Technical Little tips and tricks for garage hobbyists.

A simple solution. Don't build a shop from wood. A steel framed and walled shop won't burn.

 

That's WAAAAAY TOO COOL!!!!!!!

 

The stuff inside will burn causing the steel trusses will warp and pull the walls in, and take the roof down.
Need block or brick walls and wooden trusses or bar joists; the wood can burn and fall in without pulling the walls down.

 

The best and safest is heavy timber construction with sprinkler system.

 

good to know as my new shop is cinderblock and wooden roof....

 

Sorry, But his name was Burt Munro.
Just had to correct this for Burt's sake. He is a hero of mine.

 

As someone who's name is misspelled by over 90% of the people who try it I should have been more careful. Sorry Burt!

 

Having had a couple of thieves visit my shop some years ago, I'll say that one of the best things you can do is to take pictures of all your stuff and save it in a folder on your computer along with scanning any receipts you have. That way you always know where to find them when something bad happens.

 

I fold the edge of the tape under (if I remember). I would just lose those bread bag clips and spend more time searching for them than I save by not having to search for the end of the tape roll.

 

We had a Continental Trailways bus barn burn here in Muskogee that was build years ago with steel framing. It had several layers of roofing on it and years of diesel fumes in the rafters. Absolutely could not put it out! Burnt to the ground!




Bones

 

The only thing here that seems to be fireproof is the wood I'm trying to light in the stove. Too late to change the house & shop now.

 

Haven't seemed to be able to read all of this thread. Pardon please if its repetitive.
Tried to share, without much success in the past.
When replacing front shocks on a car with A frame suspension and the top stud nut won't let go. The stud just turns freely. To conquer this simply find the tightest fitting deep socket and a long 1/2 inch extension ( use adapter if socket happens to be 3/8 ).
Now simply grasp the extension with both hands, push and pull back and forth. keep increasing the distance. The shaft stud will break away.
Done.
The same is true for a wheel lug stud that spins in the axle. ( usually a combo of crossed thread and corrosion ) Any socket short or long. Half inch Extension Longer heavy pipe ( jack handle ).
Swing the pipe to and fro on the same plane.
Once the stud gets hot.
Done.... Just poke the piece left in the axle out. There's nothing holding it.

 

I was helping a friend assemble his engine yesterday and he was using Tygon tubing pieces to do this. We've all got some kind of tubing laying around that we can cut a couple of 2" pieces off of.

 

This dashboard has really thin decorative aluminium strips and of the 16 tiny clips that slide into the strips to fasten them i only had 6 clips. A blob of solder from the inside would only melt the paint . So i spaced the 6 clips out and fastened everything down with tie strips . Then mixed up some JB Weld and forced it into the aluminium strips from behind with a small kitchen knife. A day later and solid as a rock.

 

I use gas hose to put pistons in, but I use more than two inches. I take a length of hose and run it up from under the engine , around the crank throw, and up through the cylinder then push it on the rod bolts. This makes a loop and guides the rod on for me. Just easier way for me!






Bones

 

Stopped by to help a friend with a clutch adjustment today, and was rewarded with a gallon of tricloroethane, some kind of solvent, he's a retired elevator mechanic. Anyone heard of this stuff? Is he trying to poison me? He also gave me some Slick 50, so maybe he trying to do me harm.

 

Dry cleaning fluid?

Gary

 

^^Just a couple of posts above it mentions using gas hose to put over the con rod bolts to protect the crank journals while fitting the pistons. On a flathead this might not be possible depending on the bore size and other factors.
I did use some heat shrink tubing though, which was a close fit and much thinner wall. Some is naturally flat when unheated and that can be a help. Just mentioning it in case anyone else has a situation where conventional tubing is too thick.

 

I believe that Trichloroethane was used as a solvent but either is being phased out, or has already been phased out, due to its ozone-depleting and cancer-causing properties. Must be some pretty old stuff ya got there. Be careful with it.

 

Take the "Be careful" warning to heart that's some wicked shit if you breath in too many of the fumes. Years ago at work the used it for degreasing parts and the guy who was the regular degrease operator ended up with health problems. When he'd been off the job for a few months he started looking a lot better

 

Thanks guys. I hope one big whiff won't hurt, 'cause that's the first thing I did.

 

In the aviation world, we called it "trike". It's a degreaser, and yes, it's long gone, very effective, and causes cancer in California and everywhere else. I wouldn't be afraid to use it, because you won't have years of exposure to wreck your internal organs. But don't let the neighbor's kid go huffing it!

 

Years ago I had a house that the well tested for that shit, the chemist who analyzed the water told me the fact we drank it while finishing the house was not good, but the real danger was breathing it, ir steam from the shower, dishwasher etc. Bad stuff, found out later the adjacent property the owner had been burying metal machining scrap
from Pratt and Whitney. Had to install activated carbon filters on the water for the house.

 

Last weekend I borrowed a floor jack while on the road. One of those lightweight aluminum jobs, carried it across a parking lot. In addition to being a breeze to maneuver into position, it had a fast pump that brought it up to the car frame in one or two pumps. In comparison, my floor jacks, all decades old, would break my back to carry around, and don't have the fast pump. Maybe time to upgrade..

 

@blowby,
I've been thinking about this too. Do you remember what brand it was?

 

Yes please post, with any comments on it. I've been thinking about quicker jack, as my shoulders are taking a beating pumping the handle as it's usually so close to the ground. Most of the jack is under the car, reaching to the rear end housing.

 

Sorry no, it was at night. It was light enough it even had a carrying handle on the side, and the jack handle came off with a thumb screw. It was bigger than the typical old mini floor jacks. It was anodized purple..

 

I bought 2 of those and put one in each of my daily drivers. PITA to deal with a factory jack, and most of them are not well designed. Believe I paid about $99 or so at Harbor Freight. Hate to buy Chinese, but where ever you get one, its probably made in China. Be glad when they start putting high tariffs on all the Chinese stuff and "encourage" companies to manufacture stuff here again.

 

FWIW I've got a harbor freight light weight jack that struggles to lift anything. It's handy when I need to carry it but useless in the garage where I've got a real jack.

 

Need more vacuum ports or want to hide them - No problem! I drilled holes in one steel tube and soldered the smaller steel tube pieces into them - done deal. The tubing was steel fuel and brake line. About 4000 miles so far, no leaks.

First pic shows the prototype, second the real deal prior to tidying things up.

John