Quote:
Originally Posted by SofaKing
Please avert your eyes if you are traumatized by the use of tools in an unorthodox fashion. 
I rigged this up to grind my (cheap chevy) valve stems. I am satisfied with the result though I have not started the engine yet. They came out flat and the grind pattern is centered. It required remounting the grinding wheel with bronze bushings to take the wobble out from the plastic mounting bushings. I used very light pressure and spun the valve while it was in contact with the wheel. I cooled the valves frequently and obviously had to check them over and over to get to the correct clearance. I only ground one too short and had to replace it. Set-up is key, making sure everything is plumb and square I spent a little time checking and shimming the aluminum post holding the valve. It's SLOW; I would grind, quench, drop it in the hole and check the clearance with the lifter while applying pressure with my finger and repeat probably 10-15x for each valve. I am happy to say all are right at the book clearance limits, I'll soon see how it worked out.
As an aside, I expected to destroy the grinding wheel but there not only wasn't a groove worn in it, there was almost no perceptible wear. |
Make sure that you get back to us. I have a couple of "econo-builds" going and was considering an approach such as this. IIRC, when I was a kid in the '50's, the guys at the little local garage would do them "free-hand" on a bench grinder!