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

The best tip I ever heard-

When I was little, like 9 or 10, I was playin the wrench getter for my mom while she was working on her Chevelle. I remeber our neighbor, this real kool old guy named Jack, came over and said "hey sweetheart, your doin that wrong!" She turns around and asks what he means. So he cracks open his can of Coors and says "you can't work on one of those without one of these!" and hands her the beer.

 

Ok ya'll can send me a personal PM to thank me for this one ... LOL ... clean any gas tank inside no matter how rusty to good as new simply pull your sending unit out and plug hole then through the gas inlet hole pour in about six bottles of the works toliet bowl cleaner leave set 15 minutes or so and rotate untill you have all sides ends and corners soaked ... DON'T JUDGE ME DAMIT JUST TRY IT ... Also to check for holes in tanks plug one hole and tape a turned on flashlight to the other and then turn off your garage lights and wow it works everytime . See light? fix holes easy as that ... Oh and P.S the works toilet bowl cleaner in a cut off milk jug and drop in your rusty bolts they come out like new . and last and final Works hint ... Froze up motor a few squirts of works in eack cylinder will free it in about 15 minutes now we have covered all dangerous points of your build ((( LEAKY GAS MAKES BOOM ))) rusty tank makes car not run so pretty good ... and cleaning orignal bolts saves money ... so I saved your life from fire and got rust out of your tank so you run better and I saved you money ... thank you thank you thank you I'll be here all night

 

Back in the 60's I had a Harley 45 that did not have a generator. I used a 6 volt battery for juce. It only lasted so long and I would have to recharge. A local upperclassman gearhead said why don't you take a 12v battery cut it in half with a wood saw, and make two 6v's. I just looked at him. I did just what he said to, and it worked fine. I had two 6v batteries one for a backup. M

 

Couple of tips for your old body;

Cuts; Working with your hands, cold, dry climate brings on paper cut type cuts to your fingertips, etc. They're a pain in the ass and never seem to heal up prior to busting them back open. I use CA (cyranoacrylate) glue or "super glue". on them; Squeeze the cut shut, then drop a couple of drops over the cut. Hold the cut closed a couple of minutes until the glue cures. The "gel" type CA glue works best, as it doesn't flow which means you have much less chance of glueing your fingers together! You can also buy CA glue accelerator or "kicker" at hobby shops, which will instantly harden CA glue when you hit it.

Gloves; Hardcore body builders use leather gloves that already have the finger tips cut off. These gloves have a built in velcro wrist wrap that helps keep your wrists straight. I have a pair that I wear when I'm doing continuous heavy block sanding, etc and I've found that I last longer and am less whooped at the end of the day.

Portable floor mat; I have a couple of old foam Boogie boards that I use as a mat when I'll be doing hours of continuous standing, kneeling, etc, when doing bodywork, bench work, etc. They're a poor man's machine shop rubber mat, but are easy to move around where needed. Knees and back feel better at the end of the day.

Relief; Hit your nail with a hammer? Unwind a paper clip. Place in vice grip. Heat end of clip over open flame, then lay tip of hot clip on bruised part of fingernail. It'll melt a small hole in the nail to relieve the blood. Same can be done with a small drill.

If you have a junk or grenaded manual trans, keep the input shaft for a clutch disc alignment tool. The real thing works better than the plastic auto part store guides.

 

ok also to continue on My THE WORKS hints put some works in a spary buttle and spray them on rusted in bolts works great just pulled a set of 60's installed shackles very rusty I sprayed it all down with the works and made easy work of it ...

 

oh forgot to mention WD40 makes a great and safer starting fluid

 

Before starting a dirty job dig your fingertips into a bar of soap to get soap under your nails; this keeps the grease out. Put some hand lotion on, dry hands suck up oil and grease.

 

Verley Wynn taught me to use a hammer and a 2 x 4 to drive a stuck radiator hose off the water pump.

 

Best tip yet!

