torquing or removing the pinion nut and/or crushing the crush sleeve. The fork portion is bolted into the yoke, and then a piece of pipe is inserted over the end -
Not sure what this is, either, but it was in with the rear axle tools and too cool to pass up -
Homemade drift pin/punch, for whatever -
I know there's more up at Mom's house, like a homemade camshaft degree wheel that's about 2 feet in diameter (made before they were commercially available). I'll shoot some pics the next time I'm up there.
K