Tips and Tricks….
 

Not picking on ANYONE here --- but I was cruising a thread and saw this little project.

The reason I'm starting this thread is in a effort to save you guys some TIME and HASSLE when building your projects… SO this thread should be posts of TIME SAVERS -- and TIPS on what to do WHEN… to make a project go a little smoother.


So here's the first one…


CLEAN THE PROJECT WORK AREA TO BARE METAL BEFORE YOU MEASURE OR MARK OR CUT OR WELD…. It's so much easier to have a nice looking job when you clean to bare metal FIRST… less contamination in the weld…. easier on discs when you're not cleaning against edges… and just all around FASTER over all.



So in this first pic here -- The entire area to be worked on should have been cleaned JOB #1




http://i919.photobucket.com/albums/a...ricks/file.jpg





It would make this a far better weld job if the area was bare metal -- all the pieces - both sides! The tacks go flatter… the arc and start with less voltage meaning less burn through etc.





http://i919.photobucket.com/albums/a...cks/file-1.jpg





AND --- If you're going to weld on a gas tank…. Clean it with plain old soap and water --- and either fill it with ARGON or CO2 "inert" gas --- or drop some DRY ICE in it and wait for it to "smoke" before welding.

Good info.. An old timer once told me after washing out the gas tank, you can fill it with the exhaust from your car's tail pipe then weld on it..True or false ?

That would be carbon MONOXIDE… which can kill ya… so I probably wouldn't do it that way.

:unibrow:

:y0!:




Plant potato's DEEP ................... and EARLY

sorry.
Honestly PLAN your project out, maybe not to the extent of having every part number figured out. but a good idea. and DON'T change it, I see it so often on here and in REAL life. save the upgrade for the next project. if you stick to the plan you will probably have the cash left over to at least start the next one, instead of building the same car 3 times.
Take my Nova for instance, I knew exactly what I wanted it to be when it was finished and that is want I got. and I only spent 4 months building it. (no the shop did not build it)
I have only changes shocks and a rear end in 4 years and those were only for R&D. By not changing it I was able to buy a Grand National and do some upgrades on that too.

BUY GOOD TOOLS!!!

Yes you can. My grandpa used to weld BIG fuel tanks by putting a tube from the exhaust from a running tractor in the bottom drain of a tank with the top open and let it run for several hours. No problems...... But not sure if I'd do it!! LoL! :underchair:

Building your part out of chipboard to check fit. Its faster and you can make changes before transferring the design/layout to metal.

Use aluminum foil as a quick mask when detailing or painting parts.

Here's one I learned from the master himself -

Sharpen both ends of your tungsten so you can quickly change out when you contaminate it !

I suppose a corallory to that would be - sharpen up several of them so you you swap 'em out without disengaging from your weld site.

Or, maybe everyone else doesn't dip their tungsten in the work as much as I do lol.

Never thought of that THANKS!!:thumbsup:

I like simple stupid tricks like that which are hidden right under our noses!

Stacy David's GearZ show has some good ones> http://staceydavid.com/articles/tips

Blue sharpies are faster and easier than Dykem for small layout work.

I keep an assortment of various sized washers for layout work. If you want to drill holes in the corners of a square plate 1/2" in from all edges a washer with a 1" outside diameter will put the center of the washer at the center of the hole. Way easier than measuring.

I use the washers for layout of lightening holes as well, usually on the aforementioned chipboard.

Automatic center punch.....get one.

Kwik Scribes are worth their weight in gold. https://socalsac.com/tools/kwik-scribes

In General, Minimum bend radius = material thickness = material used to make the bend. A 90* bend in 16 ga (.063") will "use up" a 1/16 so cut your blank 1/16 big.

Measure twice, cut once. Never "burn" an inch when using your tape measure, it always ends badly. Also make sure the hook on the end of your tape is straight and square.

A 6" piece 3/8" rubber fuel line slipped over the porcelain on your spark plugs makes installation and removal easier around headers when you can't get your fat fingers in there.

Always torque your wheels immediately after installation.....always.

You can use the open end of a wrench as a caliper to measure round stuff. Not sure if that bolt is 1/2" or 7/16" grab a wrench and find out.

When making brackets for various items, always radius the outside corners and then deburr them. Sharp corners under the dash can cut wires, hands, and foreheads.

Take care of your hands. This is right up there with safety glasses and ear plugs. If your hands are dried and cracked they don't work as good and little scrapes and cuts that aren't usually a big deal last forever when you work with your hands all the time. Your wife/girlfriend/sister/ mom has at least 10 different kinds of lotion, steal some and use it......on your hands. I wear gloves whenever I am working with metal.

Good thread, Greg. Should be all kinds of neat ideas come out of it.

