Thread: Helpfull Things

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NOW you tell be about all those little tricks. If I had known some of them, for sure my hands and arms wouldn't be a criss cross of scars

One trick that I learned putting the body on my TCI chassis. The cowl bolt holes are mean to line up, with skidding the body on a freshly painted or powder coated frame to drop a couple of 3/8" bolts into the nutsert. I was making up an order for McMaster-Carr when I came across some Gr B7 studs - . You guessed it - dropped right into place and every other bolt hole lined right up exactly. I have a couple of extras now - but so what.

From my order:
98758A468 4 Each ASTM A193 Grade B7 Alloy Fully Threaded Stud, Black-oxide, 3/8"-16 Thread, 2" Length @$1.82 each

I can't take credit for this "helpful tip" and have posted it before, but just in case anyone missed it I'll post it again.

All of us who play with old cars have to sometimes deal with screws that are frozen in place, especially if you are removing door hinges. I have used the old hammer impact tool for years with marginal results, but we ran across a nifty way of doing it that makes it so much easier.

Essentially, what you need is an air chisel. They give you several tips with it, one of which is a pointed chisel tip. What you do is weld a 1/4 drive x 1/4 socket onto the tip so that you can insert various screwdriver attachments into it. These attachments are available at places like Home Depot, and come in Phillips, slotted, and hex head configurations.You also weld a little handle to the side of the chisel tip that is used to turn the fastener counter clockwise to get it out once you have it loose.

Here is how it works. You insert the phillips or whatever tip into the fastener you want out, and press down tightly (like you were drilling it out) Now you start the hammering action of the air chisel, while holding the handle in your left hand. After a few seconds of the air chisel pounding away at the fastener you are usually able to turn the handle counter clockwise and the screw will come out very easily.

We have used this tool a bunch of times, most recently when we removed the four doors off of Dan's '49 Ford. It made childs play of something that used to be a very tough job. Try it, I guarantee you will be amazed. Here are some pictures of how we made ours.

Don

great idea rick. will use that one in the future

Thanks Don,

That one is saved to my computer, them screws can really be frustrating.

Richard

When Don wrote about using alignment dowels for putting in transmissions I had to laugh. All these years I have been using aliment dowels for lining up my valve cover gaskets and valve covers using the same technique but never smart enough to think of the same procedure on transmissions.
Thanks Don !!

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

I can't take credit for this "helpful tip" and have posted it before, but just in case anyone missed it I'll post it again.

All of us who play with old cars have to sometimes deal with screws that are frozen in place, especially if you are removing door hinges. I have used the old hammer impact tool for years with marginal results, but we ran across a nifty way of doing it that makes it so much easier.

Essentially, what you need is an air chisel. They give you several tips with it, one of which is a pointed chisel tip. What you do is weld a 1/4 drive x 1/4 socket onto the tip so that you can insert various screwdriver attachments into it. These attachments are available at places like Home Depot, and come in Phillips, slotted, and hex head configurations.You also weld a little handle to the side of the chisel tip that is used to turn the fastener counter clockwise to get it out once you have it loose.

Here is how it works. You insert the phillips or whatever tip into the fastener you want out, and press down tightly (like you were drilling it out) Now you start the hammering action of the air chisel, while holding the handle in your left hand. After a few seconds of the air chisel pounding away at the fastener you are usually able to turn the handle counter clockwise and the screw will come out very easily.

We have used this tool a bunch of times, most recently when we removed the four doors off of Dan's '49 Ford. It made childs play of something that used to be a very tough job. Try it, I guarantee you will be amazed. Here are some pictures of how we made ours.

Don

That is really cool !!

Originally Posted by Ken Thurm

Kind of a dumb title, but I have been thinking about this for awhile. I bet we all do things all the time out of habit that would help everyone else if we shared these little things we have learned or come up with ourselves. So if you would share these little secretes it may make all of our lives a little more convenient.
Here is my first one. I have lost more hats in my roadster than I can count, my friend showed me a little trick. He used a badge holder from a trade show. Put it on back wards and clip it to your back of your hat. that way if the wind blows it off it is caught and you won't loose it. What do you think?
Ken

Now that's a good idea!!!! Gonna have to give that a try, should work while scooterin' too!!!! Was thinking about using some of them really sharp little black screws they use to hold sheetrock on the wall with............

