TECH:The helpful-"I didn't know that" post,...Join in.

Here is a quicky tip-
feel free to add your own and keep this going....
Did ya know that the fitting on an old air tool that the "******" screws into is worth keeping?
Almost everyone has an old worn out grinder or new Harbor freight tool ....that never worked-right?
Just unscrew that [black] fitting and with your old ****** still attached to it-It makes an adapter to hold air pressure on a cylinder head to hold valves closed to change your valve seals without removing that head!
It will screw rite in where the plug was! Who knew?

 

Wow, I didn't know that! but I did know that I can take the schrader valve out of my compression tester hose, and plug my air hose onto it, and use it for the same purpose--plus it's easy to get into the plug holes because the hose is designed to.

 

You stumped the squirrel. I love the cutoff blades I bought from you choprods they last a long time. I used a Boraxo hand cleaner dispenser lid for a cover around a pitman arm coming through the cowl on a "T" once.

 

Is that all you Goodguy's worshipers have in the way of helpful tips for real hotrod builders?
surely there are some folks building cars here still....

 

eating cheetos and watching ****o's makes your **** orange. ****ing strange, huh?

 

Sorry, I was out working on the Suburban all day!

Here's one for you: Did you know that 11/32-inch wrenches fall right in between 1/4 and 5/16, 8mm and 9mm? Unlike other sizes, you can't make a metric fit this...it either won't go on, or it's too big to grab the corners of the nut. If you have a nut that you just can't fit a wrench on no matter what size you use, find an 11/32 wrench. Frequent applications are the wires on a Chevy starter. This was also a common size on '50s cars, particularly the electrical system. It's way, way worth buying one from Sears and throwing it in your tool box.

-Brad

 

Take a nonvented gas cap with its accompanying filler neck tube (approximately the same size) as your exhaust tubing, cut a section out then weld the filler tube in. An instant header dumps w/o tools.

 

Kirk, that's cool.

 

A disc of 1/8" aluminum bolts onto most alternators with no problems or alterations.
Makes a nice belt guard.
Cheaper than deep pulleys,.



A piece of 1" 6061 T6 aluminum sawn to the right length - and square - makes an excellent rocker spacer.
Allow for the aluminum's expansion when warm and add a fudge factor of .010.

Drill em for rocker shaft size, .813 if I remember right.
If you have a reamer that's nice, but a drilled finish will do it.

A smooth lathe cut finish on the ends will do it.

It could be done in a drill press if your saw cuts square, but it's a lot easier in a lathe.

I've found that the late 455 style Buicks rocker shaft separator springs don't do the job whether stock or aftermarket.

Two of the Buicks pushrods on each side tend to lean over when the rocker slides off to the side - compressing the spacer spring -and allows the pushrod to rub against the head's pushrod hole.

I thought when I first made these that a hardened thin washer would be required between spacer and rocker, but it's not needed.
Thinking was that similar metals in a rubbing and lubricated situation tend to wear faster than dis-similar metals.

Checking after 10,000 miles showed the anodizing worn off one rocker where it ****s up against spacer.

A Chevy 7/16-NF mag wheel lugnut - stainless is nice - makes an excellent steering stop for Ford solid axle setups.
Cut to the approprate length.
Use a thick AN style washer.
1 3/8" is the correct length for my 32 and 32 framed 31 roadster.
That includes the approx. 1/8" thick washer.

1 3/8" long is the length most steering stops are nowadays, but a few years back they were longer and most times you had to cut them down.

 

Did that back in the late '50s. If you don't use a high temp gasket, the cap will fall off at the most inappropriate times and if you are lucky enough to find it, it will be hot as hell. Don't ask me how I know.

 

I have an uncle who did that on his '56 chevy "back in the day". He'd keep a pair of leather gloves, one on either side of the car so he and his buddy could just open the doors and reach underneath to remove the caps without even getting out of the car.

Flatman

 

You're kidding, right? I thought between you and Bruce Lancaster everything in the automotive universe was a known quan***y.

 

So you have got a flat or low tire on the trailer or car? and no air chuck, not a big deal if you just press the quick connect hose end on and nine out of ten time you can air it up with little fiddling around. cory

 

Admit it C9, you were trying to make a "blower drive" sound!