 

Another trick similar to using the axle to remove seal, when taking front hubs off to pack wheel bearings, remove castle nut and washer take outside bearing out, replace nut and grasp drum or rotor with both hands and pull it towards you letting it ride the top of spindle. When it hits the back bearing it will pop it and the seal out with no damage to the seal, that you would have if you had pried it out. Another little bit of kit that you can put together with a little bit of scrounging. Rob an old compressor from a junk fridge that had other problems ( compressor needs to be good). Wire up a 120 plug and switch to it. Find the 2 lines that suck, and blow and solder or braze fittings on to them, I use the male flare that fits the hoses from a set of freon gauges. Now you have a small compressor or vacuum pump. Now you need a metal can of at least a couple gallon capacity. The ideal one is a stainless syrup can from a place that has fountain drinks( it has a dip tube already in it. Acquire a couple of small ball valves and plumb them to the top of said tank. Get one of the aforementioned AC hoses and some cheap plastic tubing from the farm store. Now you are ready to drain the radiator or tranny ect. and store it till needed in a clean stainless vessel. Hook the suction from the comp. to the can a pull a little vacuum on it, have the other hose from the can snaked down into the bottom of the radiator and crack the valve and it will pull the coolant into the can. When you get ready to put the fluid back in just switch the hose at the compressor and push it back in clean and uncontaminated with no spills. The little compressor will also pump up a tire, or fill an air tank, might even run an airbrush, although I never tried that. If you ever rig one up you won't know how you lived without it.

 

When trying to remove studs wind on one nut then another on top tighten them together then wrench on bottom nut to take them out or top nut to screw them in.

When replacing that stupid pain in the ass hose that connects the water pump to the giant heavy BMFer intake on a FE big block Ford cut a section of heater hose of the correct diameter and slide it on the nipple (down boys not that kind of nipples) from the water pump until it bottoms out then make your final cut so the open end just clears the nipple on the intake manifold. Install the manifold without worrying about lining up the hose or continue replacing leaking hose by simply sliding the new section of hose backward until it slides on the manifold nipple then just center the hose between the intake and water pump and you still have enough hose to put on the hose clamps no need to have a hose that goes all the way from the edge of the manifold to the edge of the water pump.

 

-Even better are the disposable Nitrile gloves. They work like surgical gloves, but are considerably tougher. I use 'em by the boxful anytime I'm working on something greasy/oily.

Doc.

 

A former employer clued me in to this one. Whenever you are struggling to reach something or put a nut on an "invisible" bolt; like when laying on your back under the car and reaching up into the chassis, try turning around and positioning your whole body the opposite direction. You will probably find the job just got a LOT easier. I've used this advice for years and teach it to my students.

The old boss used to say "Your problem is, your butt's not pointed the right direction.", and most times he was right...

.....Oh, and peanut butter will work to drive a pilot bushing out of a crank if there's no grease handy.

 

if a hammer doesn't work...get a bigger one! bend to shape, hammer to fit! and the best one, get the right tool for the job!

 

My dad taught me so many tricks. In my teens I was fighting to line up my tranny in my 283 55 chevy after installing a new clutch, My arms felt like they were going to fall off. My dad walks up and say's whats all the cussing about? I told him. He gets mom's broom and cuts about 1 1/2 foot off the stick and chamfered the end and I used that to line up the clutch. tranny went right in. And he used a match book cover to set points when he didn't have feeler guages handy. problem with moisture or distributor sweating? spray silicone on cap and wires. Rusted bolts or nuts. I use PB Buster. spray it on let it sit for awhile, come back break it loose and remove. It actually eats the rust. Chrome got surface rust? Coca Cola and medium steel wool works like a charm. Got grease/oil on your hands? Dawn dish detergent takes it right off. Body work? rubber gloves when mixing and applying filler. That way after you shower you're not sitting in front of television peeling filler from your fingers!

 

There must be a zillion? tricks I learned from others, most I learned by myself were more likely than not from a mistake I made........ EXPERIENCE = A list of one's mistakes.

1957, cutting rotted floor panels out of a fertilizer spreader truck. Some falling slag singed my arm. Mr Burl Young told me to get an Aloe-Vera leaf, split it open and rub it on the burn. Of course in Tucson they were plentiful, five paces right outside the shop. Still do.
Cool, soothing relief.

 

I was 18 and working at my first shop job, installing a master cylinder in a '67 Chevy. I had it bolted up to the power booster and was fighting with the brake lines.

The shop owner comes over and looks, picks up a wrench I had out on the air cleaner. I figure he's come over to help me, wrong! He raps me in the knuckles with the wrench.

After I got done saying "ow", he tells me to loosen up the master, attach the lines then tighten up everything. This is so applicable to doing almost anything on a car and I have showed the concept to my kids, less the knuckle rapping.

