B&M 250 Supercharger: How (Not) to Make a Custom Input Shaft (78 Firebird Ep.27)

This is certainly not my proudest moment, but it would be dishonest to present the process of replacing the input shaft on our B&M 250 supercharger any other way. We tried and tried again to find a way to build a custom input shaft in the garage but, as you'll see in this video, things did not quite go as planned. We will do what we have to in order to get the blower to work though, so stick through until the end of the antics to find out what actually worked.
Timeline of filming: December 18th, 2019 - July 16th, 2020
Song List (Order of First Appearance):
0:01 To Weather a Storm - Dan Lebowitz
5:38 Hilltop - Dan Lebowitz
11:15 Tiptoe Out the Back - Dan Lebowitz
15:37 Forgiven Fate - Dan Lebowitz
(All music provided by KZbin's Audio Library royalty free.)
Thanks for watching, and joining us on this adventure! Please let us know what you think! Consider supporting us via Patreon as well! / fuzzydiceprojects
Follow our Instagram for more pictures and teasers: / fuzzydiceprojects
Check out our second channel for a variety of other content: / @fuzzydicepastimes

[@FuzzyDiceProjects]

Yes, this is a long video for just a little progress. Yes, I tried a lot of things I wouldn't do again. Yes, next video will be reassembling the supercharger. With that out of the way, I hope it comes across but this video is probably more a cautionary tale than anything else. It was a huge task to try to explain what happened here and why, and of course hindsight is 20/20. I learned a lot and actually had a decent (if frustrating) time experimenting with these sketchy fabrication concepts. It may not be the most interesting or productive episode ever, but I set out to document this process in detail so we may as well see it through, mistakes and all. With all that said, I hope everyone out there has a great Thanksgiving!

[@thomasbedford1692]

Not stubbornness, pride, or frugality..... cheapness the king them all

[@brycesmith7272]

You don't know till you try. I am just a shade tree machinic my self but I went to trade school to be a machinist an am pretty local to you. I live in Cumberland MD and have a lathe and mill and would be willing to help you modify anther one. keep up the great work and remember nothing ventured nothing gained.

[@100spaminmypants]

@@thomasbedford1692 Sometimes being cheap ends up costing more! Hopefully this experience will alleviate any aversion to machine shops. They can (sometimes) be very reasonably priced, especially when replacement parts are impossible to find. Having that shoulder turned down on and a keyway cut could certainly be done for about $100. But sometimes it's more fun to try and do it yourself!:)

[@derricksilva181]

Rather b welding a fellow KZbinr I’ve watched for years I bet if you reached out he could make you a brand new shaft with spines and the pulley coupler and the rear shaft coupler with all the splines and key ways you want just how you want them

[@andriosz]

Next time - just buy a small lathe. Not too small obviously 😋

[@guymanicone7921]

I can't believe you even tried that on your own. So glad you found a machine shop that would do it for a reasonable price. I work for the shipbuilder that is the sole builder of aircraft carriers for the US Navy and you still impress me with what you can (and sometimes can't) do in your workshop. I will be a lifetime subscriber.

[@jeremys.4423]

Newport news?

[@alecmcjarison999]

Can’t say I’ve ever seen anything like this

[@michaelblaszkiewicz7283]

I sometimes go down a rabbit hole like this, the older you get, the more you walk right past them without jumping in.

[@matthewklein9225]

Yeah. At this point in my life labor has value and I only have so much time.

[@MichaelMcFearin]

OMG you are a reincarnated GM engineer. Only engineers would spend weeks trying to do the work a machine shop could do right in an hour. Lol I love it and always love the videos. I joke I truly love that you try to do everything yourself before turning to the a shop. Keep up the amazing work.

[@CarsandCats]

Yes, he has the mind of an engineer. Which is a great thing. However, he should get a job at a machine shop as an apprentice so he can develop the skills needed to make things.

