Share your tricks!

[need boost]

ok guys, I was reading a post and one member was telling another about using a hose to listen for exhause leaks, knocks, etc on your motor. I have used that trick forever but relized that a lot of you may not know about it. It got me thinking about tricks we have all leaned over the years that would help each other out so here is another one for you guys.
Ok, have you ever filled up the tranny to full, God I hate that, have to pull the plug, or drop the pan to get it back out! Man that really stinks but here is you something to make in your spare time to keep in your shop on the shelf and it will cost you almost nothing.
First, get you a pickle jar, mayo jar, etc. Something pretty good size with a metal lid on it. Now go to the parts store and get you about 9 foot of some small size vacume hose or fuel line. Make sure you get it small enough to go down the tranny tube but get the thick wall hose so it won't suck together. Drill 2 holes in the lid matching the size of the hose you got. Run one hose thur the lid till it is about 2 inches from the bottom of your jar. Now run the other hose thur the lid about 2 inches. One short , one long. The short one leave it about 3 ft long and the other 5 ft or so. Put a little silicon around the hoses thur the lid so they don't leak and a worm clamp just barely snug on the inside if you want . Put the lid on the jar, run the long hose down into the tranny and hook the short hose up to the motor on a vacume sorce and crank the car up. In just a few seconds it will pull a vacume in the jar and up comes the tranny fluid! Continue untill you get the extra out. Easy enough huh and you can use it forever as long as you don't break the jar lol. Daniel Ray Rednecky but hey, IT WORKS!!!

 

[mhogan6]

Use a stick or something to depress the brake pedal 2 to 3 inches and brake fluid won't drip out when replacing calipers or wheel cylinders.

 

[corymc]

i have used a broom stick or dowel to listen for knocks and such this also works

 

[John Larkin]

Hold a dollar bill lengthwise, slightly bent so it is a little stiff. Hold this up against your tailpipe. If it tries to suck it into the tailpipe, you have an exhaust valve problem.

 

[Junior Samples]

Hold a dollar bill lengthwise, slightly bent so it is a little stiff. Hold this up against your tailpipe. If it tries to suck it into the tailpipe, you have an exhaust valve problem.

Or hold your wallet in front of car and if it vanishes before your very eyes then you have.....well you might just have a Buick TR:biggrin:

 

[fubar2.5]

When you just have to have a magnetized screwdriver wrap a piece of wire around it and short it on a spare battery or 1 thats not hooked up.

Wouldn't it be easier to crack a tranny line

 

[notacarlo]

The dollar bill thing doesn't work if you retain the stock split exhaust exits.

Use a long handled screw driver as a stethescope. Hold the handle against your ear and push the tool end against the location you suspect.

 

[need boost]

Wouldn't it be easier to crack a tranny line
Yeah, but you end up with a mess that way and lose the fluid, this way you just open the jar and pour it back into a bottle long as you just put it in and its clean . Good ideas so far guys and I love the wallet vanishing, boy thats the truth lol. Daniel Ray

 

[Quiky One]

To find exhaust leaks you can pour some tranny fluid in one of your vacuum lines and the smoke will pour out of the leak.

Jason

 

[turbofabricator]

When installing brake cylinders, compress them all the way and wrap a plastic tie-wrap around the pistons. Leave it compressed untill after you connect the brake line. Then cut the tie-wrap and your brake bleeding time will be next to nothing.

Take wooden wedge and place it between the wheel cylinder and the axle flange to hold it in place while you install the retaining ring.

Use a throttle clip to retain the wastegate actuator. There is always a spare on your cruise control actuator. (VERY handy at the track at night )

Your vacuum can idea would also work to bleed brakes, too.

Use the rear bolt boss under the coil pack (the one that secures the rectangle wire loom) as a great ground. Be sure to file or sand the paint off of the top of it first. Leave the bolt out of the loom, so pulling the drivers side valve cover off is MUCH easier. I have been doing this for 18+ years. All the engine grounds that go to the back of the passenger cylinder head will reach. (you will have to cut some of the electrical tape off of the harness to get enough slack, though.)

To fill the differential, you can install a long hose into the cap of the one gallon bottle of gear lube, (drill a slightly smaller hole than the hose so it seals) then punch a small hole in the top of the bottle and then use your rubber tipped blow gun (air nozzle) and blow a regulated 5-10 psi into the bottle. Wha-Lah.......it'll pump the gear lube with breaking a sweat.

Use a dab of anti-size on your lug nuts with Drag-Lite style rims. It will make removing the nuts MUCH faster on 3" long studs. Also, a cordless impact is priceless at the track.

