You done yet?
My fucking manifesto hit the 10k character limit...
Where I live, people generally do not have lathes, man. We always lead the US within the top 5 for bottom metrics. Most people around here spend most of their time trying to figure out how to hustle that future buck out of the government over a 40oz. Outside of the fishing and nature the state offers (and trails) I generally hate where I live. As a sacrifice to my wife, I will not be leaving the state until my mother-in-law passes away.
We do not have any real machine shops where I live. I spent a day calling over 30 shops I found advertised as “machine shops.” Basically, you have a bunch of CNC factories uploading third party CAD files and feeding production machines. You walk up to them with a custom project and they freeze up. A while back I found one place that was able to machine my 8.8’s axle flanges for my S10. I asked them about the 14bff hubs, and they basically said what PAE said. They didn’t know if they could do it, but they said they would try- don’t get me wrong I consider this progress.
Generally, money isn’t really a problem as I believe someone with uncommon tools and ability should be compensated for their effort, though having someone already experienced would be preferred to me being the guinea pig. By the time I buy calipers and pads for my front D60 (not counting the 8 on 6.5 hubs I had to buy as this was a factory dually before the 6 on 5.5 swap) and a new set of factory steels which can only generally be found from CUCV parts dealers and then need to be powder coated, snow rated tires for those rims, replacement reproduction “parade” rims (my sentimental attachment though less so based on the absent deep dish of the 17s) that don’t even come in 17x10 (17x8), and the 17” bead locks and tires for those and other nuts and bolt I have already probably spent more than the machining. I would really rather not pay for the extra hours of someone’s trial and error learning session. That does not mean that I wouldn’t if that ends up presenting itself as the best/only option. Why do I not prefer this route- because I am not the PITA who is going to demand they pay for a new hub if and when they fuck up as I understand this shit can be a little tedious- hence why you don’t see dudes popping out of the woodwork to volunteer. So basically, I prefer a pinch of confidence since I am basically going to eat any machining mistakes as a courtesy… because I am such a PITA, especially when antagonized…
This shouldn’t be a 6 or 7 hour project for a competent machinist, but it could be for a hobbyist machinist with China machines and inadequate cup/jig selection. The key trick is to not be that fuck head at Sam’s Club who takes two hours doing one tire at a time- ya know what I mean?? First, you hit the bosses with the grinder and get them about flush making sure not to overheat the cast too much. Do this on all three hubs at the same time. Then spin them all down (bearing seal side). A competent machine shop would not be using Harbor Freight Machines for this, but rather commercial quality machines with a nice assortment of jigs and cups. Then flip them over and chuck them up to turn the wheel pilot down to 4.244” (and I would double check all of my measurements as not to trust my memory if doing it for real.) Then, if you are a “competent machine shop, you would have a plasma cutting table to make a solid one-piece spacer to make up for the lost beef and caliper measured bosses to WMS tolerance- or skip that and I will take care of that part. Basically, cut a circle, then cut a circle out of that circle, then clamp it in place in order to drill out the 8 on 6.5. If done with OCD attention to detail, none of the 6 on 5.5 holes should have to be plugged- a decent perk when playing with cast…
<a href="
"><img src="
" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>
As far as the lug holes, a competent machine shop would not use a cheesy plastic universal template bought off Summit, but either a quality jig like this one I used on my 8.8 and for other individuals who ship their axles to me from around the country (because I am such a PITA to deal with that I do it for the cost of fresh drill bits since it takes little time and I actually enjoy it) or one of the other several methods used by different machine shops based on comfort level and tool availability. Done deal. And I could do a lot of this myself in conjunction- though a competent machine shop would probably prefer control over the whole process, and I don’t blame them.
<a href="
"><img src="
" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>
I generally don’t suck to be around. Actually, I am that guy who is always bitching that I can’t keep neighbors and such out of my way while I am trying to knock out a project. I think most people who know me would generally tell you I am kewl as fuck unless if you take a jab at me or my family… I have a backbone and when that happens, I can REALLY suck… A LOT… and I prefer my friends to be similar in temperament- though I like friends who agree to disagree on subjective matters. The rest are all just acquaintances…
I bought my 454 used out of a church van that rusted out in the rust belt. It had a broken speedometer and no record of when the rebuild BB was swapped for the POS diesel it replaced. It already had a cam and 049 heads. I always thought it was a dog (though easy burnouts,) probably being spoiled by my <4000 lb cars that required much less off idle torque, though it was a lot better than the cammed 350 I replaced. I inquired on Grumpy’s about a cam recommendation for having low compression and a high stall converter (long story.) After getting a rash of banter from Grumpy’s forum, Grumpy came through and recommended a cam- similar to what I would have chosen though I wanted real world opinions from real world cammed low compression big block users. That was right before C hit and then I got sidetracked. In the meantime, my brother bought a show 2002 Suburban with a Gen VII 8.1 BB/4L80E/14bff w/410s/ 35s in Dallas, Texas and stopped by on the way back to Chicago. We raced and I killed him. He had no check engine lights and it ran good. At that point I realized that my truck was cammed, makes sense since the 049 heads were already on there. All I ever did was take it out, re-gasket it, paint it, replace the Eddy Performer manifold installed in 1994 as it was heavily pitted beyond what I was comfortable milling down. At that point I just decided to leave it until I replaced it with something badder asser. I have been stuck with 356s in my 14bsf for too long now, but I do love the fact that I can hit 100 mph with only a TH400. I do, however, kick myself for having never taken the cam out to mic it. It is completely and totally irresponsible for me to not know what cam I have in my truck. I also raced a 78’ Ford F150 with a mildly built small block and felt like I was cheating or something…
So, I have not had any machine work done, and I probably won’t have any machine work done as I will pluck it and store it either as a back-up (still have the original 350 as a back-up) or use it in another project. My 350 was going to go into my S10 but then I realized I needed to maintain MPG for the daily Little Rock commute, so I went with a HT3.4 clone instead… for now… but have a cammed LY6 just waiting on me acquiring a strong 4L80E (probably from Precision in Amarillo) to back it up. I also have a turbocharged Caddy 502 I was initially going to swap the 350 out with, but then stumbled across the 454 at a to good to be true price (at least back then when BBs were still “widely” considered the bees’ knees) and decided to keep the 502 for a Swamp People style air boat that I have yet to acquire. I would like to find an old Merlin block preferably, and I definitely will stroke it, and if I do need machine work it will probably be a place called Rebel Rebuilders in Little Rock (or Dallas based shops)- and no they won’t machine my hubs- though they are more advanced than a factory material feeder, they don’t stray away from their basic, repetitive, comfort zone engine machining stuff, at least not publicly.
