Hi guys:
All of my valve spring tools are for stud rocker systems. I've been meaning to get one for my slant so I can change springs, or remove the inner springs to break in cams. I didn't like the prices of the ones online for what you get. The only reasonable one was discontinued by Proform Tools.
So I decided to make my own. I fortunately had some 1.5" OD by 1" ID steel, and some 1" OD by .875" ID brass stock in my remnant bin. Some work on the lathe and mill, some TIG welding by my wife, then some final brazing by me, and ...
The steam engine in the background is my wifes alcohol fired, working model of the 1835 B&O Atlantic(Grasshopper) engine. She's almost finished rebuilding it. Its one of a few hundred made in 1976 in Japan.The track it is on is a double slip switch she's building for the railroad we work on.
Once I knew it would work well, I brazed the area the welder couldn't reach.
The handle was turned on the end, then press fit in a bore before welding.
Now my question. I have extra slant rocker shafts, so I just figured I would use one of them when I need to...however, I just broke-in the cam on my customers 360 Duster and we removed the inner springs after the last cam went flat on break-in(I wasn't involved in the first cam install). Anyway, I don't really want to take the rocker assembly apart to put the inner springs back in, so I need to make a stub shaft for the small block to use with the tool. The car is located far enough away that its expensive and time consuming to go there just to measure the rocker posts.
So, does anyone here have any small block head or rocker shaft lying around and could get me the distance between centers of the rocker posts?
I've searched for about two hours on the web and couldn't find anything. Only needs to be ruler accurate, I'll slot the holes for a little extra clearance. And in my experience, the designers stuck with simple dimensions for most things.
Thanks for reading, and thanks a lot if you can help.
Gearhead
AKA Karl