Thread: Helpfull Things

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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

Heck of a lot better than superglue!

here is my little trick. I tried everything to get the glue off of my glass when i removed the tinting that the car came with. The glue was king of heavy and everything i used just smeared it. So i said what the hell and used acetone. Worked great. when i need to get any overspray, tape goo, or and other materials off my chrome or glass i just go to the dollar store and spend $1.00 on a bottle of fingernail polish remover. just do not use on painted or rubber material.

Great idea for a thread Ken!
I stumbled across this last week when taking the bed off my pickup by myself. I just tilted the bed up from behind, slid it foward until the edge of the bed landed on my creeper, and then just walked it off. Here's a shot

You’ve probably heard of {goo gone} it will take glue residue off just about anything but the smell is really bad. Mineral oil does the same thing with out the smell. While putting down tile in a bathroom I got adhesive on the vinyl piece’s. I tried mineral oil it worked, and now I use it for anything sticky. I’ve used it to take gasket sealer off my hands also.

Richard

iVE HAD ALOT OF CRAMPED ENGINE BAYS, AND LEARNED THIS TRICK MANY YEARS AGO. NOW THAT I HAVE A BIG BLOCK IN A SMALL MUSTANG, GETTING THE BACK 2 PLUGS ON THE LEFT SIDE IS A CHORE. THIS IDEA MAKES IT A BREEZE. A SIMPLE PIECE OF VACUME HOSE SLIPPED OVER THE PLUG TIP MAKES IT ALOT EASIER TO WORK IT IN. I ALMOST HAVE TO DISLOCATE MY FINGERS TO GET THEM BACK TO THE SPOT THEY NEED TO GO. THIS WAY I WILL NOT DROP THE PLUG AND IT NOW HAS A LONG HANDLE TO SPIN IT IN OR OUT.

These tips are always good to hear again, I’ve seen that in hot rod magazines but when I was putting plugs in a 3800 V6 the backside is really hard to get to, and I forget the little tips.

This tip has nothing to do with hot rods unless you are painting them with a brush.

If your going to reuse the brush even as long as a month or more leave the paint on the brush and wrap it in a plastic bag, the paint will still be wet.

Richard

Occasionally, I have a need to hone a hole to a little bigger size or clean rust or gunk from the inside of a tube. Using a piece of rod 1/4 to 3/8 inch in diameter (even the shank of an old bolt with the head cut off), use a hacksaw to cut a groove down the middle of the rod about 3/4" to 7/8" long. I've even made a length of allthread work. Using one inch wide emery cloth that comes on a roll like machine shops use to polish crankshafts, slide the end into the slot in the rod and wind the cloth around until you have the diameter you need to do the honing, then tear off the remainder. Winding it clockwise as you are looking at the slot end of the rod will insure that when you spin it in your drill motor, it will not unwind. Presto, a variable diameter hone, depending on how much cloth you wind onto the rod. If you have a 1/4" drill motor, then use a rod 1/4" in diameter. If you have a 3/8", then use 1/4", 5/16" or 3/8"rod.

This is an old one that probably everyone knows, but it's all I have.

To make it easier to install a transmission onto either the block or a bellhousing, take two long bolts (about 6 inches long) of the correct thread size to screw into a couple of the bolt holes in the engine or bellhousing. Cut the heads off and round the cut off portion a little to facilitate getting the transmission started onto them.

Screw the long bolts into the block or bellhousing so the rounded ends are sticking out (put one bolt on either side of the engine), then start the transmission onto the bolts and use them as "ramps" to allow you to slide the transmission into place. Obviously, you want to use the same holes on the block that you use on the transmission so it slides correctly into place.

I have used this with both automatic transmissions and stick transmissions. It makes it a whole lot easier to get both types installed, especially stick transmissions where you are trying to get the input shaft through a throwout bearing, through a clutch plate, and into the pilot bearing. Saves a lot of lifting and cussing. I keep a few different thread sizes in my tool box just for this purpose.

I figured there might be one person in the civilized world who didn't know about this trick.

Don

Don, if I had known that little tip when I was young, and would be under a car with the 4speed lying on my chest. Then take a deep breath and raise it up give it a good thrust into the throughout bearing my chest wouldn't hurt so bad today!!!

1. For what it is worth, an MG Midget has no frame and the monocoque mount for the transmission requires that you pull the motor to change the clutch or transmission. However to do that you have to disconnect the driveshaft and then put it back into the trans spline when you get the motor and trans back in. Sooo you need to reinsert the floppy driveshaft into the spline in the back of the trans but the front universal just keeps flopping around. I ran into this when I replaced the universals on the driveshaft. Then a pro mechanic from a sports car agency showed me how to wrap a bunch of masking tape around the front universal to hold it straight and then all you have to do is hold the drive shaft like a spear in one hand and rotate it slightly till it slides into the trans spline. The universal goes up into the monocoque X-member and is totally hidden from view but when you get the car running again the weak tape just fragments and the pieces fly around in the X-member hole but who cares, you can't see them anyhow. This trick should work anytime you need to get the drive shaft into a spline on the rear of a transmission.