[@ncc74656m]

You could - and yes, SHOULD have just sent the new parts to a machine shop from the outset and had them do the shortening work, probably on the other end. Cutting it down and putting a key on both sides would've been about the same amount of work as cutting the new splines, and you'd have kept your perfectly matched splines and coupler. I know the attraction of failing yourself instead of paying for victory, but the knowledge of what you were getting yourself into should've been comparatively obvious. Not knocking on you, just a "know your limits" kind of thing. Even the Bad Obsession boys know when to call it quits - even if they usually end up just having to change whatever they bought anyway, lol.

[@paulwisdom5383]

"I know how to do things right because I've tried every way that was wrong". The motto of my life!

[@WFCinSC]

Just one thing about the added dowel pin... It is possible that you have moved the point of failure from a location of "easy/cheap" repair further up or down the drivetrain. Often keyways are design to take a specific amount of torque and fail, thus protecting other components. I really thought the welded solution was going to work, nice ingenuity and tenacity!

[@Rudy97]

Idk, by the time that keyway fails the front of the blower would be ripped of the body. That key either comes out the front or something snaps. Not possible to shear it in this use case.

[@WFCinSC]

@@Rudy97 You got me thinking... guessing that is a 1/4" key that is ~3/4" long, I'd say you are right. If the blower locked up and the gear ratio on the pulleys are 2:1, maybe 150ftlb of torque max? That would be ~160Mpa of shear (sorry for the switch to metric but due to laziness I used an online calculator). Mild steel should be able to take at least 200MPa? Still something to keep in mind when changing a shaft design.

[@matthewklein9225]

That weld job had zero chance. Every weld pulls the metal.

[@kiiiisu]

@@matthewklein9225 tf i welded drive shaft on my merc with crappy and less weld and it hold, pretty sure theres more horsepower goin thro than that blower shaft

[@matthewklein9225]

@@kiiiisu I'm glad you figured it out

[@CSPhowto]

You could electroplate it to add a tiny amount of girth to the part which may help with the slop.

[@mikesedutto2213]

Clever Idea

[@aaronhall7740]

Or if you never want to deal with it again bearing retaining compound 🤣🤣

[@CarsandCats]

It's not important to the function and performance of the piece. He needs to learn when to move on. Good enough>Perfect 99% of the time in life.

[@mikesedutto2213]

@@CarsandCats I agree and disagree, slop in the blower slplines can compound over time and likely were a contributing cause of the original failure to begin with. but at the same time yes I think that he would save a lot of headache with some of these things by letting things just be as they are haha.

[@mortglickman3217]

i can't wait for the particle collider series😗

[@BigSneakySnake]

It's great going through your creative process. Doing stuff "off the book" can really teach you things. You either gain a new and better way to do something, or just more experience when you have to fix what you just broke!

[@joelharris3073]

It’s so hard to watch, but I can’t look away. I love this channel!

[@razorsz195]

Think about it, hotrodders in the early days of automobiles had to go through these funky ideas and guesses, form machine and parts companies we see today and thankfully can get most of the parts we need, i love how you show your adventures and don't just use some KZbin magic to make things seem like a magical overnight delivery of available parts, we always learn from doing things wrong and when we need to reach out, a glimmer of hope (and a good price ;) comes along for us to snatch up! This is what gives old cars stories to tell.

[@pandeomonia]

When someone asks for an example of 'throwing good money after bad' I now know what to use for an example, lol. That said I do feel for you trying to do it yourself. Back when I was young I tried to replace my fuel filter but I couldn't get the fuel lines off. So I cut the fuel lines and figured I'd drop by the auto parts store and replace them. They didn't have them. Great! After paying for a tow to a specialty auto repair shop and an expensive repair bill, I at least can say I came out of the experience learning a little bit.

[@davidball.]

Just discovered your channel less than a week ago and have binged all of your fire bird series.

[@ibobeko4309]

did you watched Ronald Finger Fiero Restoration videos ?

[@dighsx]

I think it's time for someone to ask Santa for a lathe. Trust me it'll change your world and open up a whole world of crazy things you can get into.

[@kyriakosmaridakis8139]

I saw Camarata once weld and try to weight balance a shaft in one of his snowmobiles Awesome stuff !!!

