Post a tip for other DIY shiters

[twosmoke300]

I gave up using gloves years ago , they seem to split really easily , even the quality nitrile gloves and always get snagged / rob you of feel etc.

I use a barrier cream called STOP IT made by Hanzl . Its the only barrier cream ive found that actually works. Its expensive at 22 quid for a litre but its well worth it .

Strangely , the only time I wear gloves now is to move a car/use the computer when my hands are already dirty .

 

My hand are cleaner and in better condition now than they ever were when I used gloves.

[PiperCub]

To hold a nut or bolt in a socket while you position it (probably in a tight spot), you can use grease or a better method is to put a piece of paper towel inside the socket and jam the bolt/nut in. Once the bolt is in position the socket will release without detaching itself from the extension/wrench. 

[Richard]

These are the gloves that I bought earlier this year after Mr_Bo11ox recommended them. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/151981443340

 

 

I find them just right to work with, I can still feel what I'm doing and they never tear. They don't wrap themselves round stuff like Latex/Nitrile ones do either.

[Supernaut]

I was regaling my colleague with the tail of how the brothers touring's "316, honest guv" sprang a fuel leak at shitefest back in June.

 

Now, my colleague is a former motorbike racer (80s-early 90s), so has a fair few tips.

 

His tip for a leaking petrol tank? An old-fashioned bar of soap. Rub it onto the leaking area generously and apparently it reacts with the petrol and goes rock hard.

[beko1987]

I was regaling my colleague with the tail of how the brothers touring's "316, honest guv" sprang a fuel leak at shitefest back in June.

 

Now, my colleague is a former motorbike racer (80s-early 90s), so has a fair few tips.

 

His tip for a leaking petrol tank? An old-fashioned bar of soap. Rub it onto the leaking area generously and apparently it reacts with the petrol and goes rock hard.

I don't think anyone had a bar of soap at SF16 did they?

[Supernaut]

I don't think anyone had a bar of soap at SF16 did they?

LOL NO.

[sierraman]

Save hours of laying on your back mending cars for friends etc by constantly dropping stories about monumental fuck ups you've made doing simple jobs.

[matty879]

instead of using one or getting a garage to use a sniffer kit to determine hgf from cylinder to water jacket(ie when you have no mayo or normal symptoms)take rad cap off with engine stone cold put a balloon over the cap orrofice secrure it with a cable tie,or try hold it and seal it,then get an assistant to give it a good steady 3000 rpm for at least 30 seconds,if the balloon inflates, you got a problem,

[matty879]

Save hours of laying on your back mending cars for friends etc by constantly dropping stories about monumental fuck ups you've made doing simple jobs.

i do that now,quoting the simple 1.25 zetec fiesta,which is also fitted to others,i managed to fuck one up,even though i went and bought the haynes,the locking kit,even a tourque wrench,cost me £80 for the tools,which i gave to a mate straight after i fucked it up,easy as they are now,i open a bonnet and say im not equipped for this engine sorry,if its an e46 or 3.2 v6 merc game on,funny how simple shite can catch you out

[vulgalour]

Don't poke it.

 

Whatever it is.  Just don't.

[Laseraligningfoofooflanges]

 

 

Might be teaching people to suck eggs but double spanners!

 

Not always practical under a car etc. but handy in the scrappers if you dont have a breaker bar but you have some combis.

 

Also laying under french shite with an 8mm hex sump plug, If its tight as fuck i get the car up a bit higher and slip the end of a shifter or a big spanner over the end of the allen key to get extra leverage to crack it.

 

Torx bits can be hammered into rounded of allen screws/cap heads sometimes they'll crack this way doesnt always work mind!

[Laseraligningfoofooflanges]

To hold a nut or bolt in a socket while you position it (probably in a tight spot), you can use grease or a better method is to put a piece of paper towel inside the socket and jam the bolt/nut in. Once the bolt is in position the socket will release without detaching itself from the extension/wrench. 

You can get wera ratchet spanners designed with this sort of fun* in mind

 

 

Ive got a 10 and 13 milly but i havent tested this function yet, I bought the fuckers to get at an awkward 10mm bolt on an BMW waterpump thats ''impossible'' to reach according to some, In the end a tiny little hilka spanner got it working blind.

[Jifflemon]

Buy yourself a decent set of rigger boots;

 

1) They're warm in winter, comfortable in summer.

2) They're steel toecapped,

 

But most importantly...

 

3) they simply pull on and off.

 

Which works very well with this all important tip.

 

4) Train yourself to remove your rigger boots BEFORE entering the house.

 

Domestic bliss will be ensured when oil and grease is no longer marched through the carpets.....