Bob

 

To bend steel pipe you can make plugs for the pipe out of wood, fill the pipe with sand, and use a torch to bend the pipe. After bending the pipe one side will be bumpy, depending on where you put the heat last will determine which side is bumpy.

I think that WD40 has changed over the years. I used to use it as starting fluid but recently when I couldn't get the lawn mower to run I used WD40 and it still wouldn't start, I checked the WD40 with a cigarette lighter and it's not flammable anymore. (edit) I just checked the can and it states that it's flammable...

 

I keep an assortment of old bolts with the heads cut off in my tool box. I saw a screwdriver slot in them and use them to hang water pumps, install transmissions, exhaust, manifolds, etc. Makes a tough job a lot easier especially if the gasket tends to want to escape.

Another one I use is to put never seize on all front end bolts and exhaust hardware. Even with exhaust heat, it stays on the stud or bolt.

Bob

 

Lathe tip

when I was a kid before I really had a eye for eyeballin stuff like staight lines and center lines, and setting the tool hight,,, up dad showed me how to use a scale pinched between the work and the tool.... if the scale leaned to the top the tool was to high ,,,if it leaned to the bottom it was to low,,,,,

I sometimes find myself doing that now if i can't find my "freakin glasses!"

 

Putting a piece of electrical tape over a bolt head or nut before putting it on a socket allows you to navigate it into some odd places without losing the fastener.

Using TIG or ARC rod (flux removed of course) with a MIG welder to bridge gaps.

Using grease or vaseline as a mask to get in some areas that you really cant mask off when painting.

You can remove stubborn fasteners with an air hammer by nudging it along as if you were trying to unscrew it with 1 finger.

 

Drink car workin beer from anything but the original container. Allways leave at least 1 inch of beer in the vessel when refilling. That way youre allways on your first beer.

 

Thanks for that one.

 

Or, if it's too late for this tip because you've already got grease underneath your fingernails, stop and pick up a barbecued chicken and eat it with your hands; it'll take the car grease right out. My wife doesn't like my methods sometimes, but I get results.

 

Thinking with your dipstick.
Just a simple thing, but something I've loaned to others when needed. Putting a dipstick tube in a block can be a pain. Always want a good tight fit. Sometimes if the engine is in the car, it's not easy to get to.

Used a piece of square tubing and cut out one side enough to put the 3 sided end on the tube flange. Angled the end for good contact. Put the tube in the block with the tool down on the flange and tap in with a hammer. Saves the end of the tube and the chance of bending it. This might be out there as a tool already, not sure. I saved a trip looking and know this one's strong enough to work............

 

When your current project doesn't seem to be making much progress, sit down and write out a list of everything that needs to be done, this may take awhile.
When you next work on your project pick an item off of the list and do it start to finish, then cross it off and move on to another item on the list. You may even change colors of pens when you cross off completed tasks to see your progress for that day, seems silly, but it works. Also do a quick clean-up of the shop or around your project before you leave, it will help the next time you go to work again, and have as much light as you can, dark dirty shops are bad for motivation.

 

I once stopped on the freeway to help a stranded motorist, he had sprung a leak in the 2 inch long rubber hose that goes from the water pump to the intake on some ford v-8's, the ford guys know the hose i'm talking about. I just cut a piece of hose about a 1/2 inch shorter than the origonal from one of the heater hoses to replace it as the heater hoses allways have extra length and are the same size.I pulled the oil dipstick and used some oil off of it to lube the inside of the small hose and with some finesse, got it reconected. I then used a gatorade bottle to make several trips down to the creek to get water and refill the radiator and he was on his way.

 

If you have to lay on the ground doing a job during the winter, grab a sheet of 2" pink styrofoam and use it like a creeper. Makes a huge difference.

It also makes the greatest porta potty seat you've ever sat on too.

 

Good idea. (note to self, except for welding)

I just aquired an engine with a project full of sludge. Being cheap and not wanting the machine shop to get their paws on it, I soaked the whole engine and heads inside and out with Aircraft Stripper. Wrapped each item in an old bath towel for a trip to the car wash, every bit of crud washed off. You might want to wear your worst clothes and definately wear safety glasses though. And don't tell the car wash tech what you're washing off your engine, I'm sure it's illegal.

 

Iwas taught you should keep your hands clean or the job wil not turn out good