THANKS!! I hope so!! There's so many sweet little tricks that really make a job faster of better…

I remember when a guy showed me to measure the center to center of two holes…. I always tried to hold the tape on the centers - it never worked out. Then he showed me to measure from the edge of one to the same edge of the other -- BINGO! So simple… but who knew??

damn I am tired...

I read...

I have only change socks in 4 years.

Dogs keep waking us in the middle of the night to go outside.

damn I am tired...

damn dogs...

That was some Nice tips I have not heard before, baking flour on Alu Wheels! Hmm :D

On regular wrenching there is one thing I use at work a bit, you probably know it, but to keep the nut from falling out of the socket, put some paper around the nut so it sticks inside the socket.

And tape Your universal joints, they are almost useless without tape.. :)

Off to the hardware store...

The magnetic socket trick will be a great help.

Thanks for the link :thumbsup:

Use an old angled spark plug boot with a piece of rubber hose in it on your radiator petcock to drain into a bucket. Less mess.

The torquing of wheels: start in one corner and work in one direction around the car, truck, trailer. DO it the same direction from the same start point every time the habbit will keep the question "did I get that one" to a minimum.

Run a magnet down the shaft of a screwdriver once, it will magnetize it for the small stuff.

A piece of rubber hose on a drill bit as a "stop"

I don't do it often but when I do it's so much tungsten destruction that I couldn't even flip the thing around without grinding a golf ball sized piece of aluminum off of it first. :bang:

Cha-Ching! A new no-brainer! Thanks :thumbsup:

Car Alarm
 

When I was in college, my truck was stolen. Determined to not let the next one get stolen AND not having much money, I made a cheap set up that .... Well at least the truck didn't get stolen.
1. Run a wire to a toggle switch, from any accessory that becomes hot when the engine gets started.
2. Run the wire from the toggle switch to the horn.

At this point whenever the toggle switch is on AND the engine is started, the horn will sound continually until the switch is turned off.
I hid the switch under the seat and turned it on any time I parked it.

Think about it, as soon as the vehicle gets started the horn continues to say on. The thief has the choice to find why, or split and move to any easier target.

If you want to really get creative, get one or two additional horns. If the thief decides to hang around and find the horn to disconnect, he probably won't think to find a second or third horn placed say inside the rear quarter panel and or rear bumper.

I'm a big fan of wobble extensions now. I rarely use those ujoints anymore.


If you ever come across a broken 4th gen f-body door take the reinforcement tube out of it. It makes for a great persuader for added leverage when needed, and gm even put a nice hole in one end to hang it on a screw in the wall.

Make sure that you research which way the clutch disc goes in before you install it and the transmission. :headspin:

These are all great tips! Another one I learned long ago is to smear some valve grinding compound on old rounded bolt heads and works especially well with rounded allen sockets. it takes up the slop and gives it bite with the socket to help remove.

When I twist off the head of a bolt the most effective way I have found to remove the remaining thread is to weld a nut on the end of the broken off bolt. The bolt can then be removed with a normal wrench and the heat normally helps loosen the threads.

Great thread BTW!

This method works great for removing broken LS manifold bolts. The other thing is that if the head is aluminum, you don't have to worry about your welds sticking to it.

If you ever lose a chuck key for a drill press use two small standard screwdrivers...insert one into the chuck key hole jse the other to engage the teeth of the chuck....switch it up to tighten or loosen
Ryan Austin

Good tip in a pinch, but man, chucks are $8 at Lowes:lmao:

When your sweeping up the shop, tape down the front of your dust pan. It keeps you from sweeping that last little bit back under the car.

Very true....but making sure you've got the right one is another thing
Ryan Austin

Some of these items may sound persnickity but I spent many years in the OEM world and now in the custom world specializing in chasing gremlins so I am particular about how I like things to function and look.

Get in the habit of running your wiring through shrinkwrap. Not only does it help hold the wiring together while running it but you also now have shrinkwrap on your wiring to "finish" whatever sheathing you run... especially good with powerbraid. Comes in handy for injector wiring that is "pull to seat" that you can't just pop the connector off and never seems to be finished cleanly. If you don't run sheathing then now you've got nice shrinkable collars to hold your wiring together.
http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/v...ps98f6e345.jpg

Anytime you take a cable (accel cable, parking brake cable, etc.. Lokar) out of the sheath shrink some shrink wrap over the end to keep it from unraveling. Same if you need to cut it... shrink wrap the area you are going to cut... cutoff wheel in the middle of the shrink wrap and it holds the strands together.

Get in the habit of dabbing anti-seize on any stainless hardware before you use it... especially if you are going to weld it. (I tack nuts to the backs of panels for mounting purposes so the components bolt down one handed) Stainless loves to gall and of course will seize on you at the worst possible time.

