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NixVegaGT
Nicolas Wiederhold
Minneapolis, MN
(659 posts)

Registered:
10/16/2007 05:30AM

Main British Car:
'73 Vega GT 4.9L Rover/Buick Stroker

authors avatar
Piloted drill source for oil gallery enlargement
Posted by: NixVegaGT
Date: October 15, 2009 10:24AM

I called Mist Tool this week and asked them to give us a quote on some piloted drills for drilling the oil gallery from 1/2" to 9/16 or 5/8. Here's the reply. Good prices all things considered. They don't have them in stock the job them out as needed.

_________________________________________________________________________


Hello Nic,

Please find the following quotation per your request, and feel free to contact me regarding any questions or concerns. Thank you for the opportunity to quote, and have a nice day.

(.5625) 9/16" X (.5000) 1/2" HSS PILOTED DRILL, 118DEG POINT, 3" length of cut, 12"OAL
1-2 PCS $78.71
3-5 PCS $68.35
(.6250) 5/8" X (.5000) 1/2" HSS PILOTED DRILL, 118DEG POINT, 3" length of cut, 12"OAL

1-2 PCS $92.03
3-5 PCS $81.73

(.5625) 9/16" X (.5000) 1/2" COBALT PILOTED DRILL ,135DEG SPLIT POINT, 3" length of cut, 12"OAL

$92.30
$81.94

(.6250) 5/8" X (.5000) 1/2" COBALT PILOTED DRILL, 135DEG SPLIT POINT, 3" length of cut, 12"OAL

$107.11
$96.81

Best Regards,

Scott Febles
MIST INCORPORATED
TEL=818-280-6478
FAX=818-280-6482


BlownMGB-V8
Jim Blackwood
9406 Gunpowder Rd., Florence, KY 41042
(6468 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 12:59PM

Main British Car:
1971 MGB Blown,Injected,Intercooled Buick 340/AA80E/JagIRS

authors avatar
Re: Piloted drill source for oil gallery enlargement
Posted by: BlownMGB-V8
Date: October 15, 2009 01:00PM

That's less than you can make one for if time counts for anything. The drill itself is $25, then a length of drill rod, about $10 more, then drilling, turning, brazing and grinding operations to finish it out. Each takes time, tooling, equipment and supplies. It's not a bad deal at all. For aluminum or the occasional iron block the HSS is fine, but if you expect to do more than maybe three or four iron blocks it'd definitely be worth it to go with the cobalt since re-grinding is a bit tricky.

Jim


pcmenten
Paul Menten

(242 posts)

Registered:
10/08/2009 10:40AM

Main British Car:


Re: Piloted drill source for oil gallery enlargement
Posted by: pcmenten
Date: October 15, 2009 02:54PM

I would go for a HSS 9/16" bit. I have two engines.

Edit: I might also be looking for a bit to drill Ford small Windsor heads for 351 bolts.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/15/2009 02:57PM by pcmenten.


roverman
Art Gertz
Winchester, CA.
(3188 posts)

Registered:
04/24/2009 11:02AM

Main British Car:
74' Jensen Healy, 79 Huff. GT 1, 74 MGB Lotus 907,2L

Re: Piloted drill source for oil gallery enlargement
Posted by: roverman
Date: October 15, 2009 07:45PM

Ok, How bout we ask a machinist? Why thank you. What works for me is std. positive rake/lead on hss.bit for aluminum, with "full" radius ground on end. This profile does'nt wander/grab as much and makes for a good blend at 90 deg. port.First choice is to use a drill press/please! If you just "halft" to have a pilot, easily ground in a spindex on a surface grinder or in a lathe with a tool post grinder,or a HD. high speed, electric,like a Hitachi portable grinder, mounted on the tool post, will do this job and many other grinding requirements. In cast iron, it's beneficial to reduce the positive rake, closer to zero. More "alloys" in the iron, more rake. Use cutting oil or atf. Watch the rpm. in iron.If you don't overspeed in iron, the hss. bit should hold-up fine. If you go less than 5/8" on long port, you can use a taper reamer from the pick-up side to match-up and aid velocity. Good Luck, roverman.


pcmenten
Paul Menten

(242 posts)

Registered:
10/08/2009 10:40AM

Main British Car:


Talking to a machinist is only slightly harder...
Posted by: pcmenten
Date: October 16, 2009 02:33PM

...than talking to the dead.

You lost me. I'll take the responsibility to learn what is meant by 'standard positive rake/lead' and 'full radius ground on end', but if you could help with another explanation of what is meant by 'ground on a spindex on a surface grinder' and similar, this neophyte would be very appreciative.

I sort of get that, with the proper tooling, an existing drill bit could be modified have a pilot.

I've been considering buying a drill-press anyway. That, or a multi-function milling center. You are probably rolling your eyes at the thought of a 'Chicago Machinery' Harbor Freight bit of junk, but it sure would be nice to be able to mill a dish into some pistons, or weld up and machine a better combustion chamber into some aluminum heads.


