You guys are all awesome! I love all the help this is a first for me. Most people just make jokes when I ask something like this like omg! Thanks a ton! Ill let you know how it goes

 

I tried that idea when doing my valve cover gasket!

 

I'm gonna try to do it every chance I can so I get in the habit of it

 

I went one farther.

I went and got a chunk of 4"x10", and cut it into assorted blocks. Sometimes I'd use threaded bushings in the holes, other times not.

For instance, my "head block" has holes to hold the tappets, pushrods, and holes to retain the rocker arms, bridges, pivots, and screws (I have three: one for V6 engines, one for V8 engines [that also works with four-cylinder engines, just use one side,] and one for inline six engines (that works with four-cylinder engines as well.) Another one is slotted to hold up to nine main bearing caps (I've worked on engines up through "straight-eights" and old V12 engines,) and the like. I also keep some 4"x10" around in case I need to stomp up a block in a pinch - I'll duplicate it and varnish the Hell out of it later, and it will last me a whole bunch of years.

Yeah, I make a lot of my own specialty tools, it lets me get precisely what I want when I want something...