Vintage Automobile Reamer Sizes

[sunnyorm]

Does anyone know where I can find Charts or listings for Reamer sizes for Most Vintage automobiles restorations, i.e.

size reamer needed for Ford Model A spindles.

[mcdarrunt]

Measure the spindle bolt (king pin) then go online and buy a ream. If there is an old time garage near you that has a Sunnen machine they are adjustable and can do all piston wrist pin bores and most spindles.

[Dave Henderson]

The Model A spindle bolt reamer is .814 

[sunnyorm]

Thanks, i know the Model A size, that was just an example. What I need is a source for All or most vintage car restoration reamer sizes. Chart of reamer sizes by applications.

[JFranklin]

You are asking a very subjective question with no concise answer. you can buy many reamers and still need one you don't have that is why you see snap on trucks driving around to repair shops to supply that one they didn't have. There were hundreds of car makes that used many different bushings.

[cahartley]

Buy an expanding reamer, you won't need the exact size and you'll get a better finished job.

[sunnyorm]

I guess i could try to locate a Motors manual for all the different vintage American cars reamer specs.

[Spinneyhill]

Maybe find a catalogue of king pins by size.

[JFranklin]

1 hour ago, Spinneyhill said:

Maybe find a catalogue of king pins by size.

 

as well as every other bushing a car may have, Distributor, water pump, shackle, piston pin, and Etc.

[Spinneyhill]

When you put it that way, I find it extremely unlikely you will find a listing such as you seek. Why would anyone make such a list, i.e. what would be in it for them?

 

Post 1935 or so, you might sift through lists of special tools the makers call up in their shop manuals. Prior to that, read Dyke's and see what you find. Often you find a list of tools required to open a workshop; maybe that type of literature will have something. I have seen them in Dyke's and other places. But my reading is that you would buy the special tools for the agencies you hold to work on those vehicles.

[John Dunn]

If there were such a chart I wouldn't trust it! Fitting bushings is not rocket science. All you need is the bushings pressed into place and the shaft that needs to fit. Best done with Sunnen honing equipment. The fit on piston pin bushings is something like .0003" to .0005" and is easy to hit. Model A king pin bushings are a good example, at one time you could buy a reamer specifically marked for that job. It's long and has a pilot section to slip through the far bushing for alignment. If you were to simply buy a plain reamer of correct size it would not pilot on the other bushing and the job would be no good even if you reamed bushings to correct size individually. Expansion Reamers can work ok in some cases but don't think you can just set them to size and go at it. They will bind, stick, catch, cut oversize, break blades, and plug up. It takes some practice and feel to achieve anything useful with them. Most experienced machinists will avoid them if at all possible. There are "adjustable" Reamers with a wedge screw in the end that allow a thousandth or two blade flex to customize fit and they do work better than the blade type.