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

Great Idea thanks I will pass it on to others here in Asia

 

Take a lathe square cutting tool and taper the 4 sides on one end. Drill a hole near center of a broken bolt or stud and drive the cutting tool in the hole. Will not break like an easy out.

Jim

 

Anotehr one I just remembered - used it to make my engine mounts.

To plasma cut perfect holes tack weld a washer to what you want to cut the hole out of - weld inside if you want to plasma the outside and vice-versa.

 

I do that with my belt/disc sander every time. I do that with anything I cut - force fo habit.

 

"round all corners, remove all burrs, break all sharp edges" I think I lettered that 10,000 times on build prints in the seventies.

 

anything LOUDPEDAL tells ya

 

oh and put a little "soul" in whatever you do

 

I've mentioned this before but thought I'd add it to this post.
When you have a large amount of welding to do on a small piece and you know that the quantity of heat will warp or damage it.
Stick the part into a bucket of water to weld it. Keep the water off the welded area.
The water acts as a giant heatsink and is perfect for preventing damage of areas that cant be effected by heat or warpage.
Along as you don't decide to get your gloves wet there's no chance of shock. Besides the amperage of any welder is designed not to shock or electrocute you.
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To syncronize carburaters with a hose n each ear, just listen and dial.
To check for damages on automatic transmission valve balls simply by cleaning them and put them in your mouth. Tadaaaah

 

I have worked on cars for 45 years but once I learned how to use a vacuum gauge the right way for setting the timing and adjusting a carb. it all became so easy.

When I think about how many years we did this stuff just by the sound of the engine it was kind of crazy.

Get a good vacuum gauge and then learn how to use it and your life will be much happier.

Another tip is I cannot tell how many times over the years I have used JB-Weld for all kinds of stuff including race heads and it worked everytime.

Jimbo

 

117harv some use paper I use the car lol , sometimes if the cars is too nice I use my garage wall , I've had people come in and read my wants and needs list and say wow you were working on a 69 stingray corvette with a big block or wow when were you working on a 57 chevy 2 door hardtop belair or wow you had alot of work to do to that porsche , and it also gives me a great thrill to look back and read some of my project list , I also keep one part off of every car I do for myself and mount them on the garage wall , Like extra belaire side trim inserts or the rear center light panel from the porsche or hood emblems makes great memories I have a list and a piece of cars I did in the early 80's and it's great motivation for next projects...

 

Another simple one that is easy to overlook. When building a custom car - build an owners manual!

You have used so many odd parts from other years, cars, etc. Keep a notebook that references part numbers and/or the car that it is for. Ordering replacement parts becomes worlds easier when it comes time for maintenance, and if you go to sell it the new owner will be able to take care of it properly without too much headache.

 

Not really the best idea, but sure is handy.
A piece of masking tape in a socket to keep a nut/bolt from falling out while trying to install in a crappy spot.

 

If you are trying to change a mechanical fuel pump on a sbc and the pushrod keeps falling out, there is a threaded hole on the front of the engine you can thread a long bolt or a piece of threaded rod (hand tighten only!) to hold the rod in position while you install the pump. Be sure to remove the bolt when finished and reinstall what ever short bolt was in the hole before. I don't have a photo but maybe someone has one they could post.

 

Oh yea, a piece of heater hose to hear your rockers. handy when you run open headers and impossible to hear tick on hydraulic valves.

 

2 words. Thread file. http://www.sjdiscounttools.com/kdt2249.html

Never knew they existed until someone gave me one..

 

Here's a couple that I picked up over the years:

Keep a container for saving all the oddball and OEM fasteners, clips, retainers, pins, washers, etc. that are in good condition off of junk parts or cars. They can help you out of a jam with future repairs/projects ... if you find the piece that works, you've saved some cash or have one to show the guy at your parts and fastener supply when you need more.

When working under the car on concrete, a large piece of heavy cardboard (think sofa or appliance carton) flattened works better than a mechanic's creeper. It insulates, gives you a few more inches of working room, and is easier to move around on than fighting with the creeper. Best of all, it's free ... check behind furniture stores, etc.