I guess after that one I should mention... Make everything boltable from one side of the panel!!! Pet peeve here... It's great that you've got your buddy, kids, or wife there to hold the wrench on the other side of the firewall right now but what about when you are on the side of the road or everyone is gone? Tack a nut to the backside of the panel or buy the tool to set threaded inserts. Build everything servicable because you are most likely the next person that will have to take that piece back off. Self tapping screws belong on metal buldings... not cars.

Adding on to that one as well... Make all components and individual harnesses removable. I deal with a lot of vehicles where components like the MSD box are hardwired into the car which is fine if it is never going to go bad... or have to be diagnosed... or have to be removed to access other components. Spend a few minutes to wire in connectors so that every component can be removed without having to take half the dashboard or wiring harness apart. When I wire EFI systems I run connectors to where they meet the vehicle harness so that if there is ever an issue I can remove the EFI system as a whole. I put connectors anywhere there may be a need to disconnect the wiring for any reason... I'd rather build it in now than end up cutting and splicing wires later. You can see in the pic below on this electronics panel for the current build I've even got connectors between the ISIS system and the XFI system in case I ever had to remove one or the other. (See my shrink wrap?!?! :yes: )
http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/v...ps071419fe.jpg

If you are taking the third member out of a 9" axle housing instead of fighting it on the ground trying to pry through the old RTV, hang the housing by the U-bolts from an engine hoist or vehicle hoist with jack stands just below the axle tubes. Now you can tap down on the housing with a heavy mallet and gravity does the hard work. Once the seal breaks, the axle housing rests on the stands leaving your third member hanging free.

Someone made mention of clutches earlier on... Never assume your aftermarket clutch hydraulics match the application height of your aftermarket clutch. After you dial in your bell housing (you always do that right?!? ) Check the height of your clutch fingers with your flywheel and clutch torqued in place. Measure that against the installed height of your clutch slave and make sure the throw of your slave matches the throw of your clutch pressure plate. Figure in a little for wear as well.. those fingers will move out as the disk wears.

This is a great tip. People get hurt every year welding on tanks. If you don't have Argon or CO2 readily available dry ice is at most walmarts now.

I can see how the exhaust gas would work as well but you are trading an explosion hazard for a carbon monoxide hazard.

When fabricating floors and firewalls and stuff. Save your templates! Not for the next car, but for when it comes back from paint you can transfer your templates to your favorite sound deadener and insulation and save a ton of time.

Got a complicated surface to template? Don't sit and whittle away at a sheet of posterboard for an hour. Get a length of #6 solid copper ground wire (Lowes elect dept) and bend it to the appropriate shape. Then transfer it to your poster board by tracing. Bends really easily, but holds it's shape well (unless you drop it) and you can straighten it out and use it again.

Tried to remove that stuck bolt? Broken off the super hardened EZ out in that sucker? Thinking now I'm really screwed? I have had success using my plasma cutter as a poor mans EDM is some of these situations....blast the center first carefully open it up to get rid of EZ out metal and then attack again with a reverse drill bit. The heat from plasma will usually shock the material enough to remove any galvanic bonds between it and the threads.

Saw this one recently in a metal shaping book...

As a cheat to gas back your TIG welds lay some fiberglass tape on the back side of the weld and then cover it with metal AC ducting tape. The fiberglass allows the shielding gas to pocket on the back side of the weld and the metal tape holds the gas in the fiberglass.

I'm going to try it on my next TIG project just to see how it works!

For a cheap, locally available replacement T-56 shift cup bushing / isolator, usually your local Ace hardware sells bronze flanged bushings with 3/4" OD, 5/8" ID and 3/4" length. Give a light sanding to the OD to smooth the surface a little and it will easily press fit.

of better yet just START with the reverse drill bit normally the heat of drilling and the Reverse twist will take out the broken bolt.

Here is how we do it.................... WE DON'T sorry sir you will need a new tank so we can weld it

yep, plus the replacment stuff is so damn cheap now.

It's so easy the fat chicks can do it.



It's a matter of knowledge over listening to you buddies "theory" of what he heard about his grandpa used to do.

This one is simple and easy. I started doing this years back. I noticed construction guys would hammer in blades into scrap wood. We have all noticed the container at the DR's office. I now have my little ones in the garage with me and do not need the accidents. I am sure the garbage man would appreciate it as well.

Just use an old coolant jug and cut a flap in it, MARK what it is and you have a safe containment for blades or other small sharp materials.

http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/t...pssenookup.jpg

Thanks to GW's idea I went and scored an old Carrillo SBC rod to use as a TIG torch holder (actually came out of a friends drag car) from a local engine builders junk pile out back, I used to hang out at this shop in the 70's when I was in high school which adds to the cool factor for me.

The rod wasn't exactly pretty when I picked it up, though it was a very uniform coating of heavy rust...........

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-6...6DT5VVc-X2.jpg

After soaking in white distilled vinegar over night and brushing with a stiff bristled brush this is the results........

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-M...Mn6K5st-XL.jpg

The rust literally fell off of it.