Shop Tips and Tricks

Let’s be real for a second. We don’t always have the right tool for the job, and things don’t always go as planned. Here is a gem of knowledge and possible solutions from someone that has “been there” and “done that”! This is a wealth of real Shop Tips and Tricks that can save you a trip to the store, and help get the job done, and with a price tag of nearly FREE! If you know of a trick that fits the bill, leave a comment and share with you fellow weekend warriors!

Home-Made Thread-cleaning Bolt of Magic!

Do you have cylinder head threads or any other threaded receiver that is full of grease and grime, or mildly damaged threads? These areas on a motor are often difficult to clean due to contamination or access concerns. A tap or die could be used, but most people don’t have a full set of sizes available and they tend to be expensive. Rather, make your own home made tap! grab an old bolt that is the correct size for the dirty threads and a grinder, dremel tool or file. Cut a slice long-ways out of the bolt’s threads to provide an area for dirt to be trapped. Don’t cut horizontal lines, as this could cause cross threading or damage the female threads! Verify that there are no thread bits left in the wrong places. Feed the bolt into the dirty receiving threads and then remove it, no need to torque it down. Look in amazement at all the trash that comes out with your new thread cleaning bolt. Clean the bolt and repeat as necessary. This free 5 minute bolt mod can save you 50 dollars for a tap, or more importantly a hour long trip to the store!
Cheap Frame Protector

Where exactly are you supposed to jack up this car again? A-lot of us mechanics/hobbyists work on many different cars, a-lot of times that don’t belong to us and don’t have documentation. Improper jack placement can cause a-lot of damage, but we generally know the safe spots, frame rails, subframes etc. Having a substantial soft pad can help prevent dents or scrapes, and if it’s non-slip even better! jack pads are available and specific for certain jacks, and some universal rubber jack pads are around for $20-$40, but doesn’t that seem unnecessarily expensive for something we’ve probably used wadded up cardboard for in the past?

Answer: Hockey Puck. Dense high grade rubber and they are the perfect size for most jacks. $3.99 on Amazon.com and free shipping. Buy an extra just because it’s so cheap!
Cheap Breaker Bar

Have a stubborn or high torque bolt? Don’t have a large enough breaker bar? Find any metal pipe of approximately 1″ in diameter and slide it over the end of your standard ratchet or existing breaker bar. The extra leverage should get the job done and most of us have a pipe laying around from a previous job. Best part, the length of your new lever is adjustable, slide the pipe in further for confined areas, and slide it out for more torque if room is available. If you don’t have one, you can buy a 2′ section of pipe at most big box hardware stores like home depot for just a few bucks. They’ll even cut it for you.
Simple Rust Converter

Rust is a cruel mistress and there are a number of ways to deal with it. Rust is iron oxide, or various forms of (Fe)x(O)y. One quick an easy method is to use phosphoric acid to convert the iron oxide into iron phosphate. Iron phosphate is stable, meaning it won’t continue to rust, and it’s paintable and hard. The best part is that there is no manual labor, Place the part in a bath of phosphoric acid and wait a few hours. Wash the part in soap and water and you’re done. “Rust converters” that you can buy at auto parts stores are nothing more than phosphoric acid. Just buy the cheapest source you can find. Brackets, bolts, nuts, pipes or just about anything that’s steel will thank you. Note: If you let the acid dry the phosphorous will precipitate and form a white powder that is NOT paintable. Best not to let this happen, as it’s a real pain to remove.
A second and equally good approach to dealing with rust is to use electrolysis, but that’s a bit too complicated for this article.
Home Made Lock Nut

There are many times when we wish we had a lock nut, but not many of us have various sizes of lock nuts around just in case. If you’re in a pinch (see what I did there?), you can make your own Prevailing Torque or Crimp style lock nut. Find a regular nut that is in the correct size, and place it on it’s side. Smash it with a big hammer. Done. The idea is to compress the threads to create a pinch point between the nut and bolt/stud. The size and alloy of the nut will determine how hard you need to hit it with a big hammer. Don’t overdo it! If it’s a large nut that you can’t hit hard enough, heating it will soften the steel.
Wheel Brake

Jacked up a car and forgot to loosen the lug nuts first? If you’re like me, you don’t have a second person around to press the brake pedal for you, and you’re too lazy to lower the car again. Find a 2×4 (or multiple depending on the height) and jamb it between the wheel and ground. Kick it in real well, and you’ve got yourself a free wheel lock. Obviously, you need to put the board on the side of the wheel that will pull the board towards the wheel in the direction you are trying to turn the lug nut. If you don’t get this, please leave our site. Done and done.
Make Parts Larger, And Smaller, With Magic!

