Cedar Machine

05/30/2026

This guy looks like a real winner. I wonder if his head tilts as part of his brain leaks out.

The discussion is, if align honing is an important step in the block machining process.

05/12/2026

The last shortblock finished. For a friend’s marina, inventory. 355” Vortec.

Funny thing, I’m pretty sure something like this would have been the first engine that left the shop back in 1990. These Chevy 350’s have been the backbone of the industry for 50+ years. That’s really something.

Well, time to get moved and work on some fun tech content. The 355” dyno mule is already getting some flogging.

04/18/2026

Finish hone on a 4.561” bore ProCharged marine block. Align honed, decks indexed for MLS, bored, lifter bores indexed for .904” lifters and honed.
Some good core and a nice smooth RPK. This is a diamond combo finish, using my latest mix matrix abrasive.
Beautiful, repeatable results. “Best of both worlds!”.
Looks like one more block and this machine is getting unplugged and heading for the retirement shop soon.
Gotta keep my friends happy 👍

04/13/2026

Kent Moore lifter bleed down tester. I’ll show some different lifters in a future video, and compare the bleed rates. It’s very interesting.

04/05/2026

First of a few videos posted to the YouTube channel. Subscribe to see more as I load them.
I’ll be posting some of the old ones that were unpublished by FB as well. Thanks!

Correcting the cam tunnel using the BHJ CTA-1 fixture.

03/31/2026

Thanks for the mention JE Pistons! Always have what we need, great quality and performance.

03/28/2026

Here’s the process of checking and straightening a camshaft. There’s a lot more to the reason we do this than just having the cam spin nice in the bore. As far off as this cam is, it would’ve undoubtedly spun just fine, but caused problems.

Bill Berry, of Berry Cam Service taught me this method decades ago. (1990 or so). It’s something that everybody should know about.

03/26/2026

Well, after some measuring and calculations, and the fact that I found a set of 215 heads on the back shelf, I may have the best “big cam” combo sitting here. 

With the small chamber heads, I’m able to get 9.91:1 compression, which I’ll bump up to 10.2:1 by milling the surfaces .020”. I feel that’s enough for the mighty Harold Brookshire designed Lunati Voodoo cam.

The 215 head cores are really nice, with just one broken guide. I’ll stick with the 1.75” exhaust valve and see if the factory intake size will let me establish 3 angles. If not, I’ll turn down some 2.19’s to what I need.

If I were to use the 781 Heads, we’d be at 8.73:1. That’s probably about a minimum for that 280 Isky cam. I’d have to mill the heads .040” plus, just to get 9.5:1.

03/24/2026

Well, I’ve got a shortblock. Pressure tested, magged, Align honed, cam tunnel checked, lifter bores indexed to .904”, decks indexed, bored/ diamond honed, trans dowels indexed, crank ground, balanced, connecting rods resized, checked for alignment, rings gapped, relocated feed cam bearings installed, stainless block plugs installed and assembled.
125” dome, .030” Sivolite hyperutectic pistons, ARP rod bolts, factory nodular crank, OE rods/ARP bolts, King bearings.

What to do next for heads and cam? Options are
•peanut port heads, Wolverine torque cam 204°/214°
•781 heads, Isky 280 Mega Cam 232°/232°
•781 heads, Lunati 241°/249°

I’m just using what’s on the shelf. 😁

03/23/2026

In this video, I’m showing a two stage start to finish honing process. Aside from being an unconventional two-step process, I only left .003” to hone from finish bore. The accuracy of the Kwik Way boring bar is highly instrumental in this procedure.

What I’ve done, is had some abrasives made specifically for this. I’m more or less following a trend that I’m seeing as far as the abrasives and the plateau procedures on some of these new CNC hones.

Let me know what you think. If somebody has a new machine, and they’re willing to share some of their procedures & finish results, that would be awesome.

Obviously, what I’m showing here is a very basic 1.0 version, but it’s something that could really be built upon for harder blocks, ductle liners, and things of that nature.

Let me know your thoughts and experiences! Thanks!

*please bear with the video/audio as I figure out better methods of recording these, thanks.