[@ecguth6098]

Love that you've posted your learned experience. There's a real problem with modern science where there's a reluctance to publish negative results but this is a clear example of what it's very helpful to do so.

[@pv2smurf]

extremely pleased to see new content uploaded in a seemingly normal pattern. thanks Mike

[@mehagel65]

Actually its fascinating watching you go thru these attempts. Thanks.

[@philleasthouse3791]

There's some level of masochistic hedonism in your approach that I admire!!! It'll all cone together eventually. Dare I say "best of luck??" Have fun buddy.

[@lorneh8642]

Appreciate that you shared what works and doesn't. The key in the shaft is designed to shear and prevent catastrophic failure of more expensive parts. Glad you turned to having it machined, pun intended. Add a mini lathe to the shop tool list. Enjoy your methods, approach and content. Thank you. I would be tempted to purchase another shaft and have it machine. Just in case.

[@TheSausage318]

This episode increased my blood pressure lol.

[@cravendale9021]

Woooh it’s a great day

[@kriskris5330]

Thanks for sharing. Sometimes you have to fail to learn something new. Been there many times and still failing and learning

[@someidot3699]

Yesss I'm so glad I re-found this channel!

[@FasterRepair]

DIY doesn't always turn out as planned. I salute you for taking on this process yourself and learning from your mistakes. That's what DIY is all about!

[@jarenlengert2642]

You’re best bet is a lathe for these type of things. It is so able using one.

[@hydra2855]

Loved the video man! I enjoy watching the whole process 80% of this video ended in a failed part but its was all necessary. keep up the work.

[@TheJyrsky]

I bet the shop loved you for giving them a pain in the ass job instead of having them just cut a simple bearing surface

[@thecrackfox3516]

Your pain was highly entertaining. Thank you for your sacrifice!

[@bobmcme12]

This episode was a wild ride, i was impressed, taken aback and bewildered. bravo.

[@TheMrShoebox]

Mike, you have old school hot rodder energy. Some real fix it as you go type stuff. Glad you knew when to call it quits. It makes all the difference in the world.

[@stevedonkers9087]

That key was a point of failure on purpose. It's likely very weak steel -- strong enough under the load it was designed for but will fail if that load is greatly exceeded. It helps protect the much more expensive parts. I run printing presses for a living and all of the anvil rollers are fixed to the gears in the press with pins. They break occasionally but it's a few bucks for a pin, $300+ for a new anvil gear or $4000+ for a new anvil (not to mention the cost of downtime).

[@amiaggo335]

MAN! You're stubborn 😂😂, that's why it's my favorite channel on YT. Keep going champ!! 💪💪

[@JunkVWs]

I hate that optical illusion at 0:49 😂 messes with my brain for a while

[@letttttttssssss_gooooooo]

Keep posting buddy. Great stuff! Letttttttssssss gooooooo!

[@giancarlopbranco]

Mr., you are a magician! Thank's for share knowledge beond the obvious!! 👏👏👏👏👏

[@jeremy2283]

Was waiting for this. Always really enjoy these.

[@faamp]

I'm sure this was painful for you but that makes it that much more informative and entertaining for us😄

[@microstorm]

Such a treat to watch on Thanksgiving day. Thank you

[@dlewis9760]

I had my Pikachu surprise face watching you try to get the shaft correct.

[@kevinb158]

Well I can see one thing in your future And that a mini lathe can't wait for the next video man happy thanks giving

[@Tappar1]

Might not have been a fun one to do but as a viewer that was a fun one to watch how you tried to tackle it

[@oikkuoek]

Thnx 4 the upload, this was a good laugh.

[@yoyocheqc301]

I just saw that you had a patreon and I had to subscribe I dont know how to describe it but your video are one of the most cozy I ever saw.

[@StraightLineCycles]

See, this is a great episode, i dig it

[@Tarkov.]

This is like a fever dream. Thank you for sharing this, I'm terrified of your extreme integrity.