Magic, AKA thermal expansion, generally causes parts to expand as they heat up, and shrink as they cool down. If you’re installing a press-fit harmonic balancer or control arm bushing that just won’t go on, trying shrinking it! If you need a part to grow larger to fit, such as a harmonic balancer over a crankshaft, throw it in a pre-heated oven on warm or at 100-150 degrees for 15 minutes (Please make sure the part can handle this amount of heat first). If you need the part to shrink, such as a control arm bushing in the control arm socket, throw it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. Temperature won’t give you a large size difference, but it can make the difference in a precision fit environment. Magic.
Vacuum Leak Detection

Finding vacuum leaks is just about the most annoying single aspect of troubleshooting, second only to finding a phantom voltage drain. Here’s a trick, light up a stogie. With the car off and a very still atmosphere, find a vacuum line connected to the intake manifold and remove it at the other end. Light up a cigar and blow the smoke into the intake manifold as much as you can. Try pressurizing the intake with smoke somewhat. look in the engine bay and see if you can find smoke seeping out of a leak somewhere. A flashlight greatly helps the smoke stand out, and a second pair of eyes is ideal. This isn’t guaranteed to find a leak, but it’s cheap and easy and might do the trick. Finish off the cigar with a glass of scotch and a game of poker.
Fluid leak detection

Fluid leaks have a tenancy to end up everywhere, mix together, and change colors, making identifying the source difficult. Ultra Violet dyes are available for less than 10 dollars at regular retailers like auto parts stores or Amazon. Black lightbulbs can also be purchased for any size light socket, or you can buy a dedicated black light flashlight for about 10 bucks. Put a SMALL amount of UV dye into whatever fluid you suspect is leaking and run the motor/drive the car. Pull out your UV light and see if the leak area glows. If it doesn’t, check a different fluid. For about 10-20 dollars this is a tool that can last a lifetime, and just a few ounces of dye will last years.
Brake Caliper Slides

Brake caliper slides can be greased or grease free. If you have grease free slides that depend on low friction materials such as Teflon, don’t grease them! For the rest of us, we don’t usually have caliper slide grease laying around. Wheel bearing grease is a perfect substitute, rated for high temperatures and the abuse of pressure, heat and wear. A tub of wheel bearing grease is huge and only costs about 5 bucks. A good bit better than the 2 dollar quarter size caliper grease packets at the checkout counter! Of yeah, and you can grease your wheel bearings with it, something most people forget to do.
Protect Your Garage Floor

Project cars have the tendency to leak, it’s a fact of life. What’s worse, is those leaks tend to run along frames and lines and drip in multiple spread out locations, making it difficult to catch every drip using a regular catch pan. The solution is to use flattened cardboard boxes! Most of us shop online, making this a free option, and new clean boxes show up every time we shop. The cardboard absorbs the drips like the old school kitty litter solution, and changing out the old stained boxes is a breeze. We know this tip is a little it obvious, but only once you’ve thought of it! secondary tip: If your garage floor is already dirty and you’re going to work under the car, flatten out a new box and lay on it to keep yourself clean while you slide around under the car.
Protect Your Concrete

About to change the oil on your concrete driveway and tired of getting drips/oil stains on the concrete? Wetting the concrete with a hose before opening the drain bolt will fill most of the concrete pores with water. Since oil is less dense than water, the oil will remain on the surface of the water and rinse away much easier, creating much less staining. This method isn’t perfect and will leave some oil behind if you spill, but it’s free and significantly reduces the amount of oil that gets into your precious white driveway. Note, wetting the driveway after you spill oil isn’t as effective, since the oil is already occupying the porous areas of the concrete.
Free Hose Plug

Have a hose or vacuum line that is leaking or not needed anymore, or that you just want plugged? Don’t have a special vacuum cap to plug that manifold vacuum port? Attach a hose of any size that fits, and thread a bolt or screw into the end of the hose that has a tight fit. It seals well, essentially as long as the hose/tubing will last, and most people have bolts of various sizes laying around the shop.
Metal Vacuum Cleaner

Find a clear plastic bottle and drop a magnet or magnets into it. Move the plastic bottle over an area that you spill a bunch of screws or washers, or over an area that you were grinding or filing in. The magnets will suck up all the metal. Move the plastic bottle over a trash can and remove the magnets from the inside of the bottle. The metal will drop away from the bottle and the magnets and your hands stayed clean.

The result would be the opposite of this picture, but this picture was too cool not to share!
Screw Extractor

We’ve all had a stripped out Phillips screw head. Find a rubber band, or any piece of rubber that’s a similar thickness and place one section of the rubber band over the screw head. Find a correct size screwdriver and press and rotate counter clockwise. The rubber provides friction and helps fill the stripped out areas that used to have metal in them. This trick helps almost every time.
Free Oil Pan and Funnel

The next time you buy oil in a 5 qt or gallon size jug, save the jug. Cut out around the label on the face of the gallon jug. Keep the neck and cap area attached to the part of the jug you plan on keeping. The Remaining half is a perfect 4 or 5 quart oil catch pan. Your new catch pan also has a pour spout and cap still attached for easy emptying!
If you need a funnel also, keep a regular 1 quart oil container and cut the bottom off. Unscrew the cap and flip the quart size bottle upside down, and you have a perfect funnel for use with your new catch pan!

Cut around the label area for a free catch pan with a cap and pour spout!