2. Two days ago I had to get two bolts up into the bottom of the radiator mount through the front spring channel but the spring is already pretty much filling up that space! I got it together because the bolts are drilled for cotter pins so I put a piece of wire through the hole with about a 6" tail on the wire and fed it up into the hole and then pulled the bolt up through the hole from the bottom where only a child's hand would fit. Fortunately a 9/16" box wrench with a zig-zag offset handle just fit into the space between the spring and the frame channel enough to hold the bolt head while I tightened the nut on top. Should I mention that I tried other methods for at least 30 minutes before I thought of the wire idea? Without that cross drilled hole it might be possible to wrap small wire into the bolt threads for the same idea, but the drilled holes really helped.

3. Most folks on this Forum are essentially Master Mechanics so my adventures are just a result of inexperience and/or stupidity but one other adventure had to do with installing the front buggy spring on my dropped axle. It think it took three or four tries but finally I got it by attaching the shackels at one end of the spring and then going to Lowes and buying the biggest C-clamp they had which turned out to be just barely big enough. The C-clamp was just big enough to tighten down on the middle of the spring to flatten it and make it stretch out long enough to get the shackels on the other end. Of course during the process at least two of the tries involved the C-clamp slipping off and the spring kicked like a mule. Fortunately I got the shackel attached on the third try without breaking my arm!

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Originally Posted by Don Shillady

1. For what it is worth, an MG Midget has no frame and the monocoque mount for the transmission requires that you pull the motor to change the clutch or transmission. However to do that you have to disconnect the driveshaft and then put it back into the trans spline when you get the motor and trans back in. Sooo you need to reinsert the floppy driveshaft into the spline in the back of the trans but the front universal just keeps flopping around. I ran into this when I replaced the universals on the driveshaft. Then a pro mechanic from a sports car agency showed me how to wrap a bunch of masking tape around the front universal to hold it straight and then all you have to do is hold the drive shaft like a spear in one hand and rotate it slightly till it slides into the trans spline. The universal goes up into the monocoque X-member and is totally hidden from view but when you get the car running again the weak tape just fragments and the pieces fly around in the X-member hole but who cares, you can't see them anyhow. This trick should work anytime you need to get the drive shaft into a spline on the rear of a transmission.

2. Two days ago I had to get two bolts up into the bottom of the radiator mount through the front spring channel but the spring is already pretty much filling up that space! I got it together because the bolts are drilled for cotter pins so I put a piece of wire through the hole with about a 6" tail on the wire and fed it up into the hole and then pulled the bolt up through the hole from the bottom where only a child's hand would fit. Fortunately a 9/16" box wrench with a zig-zag offset handle just fit into the space between the spring and the frame channel enough to hold the bolt head while I tightened the nut on top. Should I mention that I tried other methods for at least 30 minutes before I thought of the wire idea? Without that cross drilled hole it might be possible to wrap small wire into the bolt threads for the same idea, but the drilled holes really helped.

3. Most folks on this Forum are essentially Master Mechanics so my adventures are just just a result of inexperience and/or stupidity but one other adventure had to do with installing the front buggy spring on my dropped axle. It think it took three or four tries but finally I got it by attaching the shackels at one end of the spring and then going to Lowes and buying the biggest C-clamp they had which turned out to be just barely big enough. The C-clamp was just big enough to tighten down on the middle of the spring to flatten it and make it stretch out long enough to get the shackels on the other end. Of course during the process at least two of the tries involved the C-clamp slipping off and the spring kicked like a mule. Fortunately I got the shackel attached on the third try without breaking my arm!

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Don, your information on the MG transmission reminds me of a friend that I bought his 61 Corvette after he sliced the passenger side fender, and the lower grill section. He then bought a 66 Jaguar xke yellow / white convertible top, camel interior. This was 1968 I tried to give him some advice, when you go out to the bars don’t take the Jag. After bouncing off the guardrail he did a number on the passenger side of the car. Not too long later when the car needed a new clutch he thought he would save $200 by doing it himself. It was more complicated then he thought and the car sat in his garage until the early 90’s I wanted that car but you know how it goes one day someone else came along, and he let it go.

Richard

These are all great! It doesn't matter if you are a master mechanic or not there is always something to learn. I hope this keeps going, the longer people think about this, the more will come out.
Ken

here is a trick I found when restoring a 51 ford f1 I was trying to remove many of the rusted carrage boltd that hold the fenders ,running boards ,etc.I found by tightening with a air impact wrench they would snap off creating less damage to the surrounding metal and making it a whole lot easier to disassemble.I just wish I had figured this out earlier in the restoration

wrench in Rick
That is worth a try as I've been trying to get them off all weekend on my 48
F1! I tryed loosening with the impact wrench, but never thought to try tightening them!