u/Goober_pool

My old Chicago Electric stuff died and I’m looking at going all in on a platform. I’m mostly an around the house and garage guy, I’m sure dewalt and Milwaukee are the best long term choice but I don’t have that kind of money and or need to really replace the things I need with those brands. So I’m left with Ryobi and Harbor freights brands, Home Depot currently has a pretty good deal on a full kit of brushless tools with a couple batteries. Harbor freight doesn’t have much of a deal currently but it I have inside track and the tools go on sale often enough for me to piecemeal something together at a higher price but over time. Looking for a drill, driver, circular saw, 1/2 inch high torque impact and a recip is a bonus, I’d probably expand from there but those would be the first things on my list.

My old Chicago Electric stuff died and I’m looking at going all in on a platform. I’m mostly an around the house and garage guy, I’m sure dewalt and Milwaukee are the best long term choice but I don’t have that kind of money and or need to really replace the things I need with those brands. So I’m left with Ryobi and Harbor freights brands, Home Depot currently has a pretty good deal on a full kit of brushless tools with a couple batteries. Harbor freight doesn’t have much of a deal currently but it I have inside track and the tools go on sale often enough for me to piecemeal something together at a higher price but over time. Looking for a drill, driver, circular saw, 1/2 inch high torque impact and a recip is a bonus, I’d probably expand from there but those would be the first things on my list.

I’m putting in a bulk order with American Wholesale for my 4th show. I’ve switched over from a Sheltons near by who mostly sold a lot of brands I’m not seeing on the American website. I’ve got about 160 mortars I want to fill up and maybe stash some for the future. I’m looking for some recommendations for the best bang for the buck, best effects, best ones you’ve shot off in person.

I’m looking for some mortars to make my 4th show pop. I’m shopping American Wholesale cus they’re fairly close and they’re way better than phantom. Any good shell kits worth looking at I’ve shot Excalibur, King Slayers, Echo in the Year and some smaller brands I’ve picked up at roadside stands while out on my travels.

Shopping a wholesaler for some mortars and although they have a ton of brands (no rewraps or overloads) I keep coming back to buying a case of Excalibur shells and calling it a day. I’ve only ever shot of the 4 inch classic shells (4 inch case is 1/24/4) but they also have the 5 inch platinum shells (1/24/3). The price difference is small enough I could go either way but are the 5 inchers worth losing out on 24 shells? To my understanding the amount of pyrotechnics powder has the same upper limit and the size difference is just extra cardboard. Is the composition of the powder noticeably different? Is there something else I’m missing? Should I look for a case of something else that outperforms Excaliburs?

I’m rebuilding a 350 to put in my el Camino. In the process of checking clearances on the connecting rods I mangled a bolt pretty good to the point where putting it back in the engine was a bad idea. Found a guy on marketplace selling some arp bolts for a great deal. I bought the arp bolts, got the old stock bolts out and started researching the best way to put things back together. This when I found out about having to resize the rods after pressing in new bolts, and the doom and gloom folks on the internet have surrounding this topic.

So now I’m stuck, can I press these bolts back in and run it? Pay the machine shop to do press in the bolts and resize the rods? Buy a new set from the parts store? Buy a new set of chinesesium rods from eBay?

I’m making a slightly above stock street cruiser. Flat tappet cam, vortec heads, dual plane intake, efi with stock crank and pistons. Maybe some decent headers if I can find some 340hp-360hp max.

Sure the “right thing” is to get the machine work done but that cost money and I’m buying what I can off of marketplace. Money ain’t unlimited and I’m building a car I can enjoy not a race car or show piece. I’m trying to get this thing rebuilt, broken in and in the car before the dopamine wears off and it starts collecting dust until the kids bother me enough to hide in the garage and tinker again.