You're welcome Ken.

Dave, make sure you use Stainless steel screws, the drywall screws will set off the metal detectors at the airport.

Don

Time to revive this thread. Found this video on precission screw trimming to length at Brownells web site. What a great idea!
http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/lid=1...ure?mc_ID=2040

Well, this one might have limited applications and I can't take credit for it, but here goes. Yesterday my ex-Wife broke down in her PT Cruiser. Don and Dan were working so I went over to see what I could do. There are rubber bushings in the ends of the two shift cables (5 speed versions) and over time they deteriorate. Hers were totally gone and the shift cables on the transaxle were just laying loose, so she only had first gear.

We first called a Chrysler dealer and they do not sell new grommets, only the complete shift cables, in sets of two.........$ 170.00 a pair! Because I know zip about new cars I asked the Service Manager how much to install them. He wouldn't quote a price "until we see it here." But their labor rate is $ 99.00 per hour. I called the shop that worked on my Honda and he quoted about $ 350.00 parts and labor.

Don got on the internet and found a PT Cruiser forum. There was a tutorial on there about how a guy fixed his using hardware store items, and Don emailed it to us. Long story short, I cut up two rubber tapered stoppers, drilled a 5/16 hole in the middle, and used a Jesus clip and fender washers to replace the rotted out bushings. Took me all of an hour and cost about $8.00 in parts. The car actually shifts better than using the original cables and even if those bushings rot out down the road it will be easy to make new ones the same way.

So, I guess the moral of the story is that forums like this one and the PT Cruiser one really are super helpful in passing along tips to save money and grief.

Don

Well, you guys stole all of my good ideas, I guess I'll just have to think up some new ones.

Been using studs, cut off bolts, etc., for years, even have a drawer for them in my top box; they also work really well for installing oil pans - two quarter twenty by two inchers in each pan rail (on a Chevy) will help keep everything lined up until you can get a couple of bolts started. Tapered, or aligning punches come in mighty handy, too.

For cutting off common machine screws, many universal hand crimping tools for use in the electrical trades from Ideal, Klein, AMP, and so on have the most common thread size holes in the hinge area that you screw the screw through and close the handles; it is a bypass cutter and makes a reasonably decent cut, and when you back the screw out, the threads chase it for you.

Here's one I use every once in a while for bending tubing without kinking it. Tape off one end of the tube and fill it with sand. Depending on the size of the tubing it may be necessary to heat it while bending. The bigest pain of the process is making sure all the sand is cleaned out after the piece is done.

It worked out great when I needed to reshape the transmission dipstick when I did the mockup on the 37 Dodge.

When I lowered the Brookville body on the TCI chassis, I used four studs for alignment. Two were just cut off 3/8" bolts that were removed and Gr8 bolts used to fasten through those mounting holes. The other two were actually Gr8 studs from McMaster-Carr and were left in place on the inside of the cowl. These two replaced the original style 3/8" bolts simply due to the fact that many swear words are used trying use bolts in that position with a modern V8 in place of an 'A' flathead 4 and it's much easier to just put a flat and a lock washer along with a Gr8 nut on those studs.

One of those studs is behind here:

No penetrating oil handy ? Use any kind of torch,heat the srew or bolt up,then hold a wax candle to it and let it melt a few seconds. In most cases the bolt can then be removed easily.

When faced with the inevitable sag or run in new paint let it dry overnight, then you can work it down gently to even the surface. If you try to sand out a run you will be sanding the valleys on both sides of the peak, and will likely sand through your clear/color beside the run before you get it flat. Instead take a single edge razor blade and tape the ends to keep the corners from digging in, and to form a guage for your scraping.
Tilting the top of the blade toward you at about 60 degrees, draw it along the run toward you, applying a gentle pressure to slowly shave a curl of dry paint from the top. As you continue the tape will act as a gauge, leaving the run proud by the thickness of the masking tape. At this point you can block sand with 1500 grit, then two stage polish and the run will be history.