 

A BMX brake lever (less that $10), Brake Housing ($2 a foot), and Stainless Brake cable (around $5) can make a primary or emergency door opener for shaved handle cars. It can also make a trunk popper for older cars. The stops and everything should be at your local bike shop. Make sure to get brake housing and not shift housing. I've also used stainless brake cable and housing to make unusual throttle cables. There are lots of colors and styles available. The good housing to use if you need to go around crazy corners is called Nokon. It's a little pricey, but amazing. It's smooth as silk. Most bike shops can get it, but if you can't find it then any HAMB'er gets 15% off at my shop. Here's a pic:

 

If you are alone and your remote starter is broken you can still find top dead center on #1 cylinder by yourself. Take a length of hose, (doesn't everyone have a "trained snake" for siphoning?) put one end in number 1 spark plug hole and the other end to your face. Get in the car and crank the starter and you can feel the air rush when the piston is almost to the top. Took me three tries to get it perfectly on top dead center.
Ol Blue

 

A stainless steel toilet supply tube is a perfect wire cover from your frame to your headlite buckets.

 

Leave the "friction modifier" out of your limited slip rear end and it will chatter a bit more around corners, but will be nice and tight when it's time to lay down two black stripes.

 

Can't you just clap a socket on the balancer bolt and rotate the engine with a ratchet until the timing mark is lined up with zero on the timing tab?

-Brad

 

We did this back in the 50's, but then you could buy sheet asbestos for gaskets. Also carried extra gas caps.

 

i have used a piece of rope, put into the cyl, then bring the piston up to the rope it pushed against the valve and held it their while i changed the seals crude but it worked....

 

The "straight" from a chrome sink J pipe set for a sink works great for an intake oil filler tube.

 

This seems to be a good idea for speaker wires or power window wires in the door. Thanks for the tip

 

Good responses guys!

tip#2=
You ever want a period custom grille but thought you cant afford it nowadays?
Did you know......
you can get 1" round [chromed over br***] drawer knobs new on ebay for as low as .30 cents apeice?
check out their bulk lots in home and garden section!
tip#3=
to protect wiring or fuel line inside a boxed frame rail...place a length of the grey water supply tube that is tough and flexible and cheap in first and run them inside that!

 

Seeing as this discussion went right into the toilet, (sorry). My friend needed a flange for cosmetic purposes on his steering column and used a plumbing pipe adapter (PVC), looked good after painting.

 

Remember, if you use the harmonic balancer method of finding TDC , you have a 50/50 chance of getting top dead center on the compression stroke and not the the top of the exhaust stroke. I've known many cases where guys would get their distributor timing off 180 degrees by plopping it in when #1 cylinder was at the top of the exhaust stroke. The hose in #1 cylinder is a good idea (thanks) if you don't have a starter relay that can be activated with a screw driver or remote starter switch (ie. Ford) while stickin' your finger in the #1 plug hole (ooohhhh, sounds *****).

 

Sink drains are 1 1/2" OD, usually chrome plated br*** - sometimes stainless - and make good straight runs for radiator return lines.

Just scuff em up with some emery where the short piece of straight radiator hose fits over them to adapt them to the radiator hose bib and engine bib.
Doubling up on the hose clamps - four per hose - helps em seal as well.

The br*** tubng, chrome plated ones usually have pretty good chrome.

Shiny stuff on the cheap....

 

Yes, as long as you understand that the complete cycle for a four stroke engine requires 720 degrees of rotation.

 

Another way out of the trunk cable dilemma is to get a pull/push cable from diesel truck shop.

They come with round knobs, T-knobs, locking knobs - both with and without a key and as you can probably tell, they had a fairly large diameter single wire.
The one shown is on my 31, been running a similar one on my 32 for 14 years with no problems.

The threaded wire adapter is a center-drilled stainless 1/4-28 bolt with the head cut off.
The drilled hole is a touch rough inside as most drilled holes are and if you sand the wire cable a touch and maybe pop a very shallow notch or three in it with a chisel - don't hit it too hard - JB Weld grabs on and holds quite well.

The outer sheath is comprised of plastic encapsulated wound wires and protects the cable wire.

Gotta be tough for them big ol diesels....

 

Busted . . . sorta.

Good one Jeem.
You're the first guy in over ten years to realize what the plate was/could have been.

The 36 equally spaced holes kinda give it away.

Actuallly, I was fooling with my new at the time dividing head and got the idea to make a blower sound gizmo.
All that's needed is to have sharp edged holes - meaning no countersinking - and a flat piece running very close to the drilled holes on the alternator guard plate.

I gave it up when I realized that I hate fake stuff and here I was making a fake-out goody.