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

A short piece of rubber hose can serve as a depth gauge/bumper when slid over a drill bit.

 

Aquire a 12 volt/cigar lighter powered air compressor. Keep it with you, will save you many times, or at least it has me.





Bones

 

"my car has UNC, UNF, Metric and standard."

What exactly are "standard" bolts? I always thought UNC and UNF are "standard".

 

Standard bolts to me are SAE Standard. Although I appreciate there are so many bolt types "standard" is laughable.

Https://www.haguefasteners.co.uk/BoltingGuides/HagueFastenersGuideToScrewThreadSizes.pdf

Sent from my SM-G390F using Tapatalk

 

Do not know if it’s right, but in my neck of the woods growing up, USS, Standard, course were one type of thread. Fine and SAE were the other thread. Metric was just something we heard about and occasionally British Whitworth came up on the occasional Triumph motorcycle...... but time changes things.........




Bones

 

That's the nice thing about standards, there are so many to choose from.

 

In 1959, I was doing my first chop, a 4 inch chop on a 34 Ford 1/2 ton, and one of my friends was a body man. He taught me how to shrink stretched panels by using a torch, sponge, and how to finish straightening using heat with a hammer and a dolly. He frequently told me, that patience was the key, and that it is better to under do the process than to over do it.
My chop turned out great, and the experience got me over the fear of working metal panels.
He passed a few years ago, a real artist with metal.
Bob

 

Learned this working in a chrome plating shop. If you have a lot of little bits that need glass beading - take a coffee can cut a hole in the plastic lid that matches the glass beader nozzle end- quickly tape the lid on. Punch a bunch of small holes in the opposite end to let the glass bead fall out . Place your small pieces in the can put the nozzle in the lid hole and shake ,shake , shake while blasting away. It will quickly get the small pieces perfect! Eventually the bottom of the coffee can will blow out but it works way better than trying to hold each piece separately and destroying the expensive glass beading gloves.

 

When hammering dents out of sheet metal, resist the temptation to pound it really hard. This stretches the metal out.

 

Ive used this several times. If you have a car with a cigarette lighter, ive taken the element out and mounted a push/pull switch behind it to use as a hidden kill switch. In to run out to kill... convenient and no ones the wiser




Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

Take a scrap of plywood and screw it onto a section of 2 x 4. Place In vise as in picture. Gives you a little extra height so you can see better and also you don’t have to bend over when working on small jobs.

 

Get a door mat with little rubber post sticking up similar to mat on left side of vise. When you are taking apart jobs with small parts, small screws, springs the parts get caught in the mat rather then rolling off work bench onto the floor. Door mat also will contain some fluids so work bench stays cleaner. You can clean mats with hose or just throw away. If you know any one in the bar/tavern business bar mats work even better.

 

Patience. My Dad taught me to have patience with the work whether it was inanimate or animate. If the job was going bad to step away and take a break. Going back after a break it always seemed to go better. Patience has gotten better over the years with the inanimate but sometimes as I have gotten older the animates are a test.

 

I remember when I was three years old...My dad said.."DAMNITDAVID!...YOU DON'T LICK THE LIGHT SOCKET!" And my Uncle said, "Hell, What's it going to hurt?"

 

Make the same piece out of some quartyer inch or thicker plate and you will have a small welding table/fixture.

 

The very best solution I’ve ever used as a penetrant on rusty bolts by far is a 50/50 mix of acetone and automatic transmission fluid. Put some in a spray bottle and let it soak on rusty bolts overnight it will blow your mind! Oh yeah it is also highly flammable so be careful.

 

The best thing i learnt was from my grandad, he used to say...
" if you work slow you work fast"
Do it right first time.

 

I use a shovel under the tire. Lots of mechanical advantage, minimum stress on the back.
Bob

 

I can honestly say I have never had a "mentor".

 

When pulling out a fender, or other sheet metal, after an accident, think about how it got bent, and then do the opposite. It might sound dumb, but it can save a lot of work.
Attaching a puller of some kind to the point of impact and gently pulling while gently using the hammer and dolly on the crease, will sometimes restore a fender that you thought was going to have to be replaced.
Bob

 

My mentor told me to always read the HAMB for the best advise on a project.

 

I saw a similar mention to this but not exactly. When installing rubber pieces and grommets, use liquid dishwashing detergent (like Dawn) as a lubricant. It makes the job go as slick as snot on a doorknob. The 2nd best part is it washes right off!

 

Buddy told me this one.
"when re-installing chrome trim around windshield and back glass it can be a real pain to get the trim to slide under the hold down clips and not scratch the new paint.
He cuts a small piece of a plastic milk carton and slides that under the clips.(mark each one with a magic marker) The plastic lets the chrome slide easier under the clip and the magic marker marks the position of each clip. Saves scratching up your new paint job When done....just pull the plastic tabs out with some needle nose pliers".
6sally6

 

Awesome Trick !!!I don’t know if this has been mentioned but we did this trick at work for the first time today and it really works well. When reinstalling a transmission take some scrap bolts that fits the bellhousing 2 to 4 inches long -depending . Cut the heads off- round the ends off -and install in the bellhousing (finger tight). Grease the studs up a small bit. When we reinstalled the trans it slid on in one— yes one—easy push. It worked so good we did the same trick for the transfer case at the end of the trans( Toyota 4x4). Slid on one easy push! No fighting no swearing and these pieces were heavy! Think of them as really long dowel pins that line everything up before they need to be lined up.

 

"Crown Royal is for drinkin, Black Velvet is for mixin damn it!" - Gary Sr. a wise mentor of mine.

 

Back to the top; it's been 6 months now.

I'm pretty certain that there are more tricks out there that haven't been shared yet.

 

Use a cut off broom stick as a drift to remove radiator hoses from a rusty water pump. Thanks Verley!

 

Here's a couple that a grizzled old timer shared with me;

If it flies floats, or f**ks. You are better of renting it.
If it don't smell good, don't eat it.
Life is too short to live with a bitch.
and,
Owning a Ford is like stepping on your own balls.

Bobby

 

If it's not broke, don't try and fix it.

( said concerning replacing points with an electronic ignition).