Cheap Tricks

[RenoKeene]

Ok...I added color to my posts so they might be easier to scroll thru.

If you are a youngster or first timer..or even if you just learn something here let us know...it will "take it to the top" so more people can read it.
Thanks

[dbstepside]

i'm sure alot of people know this but i keep a box of rubber gloves to change my oil with. keeps your hands clean so no oil on painted surfaces and also after pulling oil filter off i carefully pull glove off my hand and up around the filter so no drips from filter. saw this in a car magazine of my dads when i was a kid. there are some pretty clever tricks listed here, keep em comin i need all the help i can get.

[RenoKeene]

Originally Posted by dbstepside

i'm sure alot of people know this but i keep a box of rubber gloves to change my oil with. keeps your hands clean so no oil on painted surfaces and also after pulling oil filter off i carefully pull glove off my hand and up around the filter so no drips from filter. saw this in a car magazine of my dads when i was a kid. there are some pretty clever tricks listed here, keep em comin i need all the help i can get.

Thanks db, thats a good tip.....and if you know a nurse maybe you can get some for free

[RenoKeene]

Originally Posted by grayharville

I've got one. Have a pesky ground out wire that's draining your battery and you can't find it? I can narrow it down.

1.With the key OFF, remove the POSITIVE battery cable.
2. Place a test light in line with the cable, ie. Positive side touching battery post and negative side touching battery cable terminal.
3. If you have a direct short the light should be dimly lit, since the positive circuit is being grounded somewhere.
4. Have a buddy watch the test light while you begin pulling fuses from the fuse block.
5. Pull fuses and replace one at a time until the light goes off.
6. Note which fuse caused the light to go out. That will be the circuit draining your battery.
7. Inspect wires in that circuit till you find a melted or shorted wire.
8. Repair and feel better.

I ran across this recently while trying to find why my battery was draining, after realizing it was in the radio circuit I found a cut wire grounding out.
I saved alot of time as this only took 5-10 minutes.

I credit this to my dad. Hope it works for anyone who needs it
Posted via Mobile Device

Everything electrical is a trick to me Thanks for posting.

[dfwright]

subscribing. This is a great thread!

[MacGyver72]

I'm sure some of you have done or seen this done but if you ever change your own tires (I mean taking one off the rim and putting a new one on), the bead can be difficult to seal at home. (A shop has the blast feature on the tire changer to blow out the bead and seal it.) You can spray WD-40 around the rim then light it. It will cause a small (controlled) explosion enough to seal the bead so you can fill the tire with air. Off-road guys do it a lot when they pop a tire off the rim. Whole lot easier than trying to wrestle with the tire while someone else fills it with air.

[RenoKeene]

Originally Posted by MacGyver72

I'm sure some of you have done or seen this done but if you ever change your own tires (I mean taking one off the rim and putting a new one on), the bead can be difficult to seal at home. (A shop has the blast feature on the tire changer to blow out the bead and seal it.) You can spray WD-40 around the rim then light it. It will cause a small (controlled) explosion enough to seal the bead so you can fill the tire with air. Off-road guys do it a lot when they pop a tire off the rim. Whole lot easier than trying to wrestle with the tire while someone else fills it with air.

Thats amazing....no wonder you are MacGyver. Thanks for the post.

[MacGyver72]

ha ha ha Not really. I earned the nickname on my motorcycle years ago. I'd done all the common thinks like fix a vaccum hose with a pen, a broken wire with a band-aide, and a fuel vent problem with a pebble but I was dubbed MacGyver when I welded a shifter back together using jumper cables, a car battery and a penny. When you're riding on the road and you have a problem, you have to be...well....creative. ha ha

[RenoKeene]

One of the cheapest trick things I keep around is a ball of cotton string. Right now I'm using it to locate the proper spot for my fender emblems. It goes like this:
On stock trucks it appears that the emblems kinda line up with the center of the side marker lights, so...I backed out the rear screw on the front light and the front screw of the back light, then I wrapped the end of the string around one of the screws and stretched it down the side of the truck and wrapped it around the other screw. Now I have a straight line from one light to the other to use as a basis for where I want to drill my holes. this will be exactly the same on the other side of the truck no matter if it's jacked up on one end, parked on a hill, or whatever. It takes less time to do this then it took me to type it up....and its perfect side to side. It wont hurt the paint either.
Thats just one use...I've got a lot more I'll share later.
Almost forgot, I paid 50 cents for what you see on the seat..again, at the thrift store.

[RenoKeene]

Originally Posted by MacGyver72

ha ha ha Not really. I earned the nickname on my motorcycle years ago. I'd done all the common thinks like fix a vaccum hose with a pen, a broken wire with a band-aide, and a fuel vent problem with a pebble but I was dubbed MacGyver when I welded a shifter back together using jumper cables, a car battery and a penny. When you're riding on the road and you have a problem, you have to be...well....creative. ha ha

My older brother used to bracket race a 1965 460 Merc back in the day. One night he broke a motor mount after winning the 4th round. I cut one of the back seatbelts out of it, tied the cut ends together, threaded it thru the upper control arm and the alt. bracket (I think), clicked it together and sinched it down by reving the motor, sinch, rev, sinch, rev, sinch. It worked!
He promptly went out and red-lighted....oh well. BTW I don't recommend trying to cut thru a seat belt unless you have a real, real sharp pocket knife...I did.

