Alternative uses for engine parts?

Anybody have creative uses for old engine parts they have sitting around their garage? For example, my old neighbor used an inline 6 crank for his mailbox pole.

 

Nailhead parts make good trotline weights.

 

Pistons make good paper weights. I saw a shelf made from a flexplate cut in half then welded back together at a 90 deg. angle. I want to make a chair with cams as legs. Old intakes and carbs make excellent centerpieces in coffee tables (did it in college). Pistons are good paper weights. Valve covers as flourescent light fixtures.

 

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Cool table! My Pops used to make us kids pencil holders from old distributor caps.

 

old flywheels rotors and drums make great bases for stands. conecting rods make good colum drops, exhaust hangers, headlight taillight mounts. cams make good spreader bars. flat top pistons as brake and clutch pedals. junk block cleaned up as a wine bottle holder.

 

Saw that coffee table before but never noticed the wine bottles in the holes.
Now THAT's convience and style.

A model A wheel and tire make a pretty good glass coffee table top holder. The glass won't move sitting on the tire.

 

It may not be exactly what you meant but I seem to remember a few years back Killer made some bitchin' motor mounts from....er..well.....parts.

 

I made friction shocks out of Flathead connecting rods.

 

for our AutoTech. club at school we have car shows once a month in the summers and we use old car parts to make our best of show trophies. heres a pic of one i made for our sept. show(our last one this year) the top part rotates

before to long i will be tearing apart an old junk turbocharger from an international and making a clock out of it

 

Camshaft spreader bars are neat.

 

the guy on here who puts on that crappy show Billetproof, well where ever he gets his trophies from, they are always cool (if anyone has some pictures they are well worth posting), i mean they suck too, just like his show.

old conrods make good healight mounts, shock towers or steering column drops.

a 16" length of a model t taper leaf front spring makes a damn good wedge, prybar, etc.

old nailhead motors make good boat anchors.

 

a few shot lifters (and/or wrist pins) become invaluable if you leave them by your shop press.

Killer also gets credit for con-rod headlight stands!

Con rods also make good disposable lifting hooks.... I'd weld 'em up first.

Valve covers are good for making tool trays... specifically on welding carts and such.

Oil-pan BBQ!!!! Clean thoroughly...

Alternators /generators that still work can be strapped onto other things that spin and still generate electricity... eg lawnmower engine, etc.

AC pump- air compressor.

lawn mower/motor scooter piston and conrod = bitchin shiftknob

valve springs /MC clutch springs.... 1000's of uses.

Nuts and bolts... life savers!

 

Billetproof trophies for the last nine years.

 

Cams also make great towel racks.

 

Damn, maybe I get can get credit for connecting rod motor mounts??

trey

 

I used to have a benchtop carb holder made from 4 valves and a steel plate. Just cut out a big hole so the butterflies can open and add threaded holes for studs to mount the carb. One of my Impalas in high school had a Chevy piston and rod sticking out of the homemade console after I welded it to the cut off Competition Plus shifter handle. Headlight switch and Cig. lighter in that same console were valves. Sold the car before I figured out how to use more valves as radio knobs. I'm sure most of us have made a grinder base out of an old wheel and a chunk of pipe to alow the grinder to dance around when you try to use it. I've also seen piston rods used as tailpipe hangers and bumper brackets.

 

I have a caliper out of a concrete truck I use for a King Kong ash tray. A buddy of mine has a mag wheel cut in half and uses it for a garden hose hanger on the side of his house.

 

I use a 17 inch polished Torque-Thrust for a hose reel.

 

Pistons can be flipped over and used as ashtrays (just clean em up before you do it though), Old steel rims can be used as bases for stands, and I've seen front drop axles used as spreader bars and chopper downtubes. I read in a magazine once that pistons can also be used as motor mounts but I haven't quite figured out how yet, but if anyone knows, its probably a HAMBer

 

I have some jack stands made out of old Ford rearend parts that i bought at an estate sale. I don't thing anybody else knew what they were for. I don't really trust them to hold up my car, but I have been trying to come up with a good use for them. I'm just learning to weld, so I am trying to think of a project that I can use them in. For the moment, they just sit in the garage looking like rusty traffic cones.

I'm still trying to come up with a car parts mailbox post that han't been done before. No luck with any new ideas so far.

I considered using one of the jack stands, but I don't thing anyone would know what it was by the time I extended it to the right length. Maybe I can extend the length with a cam or something.

Slonaker

 

An old 36 Ford front axle with welded spindles from an old trailer made a cool grinder stand that I built for an artist a few years ago.

 

a few days ago i used some old chain link from my dragster as a bracelet type thing around my wrist. it takes awhile to get on a off though.

 

Take 1 Cummins cam and gear some 1/4 plate a cheap vise, Presto you have a third hand

 

built and anvil stand out of some 6" Schedule 80 black iron pipe and a model T flywheel

 

I use a flathead Ford three speed cluster gear for a door stop.

 

I'm planning a garden tractor trans for a gear reduction to use my 50s Craftsman bandsaw for wood and metal.

 

Thanks for all the great ideas. Now if I could just get the Mrs. to agree to some of them. She's been nagging me to get a new coffee table . . .

I was bored at work and thought up a couple more:
A ceiling fan using an old water pump fan
Connecting rods for seat recliner handles

 

I used a C.I. Powerglide bellhousing for my bench grinder stand base.

 

Use an old fly wheel to steady your mailbox post.
I use valves and push rods for tapping dinks out of trim.
I prefer the ones out of big diesels as radius's are bigger, but sometimes I like a thinner one.
Valve edges are good for repairing creases and folds in trim edges.