BlownMGB-V8
Jim Blackwood
9406 Gunpowder Rd., Florence, KY 41042
(6468 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 12:59PM

Main British Car:
1971 MGB Blown,Injected,Intercooled Buick 340/AA80E/JagIRS

authors avatar
Re: Piloted drill source for oil gallery enlargement
Posted by: BlownMGB-V8
Date: October 16, 2009 04:02PM

Yes, well, see that's the problem. You can use the piloted bit with any good 1/2" hand drill with the engine on the stand. It certainly is more than possible to make your own with limited equipment but your results will vary a great deal. For instance, you could chuck it up in your hand drill, strap it to the bench, lock the trigger and take an angle grinder to the point of the bit to grind a pilot but the results will be shaky at best and you still have to grind the relief angles where it needs to cut which is not easy to do, up next to a pilot. You have to have some idea of how cutting edges have to be shaped too. Plus you have to find and buy an extra long bit to begin with,(more $$) and the extra length is going to make it move around and chatter a lot when you are trying to grind it. So for the average guy these piloted bits are a reasonable purchase, especially if they can be amortized over several blocks (know some friends you can share it with?) and looked at as a cost of building the engine. (Probably about the same cost as having the machine shop drill one block.)

Now if you have a lathe and toolpost grinder (investment of a couple grand minimum) or a surface grinder and collet rotator/indexer (another big investment) it gets a lot easier and more accurate. But most people don't have those. And as far as grinding a ball nose on the bit, that's some pretty sophisticated freehand grinding where most guys can't even re-sharpen a drill bit properly, and it sounds like you still would want to upend the block and drill it on the drill press. (If you have one.)

If you have the full machine shop at your disposal by all means use it. If you can justify buying a small hobbyist machining center, it is far better than nothing. But for many neither is an option and they more than anyone else are the ones for whom these bits represent a good deal.

Jim


NixVegaGT
Nicolas Wiederhold
Minneapolis, MN
(659 posts)

Registered:
10/16/2007 05:30AM

Main British Car:
'73 Vega GT 4.9L Rover/Buick Stroker

authors avatar
Re: Piloted drill source for oil gallery enlargement
Posted by: NixVegaGT
Date: November 03, 2009 12:10PM

Is this the right pick up?

[cgi.ebay.com]



BlownMGB-V8
Jim Blackwood
9406 Gunpowder Rd., Florence, KY 41042
(6468 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 12:59PM

Main British Car:
1971 MGB Blown,Injected,Intercooled Buick 340/AA80E/JagIRS

authors avatar
Re: Piloted drill source for oil gallery enlargement
Posted by: BlownMGB-V8
Date: November 03, 2009 04:04PM

Looks like it. For that price you could buy it and see. About half what I paid for mine, figuring in the shipping.

Jim

Drill came back.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/03/2009 04:04PM by BlownMGB-V8.


NixVegaGT
Nicolas Wiederhold
Minneapolis, MN
(659 posts)

Registered:
10/16/2007 05:30AM

Main British Car:
'73 Vega GT 4.9L Rover/Buick Stroker

authors avatar
Re: Piloted drill source for oil gallery enlargement
Posted by: NixVegaGT
Date: November 03, 2009 05:12PM

Thanks, Jim!


archangel
Michael Garafalo

(1 posts)

Registered:
11/24/2009 12:32AM

Main British Car:


Re: Piloted drill source for oil gallery enlargement
Posted by: archangel
Date: November 24, 2009 12:38AM

Machining, brazing, or spending $100 just to poke a hole in an aluminum block?

OK, it's more than just "poking a hole", but it's not all that difficult.

I just purchased a 9/16 drill bit that was about 12 to 14 inches long, chucked it up to a hand drill and drilled it out.

The bit wants to center itself s just go in a little bit and check it's centering accuracy.

By the looks of it, the bit kept itself centered rather well all the way through.
When I watched it come out the other end (outside of the hole but still inside the block that is) it still looked perfectly centered.

Just be sure you have a steady hand and keep it aligned for the first few inches until the remainder of the shaft can keep it aligned.

(Then I read a previous post where some were talking about drilling out cast iron)

It was only an Aluminum block 215 oil passage I drilled out, not a cast iron block, so it was easy.

All for less than $15.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/2009 10:20AM by archangel.


BlownMGB-V8
Jim Blackwood
9406 Gunpowder Rd., Florence, KY 41042
(6468 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 12:59PM

Main British Car:
1971 MGB Blown,Injected,Intercooled Buick 340/AA80E/JagIRS

authors avatar
Re: Piloted drill source for oil gallery enlargement
Posted by: BlownMGB-V8
Date: November 24, 2009 10:48AM

.... IF the bit doesn't wander, and sometimes they do. (I can testify to that from personal experience) No problem if it's a bare block and this is the first operation. If it breaks out, just tig a plate over it and go on or grab another block. Or if you're doing the job using a radial drill press, but drilling by hand is inherently unstable. Things are very different if it's an assembled engine or a scarce or particularly desirable block. Or if you want to go all the way out to 5/8" without worrying about breaking through. You may be lucky the first time, heck you may be lucky nearly every time. But sooner or later the odds will catch up with you. I do exceptionally well in that department but wouldn't you know, when I go to drill the scarce and difficult to obtain 340 block the danged thing has walked all the way over to where it's only cutting on one side of the hole by the time it's half way back, with me fighting it every bit of the way. At that point a custom made piloted bit with short flutes was the only way to get it back to the center of the hole by the time it reached the other end. It's much easier to start with the piloted bit and not have to worry about it.


roverman
Art Gertz
Winchester, CA.
(3188 posts)

Registered:
04/24/2009 11:02AM

Main British Car:
74' Jensen Healy, 79 Huff. GT 1, 74 MGB Lotus 907,2L

Re: Piloted drill source for oil gallery enlargement
Posted by: roverman
Date: November 24, 2009 11:30AM

Forum Folks, mail me your ,un-piloted drill bits, I'll grind a pilot on the end. You tell me the "exact" dia. of pilot x length. I figure about $10 ea. plus mail. Let's see. roverman.


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