 

A long time ago my uncle the welder told me the trick for taking out broken bolts by welding a nut to the end of the bolt. Works about 95% of the time.

I was having a hard time getting an aftermarket instrument culster level in my '40 Ford dash. Bend one tab and the other side side would stick out, bend some more and the top would be too low or too high. A friend told me to cut four short stiff springs and put them on the studs for the guage cluster. Put the nuts on, then tighten each nut untill the cluster was level.

 

Or new carpet scraps/remnants. Nice and cozy

 

If a nut or bolt is too tight to loosen, see if you can tighten it a little. Breaks it loose and keeps you from rounding off the fasteners.

 

I never knew these were all tricks I thought that is how it is supposed to be done. Like using the quick connect on a air hose directly to the valve stem with the core out to inflate a tire that is going on a wide rim.

 

when building an engine, pack the oil pump gears with ordinary soft multipurpose grease. Gives instant oil pressure on start up, and it doesn't hurt the oil

when welding a patch in a panel in a place where you can't get a clamp on it, use a few small round rare earth magnets to hold it in place for tacking

 

I used Vasoline in mine. I felt kindof stupid at the convenient store buying a soda, piece of beef jerky and a tub of vasoline.

 

I have a magnetic flexible ruler that I use for that purpose, works perfectly.

 

Doesn't vasoline breakdown seals and stuff though...

 

can't break the head loose on an engine....find a cylinder with the piston at TDC and then make an adapter out of an old sparkplug and a grease nipple that you can screw into the sparkplug hole and squirt grease into the cylinder....the grease gun exerts a lot of pressure as the cylinder fills with grease and the head pops loose.

 

I don't see why it would, it's petroleum based so if the part can see oil, grease or gas it should be able to see Vaseline.

 

-Not any more than any other oil or grease. Though petroleum jelly isn't that great of a lubricant- well, an engine lubricant, anyway- so for that reason, among others, you'll want to change the break-in oil right away.

Doc.

 

When I was about 13 a grizzled old mechanic showed me how to remove a pilot bearing from a crankshaft after I thoroughly boogered it up. Pack the cavity behind it with wheel bearing grease then stick an input shaft in the hole and tap with a hammer. The grease won't compress and the bearing pops right out. Works every time.

 

Not necessarily a "trick" but my Dad made some of his own tools, and the ones that I made like his get used A LOT.

One of them is about an 8" piece of the end of an old stainless steel antenna rod (with the little ball on the end). It's GREAT for lining up bolt holes and the holes where 2 pieces of sheet metal have to line up for pop rivets or screws. The stainless steel is sturdy enough not to bend when you put a little leverage on it.

The other tool that I use a LOT was made from an old cheap flat blade screwdriver (the metal seems a little softer). I heated the shaft about an inch from the tip with a small torch and then bent it over at a 90* angle to make a miniature crowbar. I use it for gently prying chrome up so that I can get the clip removal tool underneath, for pulling o-rings out of holes, hooking wires that I can't grab with my finger, etc.

The next time that you see the guy selling the chinese tools at the swap meet skip everything else and buy a couple pairs of surgical hemostats. They're a combination of tweezers and scissors, but they clamp shut really tightly and are great for holding small things or for reaching into areas that you can't get your fingers into.

I suppose ONE other thing to get from the chinese tool guy is what I call a "grabby thing". It's the flexible steel thing with the spring loaded thumb plunger on one end that makes the 3 little jaws come out the other end. I use that thing all the time to push / pull wires through the firewall, speaker wires or trunk release wires under the top cushion of the back seat into the trunk, etc. Secure the wire in the end and jam it under the top part of the rear seat when you want to install speaker wires, or drill your hole in the firewall for tach wires or whatever, stick the end of the grabby thing through and clamp onto the wire that you want to pull through... Works like a champ instead of trying to "push a rope" through a hole.