Whats the best "trick" or tech tip a mentor showed you?

When forging a river or power washing the engine, anytime you get the distributor wet, pop the dist cap off and if its wet inside, squirt a load of WD40 in, shake it back out and replace the cap....you don't even need to wipe it out. The WD40 displaces the water and the motor will fire right up. Used to do a lot of 4 wheeling around here and occasionally would kill the motor forging streams. This worked every single time.

 

Ron,this goes back to 1967,I'm sure WD40 was available at that time but I was unaware of it or it's properties.HRP

 

Don't remember where this came from, but on all your 4-way lug wrenches label each "bar" as to what that particular socket fits. You can use a Sharpie, paint pen, etc. I've got 3 trucks and 2 cars. Most of you probably have more than that. Any time I need to use a lug wrench on any of them I never have to try every bar 'til I find the right size.

 

Info for you--->
Chavezk21
Member
from Vancouver, Wa

get / find / rent / or buy the 1955 chevrolet shop manual...
it shows this method (obviously) because of the introduction of the
1955 chevy V8 (265)... Engine Assembly (section) 6-54.
i could make a copy of that page and mail it to you(i don't have a scanner)
i could try and take a pic and etc etc etc ...(i'll try that) be right back)
if this pic thingie works i'll post it...

 

Hi HenryJ1951.

Is this the '55 Chevy manual page?
http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/shop/1955/55csm0654.html

 

Yes
and thanks...Dan
i kept getting this---->
The uploaded file does not have an allowed extension.
every time i tried to upload the picture...lol

 

===============

You hold the coil wire right against the metal screwdriver shaft?

 

==============
The page with the image on it is in "html" .

This is the image by itself I hope.
http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/shop/1955/images/55csm0654.jpg

 

Opposing Thumb

 

=============

Hi falcongeorge,
I'm kind of unclear about that tip.
Is the type of hammer on this page ?
http://www.martinsprocket.com/docs/...ody-fender-repair-tools-catalog.pdf?sfvrsn=10

If you maybe have a minute to make a sketch of how things go together it would sure help.

thanks

Dan T

 

Its been many years since ive done this and I dont know if the formula has changed but all the hard core off roaders around here carry a can of it at all times.

 

Yup, its 153. The angle iron was used because the piece he was demonstrating on is wider than the vise jaws. You rest the chisel tip on top of the angle iron, and use it as a guide so your lap joint is straight. Then you lightly tap the round face of the 153 with another hammer while moving the chisel tip back and forth along the top of the angle iron.
this should give you the idea. The hammers are way out of scale, and the end of the chisel tip should actually be resting on the angle iron, but I am a shitty artist.

 

Adding to "Atch's" post a bit, frustrated flipping the 4 way around numerous times, I took a spray bomb and painted the color of the cars/trucks around the 'ole homestead.
I have green, burgundy,black, yellow, etc.

 

Using an infants snot suction ball to fill the bowls of a Holley Carb with gas anytime the carb is dry. Just fill them right through the vent tubes.

 

That reminds me of a truism I once heard: Easy outs are not. Trouble lights are.

But on a happier note, I find that preparing to use an easy-out often makes using it unnecessary. Applying heat often breaks a stubborn bolt loose, since the differential rate of heating and cooling of the bolt and the surrounding metal breaks the stuck bolt free. When I break a bolt off, then drill it in preparation for the easy-out, the heat from drilling is often enough to break the bolt free, before I ever pull the easy-out from its case. I can't count how many times a frozen bolt came loose while the drill bit was spinning inside it.

 

Keep old keys and put them away. I have probably around 1,000 and these have saved my (and many friends) skin many times when locked out of cars, houses, breaking into pinball machines, or to get a swap-meet "no key" ignition switch to work. Once you have them sorted into automotive and not-automotive, you will find that there are a few different key ways for each type of key.
9 times out of 10 (especially if the locks are old), you can jiggle and twist and get it open. Thanks Sylvester (the old timer who taught me these tricks)
Doesn't work with these new fangled electronic cars , but we all know that they are crap and the work of the devil anyway.

 

I`ll add one. Over 20 years ago now, I went to a Ron Covell Seminar and saw him use a crescent wrench to turn over the edge of a curved edge panel to make a flange. Hammer and dolly, Stretch and Shrink if you need to, and there it is.

I still use that tip today. It has worked for me on some pretty neat stuff....

 

Good one. Lets hear more metal shaping shortcuts...

 

Worked at junk yard. We would get a lot of cars with locking lug nuts and no keys.
Some of the guys would try to torch em off, only to damage the rim.
Found the best way to get them off... Knock it sideways hard with a BFH, then back the opposite way. This would stretch the stud a slight amount, then you could turn them off with your fingers.

 

Don't know if it was mentioned - old stock car trick, if you find yourself on the road and develop a radiator leak, stop at the nearest supermarket and drop a couple of egg whites in the radiator and put the cap back on, the whites will fry right in place of the leak.
I once fixed a radiator on the road by pulling out the fins with a pair of needle nose, cleaning the tubes with Coca-cola, then soldering them up with a mini-torch and electrical solder from Radio Shack...
Keeping an extra ratchet strap in the toolbox is a good idea, a trailer flat (or bearing failure) on a dual axle trailer - take off the wheel, wrap the strap around the axle and ratchet it up to the trailer frame - I have done this, not fun, but gets you off the expressway...

 

Just got done reading the whole thread and saw this one in a few places. PLEASE, DON"T DO IT!!!! I've seen too many ruined spindles from hacks wacking them with hammers. It deforms the hole so the new tie-rod or ball joint won't fit anymore.

 

Love this thread!

Save toilet paper rolls. You can spray paint through them to limit the spray area. You can roll up electrical cords and wiring and stuff them inside. You can pretend your Louis Armstrong playing the trumpet.

 

Old guy showed me a few tricks on how to cut left hand (internal) acme threads in a dead end bore.

 

"Old guy showed me a few tricks on how to cut left hand (internal) acme threads in a dead end bore."

Please do tell!

 

Don'r forget the vacuum secondary on the Holley............... was it opening under WOT!

 

The last C/S bushing we removed we used White Bread!
Just find a bolt the same size (close) and keep packing with a hammer
Less of a mess to clean up and you can use the rest of the bread

 

Removing a pitman arm. Install your cheapy pitman arm puller, snug it down with a wrench, add a little heat from a propane torch on the pitman arm were it surrounds the shaft. Pitman arm will slide off easily.

 

For real close work with a rattle can I have used a straw from WD-40 can if you have the right nozzle on the rattle can

 

Just checking to see who's awake.