[@AAIpsissimus]

You're having knowledge and skills I wish I maybe develop one day, with the same mentality of doing everything myself lol

[@Tinman97301]

There are some jobs that just need a professional touch. The bill is always worth it in the end. Amazing as always man👍

[@dwight072]

Great video. Your ingenuity. Is awesome

[@alex4alexn]

you could have hung the car itself off one side of your initial welded shaft, the amount of pressure i would take to break that a weld like that is insane. i think you could have stopped there and probably been fine, just my two cents. But i love this series and cant wait for the next installment. Cheers

[@coltonkruse2313]

I was thinking the same thing. That first one he made and had it pretty straight should have been fine. Went too far with the extra support coupler.

[@halleffect1]

Awesome, Happy Thanksgiving!

[@michaeldenton8610]

This video gave me so much anxiety LOL as a machinist I would have taken the new too long shaft and coupler and the shaft with the stripped splines to a local machine shop and had them recut the shoulder and add in two keyways. But there is more than one way to skin a cat!

[@rsaba]

Amazing skills

[@najken]

Whoa, that’s a lot of work. Thanks for sharing even your mistakes

[@420architecMindNDesign]

“Oh shit” that’s when the fun starts

[@3landii]

Experience is the ability to recognize a mistake the second time you make it. Congrats on gaining a whole lot of experience with this side project! I'm not going to chide you for your efforts, as I really enjoyed the video. But... just... wow...

[@MatSpeedle]

Regardless of method I love your out of the box thinking, yeah not everything works but it's a learning process and it's better to learn along the way.

[@CaptainSir56]

A new video! Now it’ll be a happy Thanksgiving!

[@ericn.7005]

« of course it's not what i did ...» love this !!!

[@charlesmorissette8620]

Respect for trying to fix it yourself! People are gonna say shit about it but big thank you and props to you for showing it in the video! Very interesting taught process regardless of if it worked or not!

[@NIGHTFLIGHTVIDEO]

You're my f****** hero. That was a hell of a try!

[@Shootsmith]

I’m just wondering if these weaknesses were actually designed in failure points for safety or repairability.

[@Tinman97301]

This☝️

[@ecguth6098]

I don't think so. Designed in points of failure are just that, designed. Things like shear pins and sacrificial parts are usually obvious from a metallurgical standpoint. Wiping out a keyway or splined part is not something I've seen.

[@nukedathlonman]

Awesome - and a good attempt DIYing it, even if it didn't work out.

[@keeperofthelowend]

671 likes!! The Blower Gods are with you!!

[@Pallanamnjavelet]

It's kinda déjà vu to see you doing these things. As i tried all of them myself like 10 years ago trying to fix my friends rear axle on his old shitbox merc at basically no cost. Entire car was bought for something like 200 bucks, so getting new Mercedes parts simply wasn't an option. Welding, rolling on a straight surface, adding a sleeve around it, frigging everything. Only for it to snap right off the moment you put the car in gear. Lesson learned? Just get another one or send it to a shop, it's totally worth it. In our case we finally managed to find a used axle from a junkyard. Still ended up costing more than the entire car did.

[@haggisek]

Omg fuzzy dice. Never had to say this on any of your videos but WWWHHHYYYY!!!!!!!??????

[@Emacspirate]

Happy Thanksgiving!

[@sixesand9s56]

You need a little lathe and mill brother!

[@that_escalated_quickly2720]

As a machinist I can't explain how bad I feel for you lol. The sheer will to try all of this... Inimaginable for me lol so much hassle.... This wouldve been a one day job (with good tools for a machinist, including heat treat process ( which would take long). Easily the price you bought the long one for if not less than that

[@jeremy2283]

10:35 I was wondering if you still had this firebird. Also looking forward to this series being finished as this was the first video series I watched on your channel.

[@themrflibbl]

I am so glad I have my own lathe.

[@maxfalkner8849]

I am so engulfed in this series I want more always! I would love to see you get into a shop with the right equipment to put out your amazingly detailed content more quickly

[@robinrai4973]

Definitely something I'd do in a project XD

[@BIGWayne2234]

well in a couple more months we may get to see something new-ish (Sarcastic Remark) I do actually love your videos and editing style. YT is a rather time consuming job when your a bit of a perfectionist. Cant wait to watch more videos! till then

[@seymoarsalvage]

Wow.. This makes me glad I went with a turbo lol

[@seannash4695]

You forgot how powerful the "Dangitt" factor can be.

