Technical Little tips and tricks for garage hobbyists.

When parking over my pit, I find it tricky to know when to stop so that I have enough room at the end so I can get me and my fat guts down the ladder. Someone gave me a traffic signal light, so I put a 12volt bulb in it, and switched it using a washing machine water level switch and a piece of tubing, plugged at one end & siliconed to the floor. Front wheel goes over tube, air in tube compresses and level switch actuates.

 

Genius!

 

very 'rube'-ish!-should also turn on a light in the pit,etc......

 

UUUUHHHHH....NO !
6sally6

 

Remember when you would drive into a service station, run over one of those hoses, and the bell would "ding" for someone to come and fill the tank?

Cheers,
Harv

 

The old gas station air pumps you cranked to desired pressure and would ding for each pound... ding , ding ,........ Good tip with the air pressure switch....

 

Yeah, I remember that. As a teenager I worked at the local gas station. The owner was Italian American right from the old country. He’d swear at us in Italian if we were slow or forgot to check the oil, and wipe the windshield. To this day, it’s about the only Italian that I ever learned.

 

Jes sayin' As a kid raised under the big Orange Gulf Disc,
at night laying bed, eleven mile away, I would still hear that bell.

 

I hear ya.

It’s been 30 years since I last heard it, but can never forget the clunk noise when kids ride bikes over the inground fuel tank covers.

Cheers,
Harv

 

C.O.R. = Colonial Oil Refinery, became BP later. They were great trophy's if you could nick them!

 

Here is mine that I restored.

 

Sounds & smells of real gas stations like the sizzling & hot rubber smell of the vulcanized tire patches. Heck the smell of leaded gas!

 

As a young man , going to school I worked in several gas station around Muskogee county. That’s where I learned tire changing on a manual machine! I now have one exactly like the one I learned on in my shop!, When I worked at the station on the busiest corner in Muskogee , on 69 Highway, I learned to get/that hood up! We were a full service , station and stocked hoses and belts and some common parts! Many times I opened a hood and spotted a fan belt about to give up. Sometimes it was on people traveling, and we would pull the car into the bay and change it for them! Sometimes they would just drive on! Many people thanked us for preventing a break down out on the road, by giving us a tip!
Me being born as a gearhead, I loved those jobs! Too bad these stations are a thing of the past. I learned about people and business, along with learning about cars!
Here is a picture of the very first gas station I ever worked for! It had gas, tires, car parts, hardware, groceries, a salvage yard out back and insurance! kinda like an early Walmart….in 1969!



Bones

 

^^^^
Yep I lived that life at my Uncles as an apprentice.
Four years opening and locking up.
The first day he said to me"Before You leave stick the hose in your tank, fill it, write a slip,
and put it in the safe one day we'll settle up."
Five years passed, one day I got a call to come to his house, where upon he handed me keys and title to his '58 Nomad 225 horse blue/white wagon.
I managed to parlay that,,, to a trip across Europe in a VW Camper.
16 countries, ALL the major landmarks, and I say and, a Love of the good ole USA

 

I needed to remove the tie rods, from the center link and spindles, and since they were good, and wouldn't be replacing them, I wanted to save the boots. Don't have the proper tie rod tool, so cut a slot in a thick washer, and slid it between the boot and boss. This allowed a better grab with my 2 jaw puller. Tightened up good, and 3 of them "popped" on their own.

 

What a great idea, thanks. I'll be using that one.

 

I've removed hundreds of tie rod ends over the years and never once used a pickle fork or had one too stubborn for the little tip our high school shop teacher showed us.

Just loosen the nut a 1/4 inch or so, but leave it on the threads in case you miss (chuckling). Then a couple sharp blows on the outside of the socket the rod end goes in with a 2 or 3 pound hammer will momentarily deform it and the rod end pops loose. I've used this method successfully on everything from Kenworths down to 4 wheelers. A 4 wheeler doesn't need quite as large a hammer, haha.

 

@Fabber McGee , I've done similar hitting one side of the boss with a heavy ball peen, while holding a similar sized hammer on the opposite side. Shock is the effect.
I can't do that right now, as both shoulders need surgery, and they just can't take the impact. I know, I tried that first.

 

^^^same here^^^

45 years in a shop using 2 hammers, 1 hammer on one side of the boss, hammer number 2 hitting sharp blows to the other side of the boss.

A couple good blows and they come loose. No pickle forks, no pullers....

...

 

Bummer about your shoulders. Thankfully, mine are still working after 70 years... a little loss of range of motion on one side.

 

Me, too! My dad showed me how to do that, some sixty years ago!




Bones

 

We had a service station called Grants in the neighborhood with the old hand crank dial your air pressure, always a busy place I was never sure if the driveway at the gas pumps & between the buildings was deteriorated blacktop or just impacted grease & oil or a combination of each from decades of servicing.

 

Trying to get an idea on what the valve spring retainer to locator height is, and couldn't get vernier or calipers in due to the deep cut pocket and valve cover rail. Took a short piece of 5/16 brake line and ran 1/4-20 tap in it. Then inserted short length of threaded rod inside. Was able to fit it in between retainer and locator, and secure at proper length. Took it out, and measured with vernier. Tried a couple of times, and was getting the same number, so pretty confident. Although, I'll get someone to double check, with proper equipment, maybe.

 

Inside micrometer or telescoping gauge and regular mics?

 

That's the thing, I don't have those. Going to get someone that has them to come by, but came up with this in the meantime.
Have an inside mic, but wrong range, so would need a block to get it to right height for measuring. I wouldn't try this for checking bearing clearances.

 

Hundreds of telescoping gauges on ebay. New or used, American or yangoleese, sets and singles. 15 to 40 bucks. Probably take a couple days to get 'em.

 

On the list of want-to-have, just wanted a quick measurement this afternoon. Going to check around locally, to see who has what in meantime.

 

You needed a measurement and what you got is plenty close enough for those valve springs, unless of course you build NASCAR engines. I think you used your ingenuity and it served you well.

 

Agreed.

 

I like your ingenuity, and feel your pain.

About a year back I had to make the same measurement on a I6 GM Holden head. It's a local aftermarket Repco head, uses Vincent motorcycle valves. They only made 200 or so of them, and info is scarce. It has been abused in speedway, so lots of measurement needed before getting it milled back to plumb. Aim was to get roller rockers made up, and will run very close to coil bind so measurement needed to be pretty accurate. I tried verniers, but same problem of not being able to get the angle right due to pocket depth.

I hunted for a long time on Google to find a telescoping thimble-type gauge. I could get gauges a little too big, and a little too small. Finally found one for O/T Honda 4-banger B engines that would measure the range I wanted. Sold a kidney, and got it imported from the US. Wrong part got sent, so waited again for the right one to turn up.

It's a nice tool, and I was feeling proud of myself for doing the right thing. Measured one side OK (inlet or exhaust, I can't remember which), but not the other side. The tool was tool was too long, even when fully retracted. I could get the retainer on, but could not quite get the collets in place. So, so close.

Gave up in disgust, and paid a local machine shop to do the measuring. Wish I had of thought of threading a piece of brake line.

Cheers,
Harv