[bub2006]

I don't think anyone had a bar of soap at SF16 did they?

Ill have you know i had a fully functioning shower room with soap and showet gel thank you very much!

[oldcars]

Never use silicone anywhere near a car you intend to do any paintwork on either now or in the future.....

Mate has a bodyshop, goes mad if folk have dressed the tyres on cars they bring in.

[Snipes]

These are the gloves that I bought earlier this year after Mr_Bo11ox recommended them. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/151981443340

 

 

I find them just right to work with, I can still feel what I'm doing and they never tear. They don't wrap themselves round stuff like Latex/Nitrile ones do either.

I use those at work too. If you have to wear them more or less all day they do make your hands smell like sweaty feet!

[Jazoli]

Don't have a rattle gun to undo crank pulley bolts?

 

Wedge a breaker bar on the end of the pulley under the car and flick the ignition to use the torque of the starter motor, worked a charm for me on the blue bus last week.

[Timewaster]

Identifying speaker wires when a plug has been chopped off....

 

Get yourself a 9v battery and dab it across 2 leads.

You will hear which speaker cracks.

Observe the + and - on the battery and when it is right the speaker cone will jump out, get it wrong and it will pull back.

 

This saved me hours when I used to fit stereos in customers cars.

[brickwall]

For moss control on your car, especially around window seals, use deicer skoosh. Kills the moss in no time.

[overrun]

 

 

Might be teaching people to suck eggs but double spanners!

 

Not always practical under a car etc. but handy in the scrappers if you dont have a breaker bar but you have some combis.

Usually a good tip, but like fuck would it work for me, the other day.

They were going to snap, before the bolt gave way.

 

[overrun]

For ages I have been promising myself some extra long ring spanners,

Today is the day!

[Tamworthbay]

Usually a good tip, but like fuck would it work for me, the other day.

They were going to snap, before the bolt gave way.

An old Jack handle is useful if you need more leverage, as long as its big enough to slide over the spanner it spreads the force out a bit. I even used a 6' length of scaffold pole to get an accumulator off my old Xantia. It was an ally pole and must have been bending a good foot along its length before there was an almighty crack and it came loose.

[RustyNuts]

Hand sanitizer is great for getting oily hands clean (better than the big bottle of Deb),

 

Nothing wrong with orange swarfega - does a great job.

 

What I have found though is that if you pump out a big amount, it works badly - very few granules in it. If you pump out a small bit, for whatever reason, a decent amount of granules comes out in the liquid and then it works very well and shifts everything.

 

I think a bloke I know thought I was being tight when I told him this lol... but it really is true.

[Jifflemon]

For ages I have been promising myself some extra long ring spanners,

Today is the day!

 

I bought these the other week - very nice

 

Which leads me onto another tip - Always buy tools!

[overrun]

An old Jack handle is useful if you need more leverage, as long as its big enough to slide over the spanner it spreads the force out a bit. I even used a 6' length of scaffold pole to get an accumulator off my old Xantia. It was an ally pole and must have been bending a good foot along its length before there was an almighty crack and it came loose.

 

Me jack handle is too small in diameter, and I couldn't access the scaffy pole. Typical!

Even with that back box on the floor, me standing on it and the spanner digging into the ground, it was a no go.

 

Sometimes you just have to get the grinder out.

[overrun]

I bought these the other week - very nice

 

Which leads me onto another tip - Always buy tools!

 

5 or 7 piece set? I am only looking at <£40 cheapies. But some only go up to 19mm.

That defeats a lot of their purpose imo.

 

I wish more companies made them, as I would potentially buy used.

 

Definitely always buy tools! Seldom used stuff can be cheap/no-make and will do you find for 90% of the time, too.

[RustyNuts]

Gloves are available cheap from places like Eurocarparts and I think beat washing hands everytime.  There's the issue of testicular cancer too if you go for a wee and your hands have engine oil on them, plus some of those hand cleaners have the plastic particles that people are getting worried about.

 

Dunno about testicular cancer but penile cancer might might a risk... especially if you had your sausage skin removed 

 

So next time you working on your car, wrap your meat with a rubber and cut the end off so you can still leak 

[overrun]

When you need extra leverage on a ring spanner and cannot slide a pipe over, feed a long extension bar (or piece of rope, cable etc) through to make a handle either side.

Ghetto, but it works.

 

[bigfella2]

Use impact sockets on EVERY nut or bolt, even when not using a impact gun, can't remember the last time I rounded anything off using this method.

[gm]

I make a mental wish list of tools so that when family ask what I would like for christmas, birthday etc, I don't end up with chocs & socks