[@MegaDysart]

Andrew camarata did basically this exact same thing in a vid where he took 2 junk snow mobiles and made 1 less junky "long track" version. It worked pretty well actually

[@syncronisity1]

Easiest method for making a taper if you don't have a mill. Mount the pieces one at a time in your drill press, use a course file (or a carbide cutter) as the drill press is running. It would help to use an angled piece of wood clamped to the drill press table as a tool rest.

[@luiseduardocamacho5585]

I like how you found creative ways to make the old shaft work I would've send the shaft to a machine shop. You always surprise me and that's what I love about your videos :) I really thought that the welding idea was going to work

[@edc6333]

I wonder if the clearance between the splines and the couple is supposed to be a little loose to account for heat expansion?

[@benjaminreinhardt259]

Loctite 680 retaining compound will tighten up the fit of the splined shaft in the coupler.

[@MotorMouth930]

A harbor freight lathe might be a worthwhile investment.

[@Oldsmobile69]

My face is red from palming it over and over again while watching this video.

[@EricV63]

I do appreciate that you prefaced this video with it being what not to do. And I do enjoy your videos, but as a retired machinist, this was particularly painful to watch. No point in re-hashing all the things you did wrong. ;-) Thanks for the video. One tip, dowel pins and reamers, not drilling holes and 'creating your own pin out of a drill bit'. Please throw your old drill bits away so you won't be tempted to repeat this horror again.

[@brucenaylor2043]

Video was not long and it was great!!!. I tried to clean splines before and it didn't work that good.

[@petersarlai2091]

Love the content Mike! If you search "Allen Millyard super six camshaft" here on youtube, you could've tried his method how to marry pieces of a camshaft together to make one piece that runs true. He used spare gudgeon pins bored into the center to hold the shaft as true as possible. Glad you found a way in the end :)

[@paulmeijer6163]

To be honest bolting the spline on the end to lengthen it was pretty brilliant unfortunately I think execution was off a little and probably shouldn't of just hammered the coupler on. Good on ya man. You come up with some great ideas

[@5.7masoon]

Let's go!

[@MichiGunShooter]

Could you use green loctite to take some slop out of the spline to coupler interface?

[@186scott]

One thing I was surprised you didn't do instead of cutting and welding the 2 ends together was to cut the shaft to length from the spline side and the and on the bearing side have it marked out to length and put it into a drill press and use a sanding block or a hand held belt sander mocked up so it goes to the depth needed

[@NoahWL1]

Thank you for sharing this journey with us! It was very entertaining and as always, I learned a lot. I'm curious why you thought the welded shaft (without the reinforcement added) wasn't strong enough?

[@dragonfriend007]

The weld would have been weaker, soft metal and wouldn't have taken the forces as well as the steel shaft, thus being a failure point on high load.

[@johnpiotti2200]

Faintly in the distance, you could hear a voice whispering, “go out and buy a latheeeeee” Great trial and error work though!

[@shoes121255]

I wonder if smearing some RTV on those splines before assembly would minimize some slop or provide a bit of cushion? I'd say loctite 680 retaining compound but it'd be impossible to disassemble then.

[@RattleTrapGarage]

Content 😎

[@AlexTier1]

Hello. The idea with a bolt is good, only on the shaft it is necessary to make a cut in the shape of a cross, and in a small piece there are protrusions with the same shape. (under this condition there should be no distortions and there will be no possibility of turning the part) From Russia with respect

[@stupidlegos6485]

I would just use some sleeve retainer on the splines and call it a day. It’ll loose that play and won’t move on you ever !

[@arrangemonk]

you need a friend with a lathe nearby, that shaft mod would be a walk in the park

[@lb9gta307]

I probably would have dowel pinned the original shaft with the new coupler. I still feel like a set screw or something to keep it tensioned is a good idea because that play will eventually pound out the splines.