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

We seemed to have veered into aspects of fabrication, so a couple of basic ones I have surprised a few people with is.........
1. Lay out work.........dial calipers aren't just for measuring. You can scribe a straight line with them by setting your distance from the edge of the material you are working with and drag the calipers so that one side of the calipers follows the edge of the material. I know very basic but I really have surprised people with this, and it saves time.
2. With a metal cutting band saw always use the proper blade for what you are cutting (Course blade + thin metal =bad)and apply a little wax to the blade it really does help.

 

when I first started as a mechanic, the mechanic I worked for showed me how to modify tools to make specialty tools. Thats no trick. here is the trick. engrave the tool with what you built it for so 3 years later you won't have to re invent the wheel when you run into the same job. Thanks Ron. you have saved me tons of time with that one!

 

Or break out your zero offset snips. I am a tool whore so I have a special pair for plastic only EPC160. But you only slice yourself once before the price doesn't matter

 

This one's probably obvious, but it was the first trick I ever learned, when I was about 5 years old: When you have a nut stuck in a socket, lay the socket on it's side and give it a good whack with a hammer. It aligns the flats on the nut and the socket, and the nut falls out.

 

Also to roto rooter steel lines uz a speedo cable innards in a drill I had an EGR issue on a regular road car and the pos piping would "coal up" Delco used to sell the cable refill and it made a very long snake in the drill.

Don't piss off your parts guy - I had the nicest fellow hit me with a Hupmobile once - long before the internet and I spent lots of MY time and my boss to get that car sorted. The douche that demanded a Chevy hose with a FU attitude got a Chevy hose...from a Cavalier - I knew he wanted a SB 70s hose but it was my way of wasting his time DOOM ON HIM

 

Rope fed through the spark plug hole to hold the valves for spring replacment. Be sure to leave some sticking out. Odd bits of old fuel and garden hose can be used as gromets. Old dish washer makes a great parts washer

 

Remember to but the short bolt back in when done

 

When taking off hinge screws. weld a nut through the center of the nut,then use a wrench to remove the screw.

 

Use a hack saw blade to hold up the piston when installing the fuel pump in a sbc.
A piece of hockey stick makes for a good listening device for locating the source of that annoying tick-rattle-knock in your motor. That and the old dish washing liquid and clothesline trick for installing a windshield.

 

One of the better ones I was shown was on a old tractor that had sat outdoors for sometime. It had really poor spark and only had a magneto on it. The guy took out a pencil and started scratching the surface of the points, plugs, and the ends of the plug wires where they went into the cap and I think also on the plugs themselves too if I remember right. He said the graphite ( pencil lead) created a larger longer spark when you tried to start it. After doing what he did and me cranking just a little it fired right up

 

I saw a similar post on getting out a broken axle shaft.My dad showed me years ago to tack weld a piece of log chain to the axle shaft if you can reach it.You can use the length of chain to sort of snap the axle out of the housing.
I have also learned how to weld gas tanks.We drained them and then put a piece of hose from an exhaust pipe in it.Let the other vehicle run until the tank "sweats".The carbon monoxide kills the gas fumes and is non flammable.I dont suggest anyone try it without checking it out first.Its always worked for me.
Starting fluid or brake clean works well to find out if you have a vaccum leak as well.Just spray it around the suspected area.If its leaking the engine speeds up.
I have stripped some smaller copper wire and used the single strands to hold gaskets in place until I got the part in place.

 

Best tip I ever learned was if you've got a sheet metal screw thats striped out like for a door panel or other interior trim screw, take a cotter pin and stick it in the hole. Leave one leg on the side of the sheet metal you can see and the other end through the hole. Keeps you from having to use some giant screw that wont match the others and its a quick fix that works great.

 

Over the years many folks have taught me many tricks of the trade. One easy way of checking rear end gear ratios while installed in car. raise one wheel off ground and one person rotate the wheel 2 times and the second count the drive shaft revs. one wheel turn on lock or posi units.. I use bank deposit bags and fill with lead shot. cheap shot bag. I form metal around old car seat that way you have a little give . another metal form trick is use a stump or log while forming metal.. one of my favorites is use a wheel barrow when reworking a fire wall this is cheap ald gives lots of room for set back. I will add some more later..

 

In a pinch and need to paint wheels with the tires still on. Take dish soap and wipe the tires down, let it set a bit.

Paint the wheels...let paint dry...then wash off the soap and overspray..

 

sounds like the blind leading the blind

 

Well... I Blew a heater hose the other night on my way to the pool hall. So I pulled into a parking lot. Now I only have my end wrenches and sockets with me this night. So I'm sittin there trying to think of how I'm going to keep water in it for the ride home. A couple guys I went to high school with happen to be at the same place that night. After calling all the parts stores looking for a barbed fitting to bypass the heater. One of my old buddies ask if I have a deep socket... I grab a 1/2" deep socket and shove both ends of the 2 hoses onto it, wrap it up with some duct tape and BAM. Ready for a 10 mile drive. Filled it up with water at the Shell and didn't leak one time on the way home. I thought it was PRETTY GOOD FOR A MIDNIGHT IDEA!

 

lefty loosey, righty tighty

 

Use camper jacks to lift a car body off a frame... nuff said

 

i used to weld a bead on bearing races and it worked great, then one day i was doing it inside a final drive a dozer and noticed the weld spatter was getting stuck to other gears and other places i didnt want damaged, so the next race i removed i heated with a torch until it turned blue, let it cool and it came out with my fingernails, have been using that for years and never not worked, also if any of you guys want find a weak spot in your hot rod bring it over and ill let my ol lady take it for a spin, 10,000 rpms means nothing to her, and a few of the cars she has wrecked are still at the junkyard never to be crushed. they are just sitting there as monunents of awe that the person walked away or even lived.

 

MANDRILL...the best tip i ever got was. keep telling people your business, and pretty soon you wont have any...POP.

 

If you're the new guy coming in and trying to make a name for yourself, you will. However it may not be one you would want to be called.

 

I say that almost every day, for probably the past 30 years.....

 

remove stuck gaskets from aluminum by taping with a ballpeen hamer

 

While at a multi day event NEVER CHEET ON RACE DAY !!! >>>>.

 

When I was a kid I spent an afternoon trying to put a new freeze plug in the block of a 58 Mercury. The hard one behind the motor mount. Boogered up a bag full and still didn't get one in right. My Dad came home took one of my freeze plugs and put it in the freezer untill he finished his dinner then took it out and popped it in the block and held it until it expanded. I was impressed, pissed, and educated in one operation.

 

The freeze plug trick in the fridge also work got when installing a new ring gear on a flywheel. I always would put the flywheel in the freezer the night before, and the ring gear would go on very easy the next day.

Michael

 

Is'nt that's why they call them freeze plugs? J.K.

 

a ground set of needle nose plies makes a great snap ring tool. It wont bend like the stamped ones.

 

When filling small holes with a mig welder hold a piece of COPPER on the back side and the weld will not stick to it and it makes it easier to fill the hole......

 

Bacon grease
for tapping holes and as cutting oil when milling
learned in the 1980s from a old machanist