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

We all have those little tricks and tips a friend or mentor showed us. At least a couple of times a week I think "Man!, I'm so glad so and so showed me that trick / tip!" This board has provided me with quite a few and got me out of a jam more than once. The one I use the most is a drop or two of machinists oil on threads during assembly of most everything. My buddies tease about it me but they constantly borrow my taps, dies, and E-Z outs. They can borrow them but they get a little speech with it.

 

Way too many to list. Mark "ChopOlds" Wojcik has taught me all kinds of stuff. Flatdog taught me how to burn a broken bolt out of cast iron with a cutting torch. Pretty cool stuff I continue to use

 

Working alone? Arms to short to reach the nut and the bolt? Tack one or the other down so you only have to work on one side. Why didn't I think of that? Gary

 

An older friend of mine once showed me a very cheap way to check sparkplugs. He opened the hood and set about touching each one of the plugs with his bare hands until he found the dead one. New plug and away I went.

Somehow I have Never been able to go that cheep! lol

Fourdy

 

gun cleaner to clean out my very long Buick straight 8 rocker shaft

 

ball peen hammer to make custom gaskets is one off the top of my head.......alot of cool tricks around here.

 

Use a ratchet set no larger than you need for the job, especially if you're working over your head. That weight will get to you, and you won't have the "feel" with a 1/2" drive that you will with a 3/8" or 1/4" drive setup.

If you need to use an end wrench to turn a bolt in a confined area a quarter-turn at a time, maybe fifty repetitions (why do I end up with these jobs?), the ratcheting box wrench is the best choice, followed by a new-tech open end that gives a more continuous motion, then regular open end. Lifting and resetting a box wrench fifty times will test the limits of your sanity.

When it comes to screws and allen bolts, there is no "close enough".

Some of the hardest tools in your box are the taps and easy-outs. Avoid breaking them off in whatever you are working on.

When tapping a hole, turn the tap reverse direction after every couple of turns. This clears the metal chips and makes the thread cut easier and cleaner.

There, that was thirty years' worth.

 

you know there are millions of "tips and tricks" out there and everytime i learn one i think man that was simple why haven't i been doing that all along? a few i use the most are the rubber fuel line to start hard to reach spark plugs, a little windshield kit in socket to hold a bolt or nut, and of course the grease zerk welded into an old spark plug to unseize motors. i think this will be a learning experience. i look forward to all your "tricks".

 

When, as a pimple face teenager, I was struggling to put the 3-speed manual tranny back together for my '59 Ferd, my old man showed me how to use grease to keep roller bearings in place during assembly (I had been at it for hours until he got home to let me in on this simple trick).

 

Not to drop names,buuuuuut, the great Gene Winfield showed a neat little trick when chopping a top. Instead of just butt welding the A pillars back together.lightly form the edges with the round side of a ballpeen hammer in at the unwelded seam. When this seam is together(top and bottom) and welded, its much thicker and stronger. That man boys and girls knows his shit. If you ever get a chance to see him at a seminar, he'll educate you!!!

 

'ole welder' told me to use a cutting torch and ole wax candles to remove 'frozen' nuts and bolts! PLUS A LARGE QUANITY OF PATIENCE! there are occasions when the process may have to be repeated numerous times.
he learned it from the town blacksmith!

 

Had this one taught to me too...works great!

also
Enjenjoe came over one day to help me with a 327 that i could not get the timing right on

turned out the timing mark was off a different sbc..(many many combinations)..he showed me how to do it with a Vac. Gauge..
search for the best Vacuum..and thats about as close as you can get..even if the engine has minor troubles..it will run its best with the highest Vac.

 

Ever have a difficult time getting parking brake cables out of backing plates? Use a small hose clamp and wrap it around those 3 or 4 little prongy things and tighten. When there smooshed in far enough, push them through the hole then remove the clamp and the cable comes right out.

 

This is going to be a great thread...


When I was younger, I was so overwelmed with doing body work on a car. My dad said to just focus on one panel at a time. I know this isn't the greatest advise out there but it works on many other aspects of building a car and in life also!

 

I never had a mentor,,just learned some on my own. Spray water on each exhaust and start the engine. The last one to evaporate is the weak/bad plug.
Place your hand loosely over the carburetor of a running engine,,if it speeds up it's lean, if it stumbles it's rich.
Running engine with dead miss,, pull each plug wire,, if you pull one that affects nothing,,it's the culprit.That's all for now.

 

one of the 1st things i learned many moons ago , while replacing an axle seal in a 10 bolt gm , as im struggling with a pry bar to remove the seal , an old timer comes over and picks up the axle i just removed , puts the c-clip side into the housing at about a 45 degree angle and catches the inside lip of the seal with the c-clip notch and just lightly pushed down and the seal popped out . i have shown this to countless folks . im sure this is well known but that was the 1st of many for me at 17 years old .