[srvivor71]

Originally Posted by MacGyver72

I'm sure some of you have done or seen this done but if you ever change your own tires (I mean taking one off the rim and putting a new one on), the bead can be difficult to seal at home. (A shop has the blast feature on the tire changer to blow out the bead and seal it.) You can spray WD-40 around the rim then light it. It will cause a small (controlled) explosion enough to seal the bead so you can fill the tire with air. Off-road guys do it a lot when they pop a tire off the rim. Whole lot easier than trying to wrestle with the tire while someone else fills it with air.

You mean like this...?

Interesting Tire Repair Technique (using Gas and...

Very cool!

[BMERDOC]

Sometime ago I got real tired of trying to open the caps on a battery with a quarter, even my biggest screwdriver would only strip out the plastic cap. I found a Dzus fastener release tool on the tool truck, bought it and haven't had a problem since.

[TobyArnot]

Originally Posted by flashed

If you need to touch up your engine paint and dont want to take everything apart take aluminum foil and wrap anything you dont want painted and paint away.

Aluminum foil is also great for masking large areas while powder coating. (manifold surfaces, etc.). Saves $ on that pricey hi-temp tape.

[RenoKeene]

More great posts!
I was concerned this thread might die after it was moved but I think it might be ok for a while.
Thanks
Posted via Mobile Device

[Sillyoldman]

I needed some tire chocks while doing some work. In my garage I spotted an empty box with heavy styrofoam packaging in it. I cut out a 5"x 5"x 10" block out of it then cut it in half at 45 degrees on my bandsaw. Although It was a temporary solution they lasted for quite a few years.

[Leinie]

Originally Posted by RenoKeene

Baby stroller tool cart.Found this one at the side of the road where someone put it out for the garbage man. This thing is great, holds lots of tools, rolls in any direction, has locking wheels so it won't roll down the driveway, easy to push over gravel, sand, etc. so I wheel it out to my parts truck with no problem, saves running back and forth for tools. It also folds up almost flat so you can take it with you to help your buddy work on his stuff...and it was FREE.

Damn ! We gave away two of them last year. One was a two seater!

[flashed]

Im going yard sale-ing tomorrow and I may just confuse my wife when I buy a used stroller for the pull a part trip I have planned.

[68C15]

Originally Posted by Sillyoldman

I needed some tire chocks while doing some work. In my garage I spotted an empty box with heavy styrofoam packaging in it. I cut out a 5"x 5"x 10" block out of it then cut it in half at 45 degrees on my bandsaw. Although It was a temporary solution they lasted for quite a few years.

another cheap yet safe option is to get some from the junk yard. second generation Blazers (95-02ish) actually came with 2 small steel ones located near the jack.

[68C15]

having trouble lining up a trans to engine during assembly? cut the head off a couple long bolts and cut a slot in the non-threaded end. install bolts to act as guide pins and after it's in place and secure you can use a flat screwdriver to remove the guides.

[fryer1979]

Here's a couple off the top of my head. (the nail polish post reminded me)

1. If you're dealing with a car with many vacuum lines use a small dab of colored nail polish on the line and the fitting it came off. It's a little spendy-ish to get a good assortment of colors, but once you do there is nothing easier than a color coded vacuum diagram.

2. Use nail polish to mark distributor location before pulling. I.E. dist to manifold, and rotor to dist. Will save you from having timing issues on re-assembly.

People always give me grief about my nail polish collection in my tool box.....until they realize how handy it really is.

Oh, and like said before: The more tools you carry with you, the less likely you are to break down. AND The better prepaired you'll be should Murphy's law fail.

[richards72chevy]

Aliminum foil is also good for making tail and marker lites more visible.

[Sillyoldman]

Originally Posted by 68C15

another cheap yet safe option is to get some from the junk yard. second generation Blazers (95-02ish) actually came with 2 small steel ones located near the jack.

Should have mentioned that the styrofoam was high density stuff. It was supporting my air compressor it its box. Blazers came with them? I'm going to have to remember to peek in the back of them when I'm at the junkyard.

[raceman6135]

If you work on lowered vehicles and hate removing the lower radiator hose because the fluid spills all over, runs along the lower radiator support away from your drain pan, try using a plastic bathtub designed for babies. It's large but shallow (about 3 or 4" deep) so it will hold a couple of gallons but also will slide under even the lowest vehicle.

I got mine at a yard sale for $1.

Word of caution: try to find an older one that is literally just a shallow bucket style. Most of the newer ones have all sorts of toys, padding material and stuff built into them which makes it difficult to empty the fluid when the time comes.

[VA72C10]

For anyone with cats...I will purchase the cat litter that's in the plastic jugs sometimes. Gives you a large storage container for used antifreeze/oil/etc and they have a lid that screws on tight with a carrying handle....and the hole is large enough for the rad hose to fit inside to drain out....

[68C15]

speaking of draining coolant, I use a perfectly clean method and is ultra cheap. a 4' length (or so) of 5/16 plastic fuel line from a newer junk yard donor, 2' of 5/16 fuel hose, and a metal tube style blow-gun with no rubber tip. attach the tube and hose, on the drain pan end of hose cut a small slice about an inch from end at a 45* angle halfway through, and place free end of tube down into radiator tank. using blow-gun apply shop air in slit to create a siphon effect drawing coolant from radiator.

my wording may be a little off. ya get the concept?