Technical Little tips and tricks for garage hobbyists.

******? What's THAT?

Ben

 

Fabbed up this “puller” out of an old screwdriver to get this nail out that was stuck in my tire this morning.

 

Very !!

 

Turn your 1 ton gantry crane into a 4/four post body lift
My first attempt, 4 x 4 thru the doors, not good to pick up a painted cab.


My second attempt, much better for a painted cab.


How I attached it to the 6 x 6 upright post.



Lift from the center of the out rails to ease the stress on the bearing at the post.

 

Posted this in my build thread yesterday, but thought maybe I should share it here. Had no idea such a thing existed until a week ago. Great for taking closeups as well. Stuck it inside the spark plug hole on my flathead to have a look see. Haha!

 

Speaking of inexpensive tools, I also recently bought this. Cannot believe you can something like this for so little. This is in CAN$ as well.

 

In a pinch you can wrap some old rubber, cloth, pool noodles, etc around it and it'll be fine.

A better solution is to get the rear seat foam from a modern car. They're great for things like that. I use them to protect paint/trim in situations like that. They also do the same job real well when you want to haul things on the roof of your car without scratching it.

 

Yes, I believe the granty crane is the best buck spent on most of my shop equipment. I have done a few modifications besides the 4 post attachment.
1) Had to replace the cable winches to lift the cross beam.
2) I widen the cross beam by 12" so I could get my trailer underneath it.
3) Shorten the height to clear my shop door to get in and out of the shop.
It's a great light weight mobile crane.

 

Does the focus get any better than that?

 

Inside my engine?

 

Made the yellow lifting fixture to make it easier to put the body on/off the frame, could just take an hour or so if something needs to be fixed on the frame.

 

way cool

 

Quick Tech: Have you ever over-filled an automatic trans that doesn't have a drain plug?

If so, there's a cheap, easy & "not-as-messy-as-dropping-the-pan" solution.

1) Estimate how much the trans is overfilled.
2. Warm the car to operating temp with the trans in "park", then turn it off.
3) Disconnect the trans cooler lines from the cooler (or radiator) and insert them into an empty clear plastic bottle (e.g. 1 gallon milk jug).
4) Fire up the engine (with the trans in "park") and drain the excess trans fluid into the jug.
5) Turn off the engine when you've drained your estimated amount and reconnect the cooler lines.
6) Recheck the level with the car on level ground, engine running, and trans in "Park".

 

Mine focuses pretty well I think. Another Amazon item from 5 or 6 years ago, showing on a Sony notebook. Cost less than 30 bucks. Inside a stock Model A engine in a 29 Tudor I bought that had been sitting in a humid environment for 25 years. I wanted to be sure it wasn't full of condensation rust before I started it. Engine was supposed to have less than a thousand miles and that was probably true. It looked pretty good.

 

The pump doesn't run in a Chrysler transmission when it's in park. That's why you check the fluid level in neutral.

 

Those temp guns are one thing that you can find a hundred uses for once you think.
Which rear axle bearing is noisy? The hot one.
Is there a hot spot in the wiring harness? Trouble. Same with battery cable ends.
How well is the radiator cooling?
If it's hot out and the A/C is on or it's cold out and the heater is on, where is the door seal leaking?
Which brake is grabbing?
Are the tires hot on the inside or outside of the tread, or even?
If one trailer tire is hotter, check for a bent axle.

 

Finding which plug is fouled without pulling all of the plugs.
Shine the Thermometer on the header at each cylinder. It will be the coolest one.

 

spritz aa little water on the manifolds the one that dries up last is the winner

 

b-body, how do they disengage the pump when the vehicle is in Park? Although I have never opened up a Chrysler transmission, it has been my understanding that all automatics drive the pump with the converter.

 

I do not know the answer to that, I just know that it is true.

A little google-fu found this
"When in park, the valve body diverts the majority of the converter line pressure back into the pan, but some fluid still flows into the converter."
and
"In "P", atf is flowing everywhere, just not at the same pressures as it might be if the trans was in "N". Which is why, on a fully-cold transmission, in the colder times of the year, it's best to start the car that first time in "N", so that when you put it in "R" of "D", it moves as it should. Rather than being initially lazy if it was started in "P"."
(https://www.forcbodiesonly.com/mopar-forum/threads/start-up-in-park-or-neutral.71145/)

If that's correct, I was incorrect to say the pump doesn't do anything in Park, it is just byp***ed and dumps most of the fluid back in the pan instead of through the transmission circuits.

 

The gun type temp gauges usually have a laser pointer which is real handy for testing your house A/C vents to see which ones are working, etc, without getting the ladder out. I was introduced to these many years ago, when testing the exhaust temp. on buses I was working on, just aim the dot at the hole in the stack, and away you go. They also cost many hundreds of dollars then, I bought one a while back for about $20. I use it now when checking cooling systems, you zap the inlet & outlet fittings on the radiator, and you can work out how well your system is working.

 

Not mine but something to make

 

Since a few have mentioned gantry cranes I thought I would show how I lifted my Comet body on and off my rotisserie. I rigged some steel lifting braces to the body using the strongest points on the car, then raised my four post lift to it’s upper limit, rolled the car under the lift, lowered the lift until is just cleared the roof, then used chains to connect the car to the lift and raised the car. I then ***embled the rotisserie around the car, I was able to do this without the help of another person. Worked perfectly.

these pictures were taken after the body came back from chemical striping, after the fabrication was finished the body was e coated.

 

Chemicals are expensive and some of them are degraded or get ruined when exposed to freezing temperatures. I decided to install a heater in my chemical storage locker. I also wanted to avoid the possibility of fumes coming into contact with the heating element just in the rare event that the element creates a spark.

I went to Home Cheapot and picked up a thermostatically controlled water pipe heater cable, the kind that you wrap around your exposed water pipes to prevent them from freezing and cracking. Luckily I had a good length of 1-1/4” copper pipe and so I only needed a few fittings to finish the job.

The shortest cable they had was 6’ long so that’s how much pipe I needed. First I drilled a 1-3/8 hole in the side of the cabinet, then I ***embled the pipe. I rubbed a little RTV on the joints and attached the ***embly to the back of the inside of the cabinet. Then I put a hose clamp on the end of the pipe that sticks out the side of the cabinet. I still need to secure the heater to the inside of the pipe, haven’t decided how I want to do that yet.

 

You might look for a thermostatically controlled plug that will turn it off and on it there isn’t one built in.

 

Yes it has that feature built into the cable. I edited my post to clarify that.

 

How warm does the pipe get?

 

A possible solution to the heat tape overheating potential. As the ***embly is going together, fill the tube with plaster of paris. Make it runny and let it sit for a couple of days before you use it. Plaster of paris can stand the temperature and will enhance the heat transfer to the outside of the tube.

 

Good question! I’ll have to check the package and see what the manufacturer claims.

Thank you! Excellent question, I’m believing the heat will still dissipate into and out of the tube. As it stands, the switch is inside the tube so it will be heated along with everything else and therefore cycle when the target temperature is reached.

That’s a good idea. I thought about filling it with something, just didn’t know if it would be necessary.

I will likely cap the end of the pipe and leave just a vent for venting purposes. As it stands, the switch is inside the pipe so I’m not worried about overheating. Ideally the switch would be inside the atmosphere being heated. I didn’t go that route because this cable is not rated for a flammable environment.

I appreciate the inquiries as this is a new venture that will need some tweaking.

 

ankle saver

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