 

Using heat and a candle on frozen bolts is a great idea. If the bolt head breaks or is rounded use a 4 inch pipe wrench to turn the bolt.

 

I was taught 2 tricks as a KID that stuck with me till now and I'm 71. One was fitting babbit connecting rods, with a small ballpeen hammer (NO KIDDING, it works) and I have done many of them todate. The other was setting up a Model A rear end, even using unmatched gears, and never had a noisy one, and some have been going for many yrs. ICEman

 

When welding tabs don't tack them on the flat side of the tab, then you have to weld over the top of your tack. Instead, use one tack on each end of the tab.

Example, if the letter A is a small triangular tab you tack where the periods are like this .A. You then wrap your weld around the end and do not connect it on the back side. This allows you to tack into a slight lowspot and your finish weld ends up even.

 

Here's one I made up, but it worked for me.

"How to make a sheet metal template using masking tape"

This works best if it's an odd shape and you don't have both hands available... or you're a little shaky haha...

1. Cover hole you're wanting make template for with masking tape. I like blue. It's pretty.

2. Setup drop light behind the panel you just taped up.

3. Turn off the lights in your shop.

4. Highlight edges of now illuminated masking tape.

5. Remove your masterpiece carefully.

6. Place masterpiece directly on sheet metal.

7. Trim off excess tape.

8. Cut your patch!

Ok... now what do I get for winning tech week?

 

eureka! :d

 

Using a zip tie to check travel on an item. I used this when setting up the stops on power windows - tie a zip tie around the item and when it bottoms out or reaches where you want, you have your location marked. I have used this for other applications when I have been working alone, such as measuring travel on a M/C rod to see if it was bottoming out and also for measuring shock travel and rod length. Just put a zip tie around the rod and see where it is after maximum compression.

 

When using a tap put grease in the grooves, it will hold the metal chips and bring them out when the tap is removed.

 

My dad taught me how to cut gasket by placing the gasket material over the surface to be cut and then using either a ball peen hammer or a knife blade and cuttijng a perfect edge. Pressing the ball end of the hammer against the holes gives the outline of them on the gasket material. enough to be able to punch them out with a hole punch.

In the last 50 years, I've made a ton of gaskets and think of, and thank, my dad every time.

 

when gas welding sheetmetal panels together make a snake out of asbestos puddy, and closely surround the area to be welded with this puddy.It acts as a heat sink to prevent too much warpage, and WILL NOT melt, burn, or get stuck to the panel... They don't sell the puddy anymore though, and the shop I learned this at must have had the same stuff for 50 years judging by the color. Anyone know of any simular puddy? Maybe some aluminum puddy?

 

I picked this real simple one of a car builder when watching him work one day. When you cut bolts or studs down, run a file around the cut end to chamfer the thread. Really simple, but stuck with me.

 

Not a HAMB vehicle but the tip could have many uses. My son needed to drill a hole in his motorcycle faring to mount a crash peg, but couldn't see the bolt hole because it was under the faring. He bought a cheapo laser pointer at the 99 cent store. He mounted it to a stand pointing at the bolt hole with the faring off. Then he mounted the faring without moving the bike or laser stand and the red dot pointed the exact spot to drill. Nailed it first time.

Another tip made easier and cheaper with digital cameras. Take zillions of photos before you take anything apart. You'll thank yourself weeks later when you can't remember exactly which way things went back in.

I sometimes draw the outline of a part on a piece of cardboard, then press the bolts into the outline so I remember where each one went.

 

put 1 or 2 nuts on the remaining area of a bolt to be cut, then back them off after the cut to clean the threads.

 

I do something similar- I use a 1/2" (or appropriate size) box wrench. Works like a charm!

 

If you want to get bearing races out easily, weld a bead on the face where the bearing ran. The race will literally fall out. Saves a lot of work.

To remove a pilot bushing in a crank hold a grease gun tightly against the hole in the bushing. Pump it full of grease, the grease will push the bushing out.

To make it easier to install a transmission take two extra long bolts and cut the heads off. Then screw them into the block or bell housing and use as a pilot to guide the transmission into place. They support the tranny and make things a lot easier.

Use never seize on anything you want to get apart! Especially where two dissimilar metals are in contact with one another.

In tight hard to reach places, I tape the heads of screws to a screwdriver. After the screw is started, just pull back and the screw will separate from the tape.

Cut the square end off of a cheap extension. Chuck it up in a cordless drill and you have made a quick power tool to run up bolts. Won't tighten 'em but it saves wrenchin!

Nuff for now, Tim