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

Drilling a hole upwards under a car, place a floor jack under the drill. Works like a drill press.

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Always put the booze in the glass first, there's always room for mixer.
If you think that was off topic, you don't build cars in my garage.

 

Dropped a hard contact lens down a hotel drain years ago. The hotel maintenance guy showed up with a shop vac and borrowed a sock from me to put over the nozzle and sucked the lens out of the drain. I tipped him well...

To keep it on track for automotive use, you can do a lot of the same things with a shop vac. I used one the other day to drain a heater core in my almost off topic '65 Barracuda before pulling it out through the interior. Drained all the antifreeze out with no fuss and then no drips on the new carpet.

I removed a headliner last year(same car) that had several mouse nests in it. Made slits and stuck the shop vac in to suck the nastiness out before tearing the headliner out. Saved me from making a huge mess. (Always wear a mask etc. when handling mouse nests)

 

My father was a professional mechanic, taught me many tricks over the years but the one I use the most is this: I have a stuck bolt I can’t break free? Instead of trying to loosen it, try to tighten it instead. Any movement, and the bolt will usually then loosen freely. I’ve used it a hundred times. Thanks Dad.


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Clean everything. Any old part you’re going to re-use, clean it first. Any area you’re working in, clean it. New parts straight out of the package, clean off any residue from manufacturing and shipping. Clean parts work better than dirty parts.


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Don't know if it's been mentioned [refuse to read 23 pages of tricks] but a buddy showed me to use a long 3/8th bolt in the front motor mount hole [55-57 chev car and truck] in a SBC to temporarily hold the fuel pump pushrod in place while swapping out a fuel pump. Don't forget to remove the long bolt and replace it with a short bolt or you'll have a massive oil leak.

 

The little reds tubes for carb or brake cleaer fit nicely into termite holes. Give it a blast and it fills the galleys and you'll often see it come out a hole 6 inches away.

 

Changing the timing chain on my Ford pickup. To loosen the crank nut I put a socket on the nut then wedged a big breaker bar under the frame and tapped the starter. Off it came.

 

Don't try this trick on a Honda Civic that rotates the other way. Ask me how I know.

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Errr, how do you know??

 

How to tin,and work lead.

 

Put a key to your car, if it lockable, behind your tag. You can use a quarter to remove the tag.This has saved my butt several times on my OT daily driver. Can’t drive the car, but can open the door, to retrieve the keys you lock up inside. Might not be the best idea on a hot rod that doesn’t have a computer key. But on most hot rods there is many places to hide a key.



Bones

 

My mentor taught me : Don’t tell me what your gonna do, show me. And I live by it.

 

I learned this one my self, won’t be able to use it much longer. I like to heat my bearings to make them go on the shaft easier, an old trick that all of us know, but the way I do it is the trick. I place the bearing on my old incandescent drop light and take a break. In about twenty minutes the bearing is the right temperature to press on.



Bones

 

When installing new races into a rear axle housing, I put the races in the freezer first. when they are truly cold, grease and tap them in place with a brass drift.

 

When you are arc welding, always weld naked so as not to catch your clothing on fire.

 

I read shop manuals.

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I will tell you the tip that has made me the most cash over the years is to use less hardener in body filler. It will sand easier for a lot longer time, when minutes really count.

 

Cut a diagonal tip on a paper match to fill rock chips with touch up paint.

Keep old wrenches to bend, grind and cut for tight clearance bolts.

Use playing cards put between tire and rim to paint rim.

Bolt long stud to hole in bracket to hold while painting. Clamp in vice until dry.

Poke a hole in cap of empty plastic oil quart container. Insert vacuum tubing, use for fuel priming.

Cut the tip off large crescent wrench, grind to flat blade for emergency tool kit use.

Put trash bag over shop stool for clean seat.

 

I need to prime the carb when the car sits for a while so I drilled a small hole in the air cleaner over the carb and cover it with a magnet. It saves having to unscrew the air cleaner, but won't win points at Pebble Beach.

 

My Dad's choke broke. So he ran some vacuum tubing from a hole on the top of the air cleaner to a hole in the dash. Then he squirted gas into the hose with a windex bottle filled with gas.

I guess I'm not really offering this as a tip to try. It's just, your story reminded me of it. Let's just call it an anti-tip for smokers.

 

Bringing this back to the top.

Mark the male and female ends of your extension cords with the length. Black or silver sharpie as appropriate. When they are all coiled up you'll know which one to choose based on the expected use and location.

But mostly to bring this back up top.

 

removing bearing races with a welder

 

I assembled the SBC 388 that's now in my 37 ford in 2003. I used all first-class new parts, so I was shocked to discover the rear-main seal dripping oil after engine installation. In disgust, I pulled the engine back out and mounted it on my engine stand for inspection. I pulled the pan, and could not find any root cause for the seal to leak -- the seal appeared perfect. I went ahead to replace the seal anyway. But now apprehensive about possibility of the seal leaking again, and frustrated to not find a tangible cause.

Before re-installation, my engine-builder buddy suggested to do what he called "an old Smoky Yunick trick." He had me fill the engine with oil on the stand, and then over-fill it by about a quart. He then had me use the cherry picker to pick-up the engine by the nose and hang it nose-up vertical. He had me place a drip pan under the rear seal to check for leaks and let it sit like that overnight. He said if the seal would leak again, it would have to happen now.

The next morning, no sign of a leaking seal. So I installed the engine. That was sixteen years ago, and it never leaked again.

 

I don't like to struggle with stuff, so have lots of tricks I use to get things done easier and use the tools I have on hand. A couple of my faves is to use valve grinding compound on the driver tip to remove tight or buggered up screws. Use the thin clear vinyl from packaging over the heads of painted or chrome bolts and nuts to keep from messing them up while tightening or loosening. Another one I really like and use nearly every day, is to loosely tie a length of cord or small dia. rope with a loop at each end to my extension cords and hoses. After coiling them up, slide the loop to a point where you want the extension cord or hose to hang, wrap the short length of cord a couple wraps and feed one of the loops through the other. Then you can hang the extension cord/hose on a hook/nail/screw using the exposed loop.....saves room and keeps the extension cords wrapped so they don't un-coil.

 

I just loosen the wing nut and pour gas in the depression. It runs right in.

 

My Dad taught me to just turn the engine over a couple of times and wait on an engine that has not been started in a while. That “ loads “ the fuel pump, the spring will push the fuel into the carburetor. After a moment turn the engine over a couple of times and wait again. Do this a couple of cycles, pump the gas....the engine will fire right up and your battery still has enough power to start the car.

If drill a large hole with a hand held drill motor, take a piece of small chain and go around what your drilling, then hold the chain up along the drill, then stick a large/long screw driver through the appropriate link and pry against your drill to get better leverage. .... portable drill press!




Bones

 

Use a trigger spray to bleed brakes, just fabricobble something to attach the tube to the bleed nipple. You need a decent length of clear tube before the trigger spray so you can see the fluid coming out. Just spray the fluid that comes out into a container.

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Always measure the length of your bolts and the diameter before installing them.
This lesson cost me a few thousand dollars and a great running 350 engine when I changed the starter motor and did not measure the bolts!
Metric and standard bolts are different. Chevrolet starter motors from the late 70's to the mid 80's used both metric and standard so check them before installing them and torquing them down unless you want to crack your engine block.
Jimbo

 

You're lucky if you only have two types of bolt! my car has UNC, UNF, Metric and standard. I have two sets of thread pitch gauges and a chart to look up what the bolt is.

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