Let Me Hear Your Old School Car Tricks

[KacyZ28]

Oh, this one I still use. Got a nut that you want to thread on a bolt you can't reach? If you can reach it with a shorty socket and an extension, pack that socket full of grease to hold the nut in place. That has helped me more than once.

better then using grease grab a plastic from a bag of some sort put over the nut then push socket on the plastic covered nut.the plastic will wedge it in the socket and when you pull the socket off its not full of grease



IF your planning a tear down on a running engine you can add transmission fluid to the engine oil for like 15 miles and it helps loosen any sludge from the engine and make it drain to the oil pan for easier clean up and inspection

[shep]

Have a non magnetic screw to put in an awkward place? Use a wax ring used to seal a toilet to the floor dip the screw driver in it and the screw will stay on the tip of the screw drive makes less mess than grease.

[online170]

Another one my dad showed me is filling a gas tank with a BIG jerry can the lazy way. (those 20gal ones get hard to hold up after a while).


You take a hose long enough to go from the jerry can to the gas filler neck, and place the jerry can higher than the gas tank. Usually you can open your trunk and put it in there.

Seal your hand around the spout of the jerry can where you stuck the hose in, and blow into your fist (leave the vent hole closed). The high pressure in the jerry can overflows the gas into the hose and down into the tank. Once it starts flowing it will keep going.

This is instead of sucking on the far end and getting gas in your mouth, yuk!

[Scott Parkhurst]

We've probably all seen nails driven into rubber bushings to stiffen 'em up, right?

As an old street racer, I used to 'tweak' my rear suspensions on leaf-sprung cars (I used to be a Mopar guy) by running empty air shocks and taping up the front half of the leafs so they wouldn't separate under load.

The empty air shocks would lower the car and minimize travel, and the taped-up leaf springs were stiffer. I couldn't afford nice 50/50 shocks and Direct Connection "Super Stock" springs...but these backyard tricks got me into the 11.90s on Pro Tracs. Not bad for the '80s...

[MonzaRacer]

For frozen threaded parts, heat them with torch then after the red leaves(if using acetylene torch) start squirting synthetic oil on it as it cools, this will do 2 things, iron oxide or rust balls up when heated and the surface tension wicks the oil into the threads.
another one is on cars with frozen bleeders on calipers if your pulling them out so you can retract the pistons and not push all the bad crap behind the pistons back into the system, use a ball peen hammer and peen the metal around the bleeder, then use a good penetrating oil on it.

Oh and as for WD40, and PB blaster, those SUCK. Living in Indiana I have found 3 or my favorites, Cyclo Break Away, Aero/Kano Kroil and SeaFoam, Deep Creep. PB Blaster used to be awesome but when it got bought away from original company its crap now.
Had a 20-30 year old can, well very very old, it worked great, bought a new can and it didnt even look or smell the same and new stuff was way more runny, then found another old can, same thing it worked great compared to old stuff.

If you buy a car with the older stainless steel cap covered lug nuts and the nut under it is rusted up and swelling it up, take a cold chisel and hammer and go around the edges where the hex flats are and cut it off the split it down side, the cover falls off and an 18mm will remove lugs then or maybe 17mm if overly rusted.

[2blownstangs]

cool thread here