02-07-2017, 07:32 AM
I've been building Mac and Bend engines since 1960, and used to use the regular shop oven in Pop's lawn mower shop. Once I moved into a mobile home 40 miles from the shop, I knew there was no room for a shop oven, so I bought a toaster oven for small engines. I live in a fairly large house now, but the little toaster oven still works just fine for the few engines I may build each year. I've never had the first hint of trouble using the cheapie oven to install bearings in my Macs and West Bends. I leave the engine block in the oven for from 40 minutes to an hour, and the bearings drop right in. It's also good for heating the bearings before dropping them onto the crank. There's no force required to install bearings onto the crank, and the assembled cooled crank and bearing drop into the heated block of their own weight. Most vintage karters are retired and are not wealthy, so we make do with simpler tools. TJ