Hot Rods So, where DOES stuff go in the garage?

I've got boxes and boxes of misc bolts and other fittings that I know I'll need someday (right?). Anyway I figure that sorting and organizing everything is a good rainy week project. Only trouble is not much rain in SoCal the last couple of years. And from the looks of the long range weather forecast the stuff will still be in boxes next spring.

 

There’s two kinds of people. People (like me) that lose stuff, and others who lie about never losing anything.

 

This sort of feels like a conversation with my wife. Just this morning "How you doing on cleaning up the garage?" and that's when the fight started! Seriously though, I think that as we hot rodders age some of the CRS takes over and we will trip over a part we are looking for 2 or 3 times before recognizing it. I know I have. The wife says men can't find anything below their dick anyways!

 

Stuff disappearing and then just re-appearing in the spot where you looked several times is just SOP for living in "The Matrix"....

 

I've "lost" and "found" lots of pieces while building my Buick but what really pisses me off is to misplace tools. 2 weeks ago, I misplaced my 5/8 wrench. There is no telling how much time I spent looking for it before breaking down and buying a new one. Today, it slid out from under the seat of the Buick. I swear I had looked there.

 

If It Is Not Here It Is At My Brother-In-Laws....Then He Loaned It To A Friend...

 

I've got a bunch of tools here from guys just like this! Talk about Christmas, I get excited when I'm tearing a car down and find a high quality wrench or socket not so much when I find those big lots tools

 

Yeh, I'm thinking about changing my go-to black paint to day-glo flourescent lime.



The problem with that plan is remembering where I put the paint!

 

I still can't find 3 gauges and aircraft bezels I bought several years ago for my current build. Usually when I buy them again I find the ones I lost but not this time.

 

Before I retired my boss had the same problem could never fine anything. I almost always put the stuff back the next day or so

 

Your generator strap made other plans and skipped out for a while cuz he figured you'd be doing body work.
He'll be back when he runs out of money.

Btw... When IS your birthday important?
Now?
How about now?
Happy Birthday

 

The real killer is losing something that you just had in your hand less than a half hour ago. That can take another hour to find.

A few years ago I lost a 1/4 in Snap-On ratchet. I looked for it for about a month before running into the Snap-On industrial sales guy and had him get me another. I never liked the new one as much because it didn't fit in the molded tray I had for all my 1/4 in stuff. About a year later I was cleaning out the trunk on my 57 and there sat the ratchet that I had used to replace a tail light bezel.

I also lost a set of spanners for adjusting coil overs. I know I looked for them for at least 10 years. What I did find was the invoice for the coil overs and other suspension parts. I ordered the spanners at the same time as the coil overs. The reason I couldn't find them is that they never sent them; no spanners listed on the invoice.

 

DDD;
Now *that* is a decent green!
I could use a couple of gallons of that stuff. .
Marcus...

 

I know that’s right.

 

I have hunted for my safety glasses to learn latter I was wearing them.
And as Kollar stated, I no longer order car parts until I am ready to install them; eliminates expensive duplications. I run across those same parts hanging on the wall which I bought a year ago and hadn't installed yet.

 

I'm pretty sure your 10MM socket is here at my house. I've only bought one metric socket set in my life and now I have about 8 or 9 of the 10 MMs. Of course, the rest of them could be breeding back there in the back of the tool box.

 

Not only rolls under the car, it rolls to the exact geometric center of the car. I bet I could measure diagonally from each tire to the thing I dropped and not be 1/16th off.

 

anyone else a bachelor hot rodder? Now, instead of having to look for stuff only in the garage, you're now looking in the house for those little parts you thought you set down in the garage.

 

Happy Birthday but that's not important right now...
You have to be hunting for something else to find what you were hunting for earlier
If I can't find something I go right away to hunting for something else
It helps me find things right away but then I can't remember what I wanted it for...
It's an endless loop kind of like groundhog day...no wonder my battery dies earlier than it used to
oh by the way, Happy Birthday

 

Always keep your work space neat and orderly

 

At SEMA this year the EvilBay booth was handing these out for free…. 1/4” & 3/8” drive shallow and deep 10mm sockets cuz they’re the only ones you ever lose!

 

And the most lost item in my shop is my Sharpie, I keep boxes of them around so I can get a new one after I spend 10 minutes looking for the one I was just using!

 

Half hour, try 10 seconds.
Now it's not just tools...it's my "freaking" glasses.
...... This Just In....
A North Alabama man was tragically killed today...
The unnamed man was an automotive enthusiast. He suffered crush injuries after he opened his linen closet. Investigators report an estimated 1200lbs of 1/2 inch wrenches, sockets, nuts, brass fittings and a brand new pair of never used Klien wire crimpers fell on the man. Reportedly his last words were....
"Found them."

 

I must have at least a dozen tape measures. I keep them lined up on top of a cabinet and grab one when I need it. When I clean the shop, every tape measure I find gets returned to the top of the cabinet. I got a lot of them when HF used to give free ones with a coupon. I figure thats a lot easier than hunting for one if you only have one. Still though I sometimes empty the cabinet and must look around......but its easier to spot one when there are a dozen sitting in different places......
I also do the same thing with Dial Calipers, got about 10 of those.

You ONLY have one set of wrenches..........and you expect to always be able to find them?

 

I have to use reading glasses to clearly see anything closer than arm's length. Because of wasting time every day looking for the damn things, I developed a habit that really works, if I follow the 'habit'. I will only set the glasses down in one of two places, the left side of my desktop computer keyboard or my nightstand next to my bed.
(For those on'n'off moments, they go in my shirt pocket or hooked on my shirt neckline. I can skip the 'habit rule' because they are still "on me", right?)
I'm trying to do the same thing in the garage by having one spot that is the primary "helicopter pad" for all parts and tools currently in use. This habit helps but it's still all to easy to skip sticking to the rules, especially easy in the shop.

 

Never lost the Dog. I would stop to think and he'd show up; no noise so I must be eating or he could smell it. He could find me in the woods after he lost me because he ran off chasing something. The nose knows [or I smell bad]. So my point is if Dogs can be taught to sniff out all kinds of stuff, why not tools? Or car parts? or your sandwich, or beer [easy]. Bet could even tell difference between a 1/2" and 9/16" anything..

 

When I die the kids will ask….how many sheet rock knives did he need?

 

Easy, just look on top of the car

 

TAPE MEASURES ‼️‼️ I swear I’m going to put beepers on them , so when I clap my hands they will beep and I’ll know where they are ‼️‼️‼️

 

I knew the end was near when I walked around looking for my damn cell phone, while holding in my own hand, the damn cell phone.
The reason I kept my land line as long as I did was to use it to call my cell, so I could find it.
Now I'm screwed if I lose it again.