Ho-Made tools.

[windsors03cobra]

Ho-Made exhaust bellows expander tool.
I know its pretty crude but will this do ? will this work ?

I plan to lock one side down, expand the bellows to get hold of it and tighten the other side down and try to put the bellows where it needs to be and jam some stuff in between the bell and the tool to hold it out.
Or my helper can finagle/hold/put the bellows where it needs to go while I help the bellows get where it needs to go and clamped from the backside of the bell.
Plan to do this job Saturday so I should know more then.
Also got my line up bar and 1/4" N.P.S. tap for the new style shift cable.

 

[APPALOOSA2]

Re: Ho-Made tools.

Hard to see in the picture but it looks like it won't open wide enough. If you had a bellows to measure and you can open it up wider it should work.

I always put my bellows in Hot water just before I put it on just to get soften up. Make sure you dry it and put bellows adhesive on.

 

[Don S]

Re: Ho-Made tools.

While your bellow tool looks cool, I sure don't see it working for you. Having installed a number of exhaust bellows, what you have there isn't going to do what is needed. Making the opening oval shaped and pulling it up onto the bellhousing and holding it there while you lift the bellhousing to install the clamp. But good luck and hope it works for you.

Now, the alignment bar. You seem to be missing the 3rd step in the bar that goes into the gimbal bearing. See drawing below.

 

[windsors03cobra]

Re: Ho-Made tools.

Actually the largest diameter is 1.375, the gimble bearing i.d.
I guess I did not explain to the guy that made it for me that the large diameter should be 1.375 for 4", he put some little undercuts on there as he thought it was suppose to be a handle I guess. He did a nice job otherwise no sharp corners.
With that said I don't think that first undercut is going to affect the tools performance as the bearing journal is pretty wide and the tool should slide in much further than that undercut if that 1.375 diameter needs to be 4'' long.

I sure hope I can get ALL the bellows and shift cable and trim position switches installed without too much hassle. So far the removal and reworking of the engine has been pretty gravy. And I'm looking forward to putting the engine back in next week if I get the sterndrive fixed up this weekend.

 

[cantaris]

Re: Ho-Made tools.

Not to be a ney sayer, but your alignment rod looks like it might be a little short. I just bought one and mine is about 22 inches long and had a knurled handle so it can be pulled out. May be it is a illusion in your pic that makes it look short.

 

[fat fanny]

Re: Ho-Made tools.

The litte undercuts are steady rest journals for holding the piece in alighnment while turning in the lathe.As long as the journals don't get caught while aligning the bearing it should be ok ? . And is that actually a 1/4 tap??

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Ho-Made tools.

Not to be a ney sayer, but your alignment rod looks like it might be a little short. I just bought one and mine is about 22 inches long and had a knurled handle so it can be pulled out. May be it is a illusion in your pic that makes it look short.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. Going to be tough to align the gimble bearing with that short of a handle, and then you don't have much to grab onto as the handle won't stick out of the bellows

Maybe drill and tap the handle end for a 12-18" long 3/4" (or larger) bolt?

 

[windsors03cobra]

Re: Ho-Made tools.

The bar is a foot long, about the same as the drive shaft. If the fit is as prescribed it will slide in and out without a snag. I expect to put the engine and gimbel bearing back as I found them and have it fit like a glove. I did not move the front motor mount or tolerance ring at all, just pulled the engine off the top of it. For working on, there's nothing more pleasurable than a plain no frills straight six. (I saw plain no frills as the high tech/high hp jap and euro straight sixes look like nightmares to work on)


And yes its a 1/4" pipe tap, national pipe straight to be exact. The diameter is about twice as big as a 1/4-20 tap.

I guess the pictures do make the items look small, the redi-rod on my craptastic bellows expander is 3/8 diameter and about 10" long (as you can see compared to the 12" long alignment bar) and will spread much farther than needed for exhaust bellows expansion, provided it works. and that's a crap shoot at this point. I am pretty sure I'm going to make it work.

 

[windsors03cobra]

Re: Ho-Made tools.

Ah you guys might be right I guess I'll make a new 2' long alignment bar, that will give my buddy at work a chance to make it right.

 

[coastalcruiser]

Re: Ho-Made tools.

the total length of my volvo alignment bar is 24'' the handle is simply threaded on and is 14 3/4'' long

 

[Don S]

Re: Ho-Made tools.

Have him use all the diminesions not just part of them or you won't have anything usable.

 

[Fisnfool]

Re: Ho-Made tools.

I recently replaced my gimbal bearing and bellows.

I did buy the engine alignment tool. I borrowed a slide hammer bearing pulling from Advance Auto. No loan fee. you just pay a deposit and get it back when you return the tool. REMEMBER TO MEASURE THE BEARING ASSEMBLY DEPTH BEFORE PULLING THE OLD ONE OUT.

I did make a bearing driver out of a short piece of 3 inch plastic pipe, a piece of 2x4 and a 1.25 diameter dowel.

I cut a round piece of 2x4 the Outside diameter of the pipe and drilled it for the dowel rod. I did not drill all the way through, I left about 1/2 inch. Then I cut a piece of 2x4 to fit inside the pipe. This piece was coated with plastic pipe cement and pushed in until it was flush with the top of the pipe.
The larger outside top piece was epoxied to the inside piece and allowed to dry.

This increases the strength of the wood at the dowel impact area and gives a recess to the wood inside the pipe so it does not strike the bearing, only the housing.

Then the dowel was epoxied into the hole as a handle. I let the epoxy set up for three days. It was 30 minute epoxy but it gets stronger for the first 72 hours. I then used a bench sander to sand a taper into the pipe so it would just fit loosely into the gimbal bearing mount. I only removed the least amount of material as possible to maintain the sidewall strength of the plastic pipe.

I cleaned the inside of the gimbal bearing housing and applied a light oil to the housing and the tolerance ring. After lining up the bearing assembly to the housing, and lining up the plastic pipe to the bearing assembly, I used a 5 pound hammer to drive the bearing in.

I started with gentle taps to start the tolerance ring into the housing and make sure the bearing was going in straight. Then I could strike the dowel rod harder and check each time to verify everything was moving in OK. Finally when I could feel the deference when I struck the dowel rod, I checked the bearing assembly measurement to verify it was in all the way and snug against the back stop.