Before you attempt to drill out a stubborn phillips head screw, try a little course valve lapping compound in the scew, first. This works by adding some "bite" to the screw driver tip.

Some black 3M putty is a MUST in your tool box. Use it to seal small holes in the fire wall. Use it to hold a nut to your wrench when installing a nut and bolt into the box section of your frame. (as in the rear tail pipe hanger on dual exhast.

Cut the spark plug boot off of an old wire. Use it to start the spark plugs in the hole.

Weld a nut to a 1"x3" 1/8" steel strap. (be sure to bolt the nut to the strap before welding to make sure that it is aligned over the drilled hole) This will negate the need to use a wrench on the hidden nuts inside the frame or in any hidden, hard to reach area.

Zest soap will temporarily seal a leaking gas tank.

JIC fittings are half the cost of AN fittings, but are the same 37* flare. Under the car, they work great, but if BLING is needed than use AN.

Use a light duty throttle spring to hold the shifter lock-out rod away from the rear drivers side header tube. They rattle only when in drive. Just drill a small hole in the plastic inner fender at the wheel opening to use as the attach point for the end of the spring. Look at the header, and you will see a small area where the rod rattles on. This is on just about EVERY Turbo Regal.

The alternator rear bearing is the same bearing as the idler pulley bearing.

An injector O-ring will seal the dipstick tube. Though, I prefere to use silicone.

Check the ground wire cluster under the dash on the drivers side. It's right on the lower, outboard edge. They have been known to work loose.

Use an old brake pad and a 4"-6" C-clamp to compress the piston on a caliper during front pad change.

More???

 

[Brer Rabbit]

My favorite

when removing a really tight bolt or nut where a box end wrench is required, I usually grab another wrench and lock the open part of the first wrench in to the closed part of the second wrench. The increased leverage is usually what it takes to get even the toughest bolt or nut out. My brother in law saw me do that last Sunday on his Blazer and was amazed. I just thought it was strange that he didnt know about it, but then again he did marry my sister so he cant be too smart anyway.

 

[Junior Samples]

Always tighten old nut/bolt just a hair before you loosen it

Go to bone yard, find old distributor, hack it up and make your own oil pump primer..or buy from jegs

My revised PVC catchcan this time using a colemans propane tank . Tank mounts along radiator, Bent hard lines to run along intake, around port and down to pvc and other to feed back into OEM vac line. Can also fab up this size or long skinny one for extra vacuum for those running brake booster.

 

[need boost]

Great ones guys!!!!!!!!!! Now this is what I am talking about, a great bunch of car guys sharing things to make life easier on everyone! Some of these I knew, and some I didn't , keep it up!!! Daniel Ray

 

[Clark6]

This is a good post Daniel , i try to stay clean and all , i use a ziploc bag over my oil filter before i pull it off my truck, i loosen it by hand slip the bag over & a few turns the excess oil goes into the bag & not on my hands, when ive stolen all of my wife's ziplocs i use walmart bags, clean & no drip , straight in the trash i havent tried it on my buick yet.

 

[need boost]

Good one Ray! I hadn't even thought about that. The simple ideas are the best! TTT keep them coming guys

 

[Pronto]

Cut the spark plug boot off of an old wire. Use it to start the spark plugs in the hole.

I use a short length of hose.

 

[darkred87T]

when removing a really tight bolt or nut where a box end wrench is required, I usually grab another wrench and lock the open part of the first wrench in to the closed part of the second wrench. The increased leverage is usually what it takes to get even the toughest bolt or nut out. My brother in law saw me do that last Sunday on his Blazer and was amazed. I just thought it was strange that he didnt know about it, but then again he did marry my sister so he cant be too smart anyway.

That's an excellent trick. I learned it from my father.

Here's one that I figured out on my own. Maybe it's obvious but:

Broke the stud loose trying to get the lug nut off the wheel?
With the car jacked up, turn the wheel so the loose stud faces the ground. Put two or three lug nuts back on loosely and gently set the car down. The weight of the car on the wheel will hold the loose stud in place so you can turn the lug nut off it.

 

[granatl]

To bend steel lines, use an alternator pulley (the v-belt kind).
Worked well for my brother.

 

[1chance]

Alot of people have problems putting on stock maniflods(cross over pipe) I found that on old ones you can screw a bolt in the nut thats tack weld on old manifold, take a hammer knock the old nut out, then install new bolts,and nuts, drop bolts in from the top. Makes it easy to install manifolds.

 

[Pablo]

Really good post!

A couple of my tricks:

If you suspect a misfire problem, get a crayon and touch the tip against each header primary close to the head while the engine is running. Good cylinders instantly melt the crayon tip while weak ones hardly do anything. You can also do this with a squirt or drop of water but sometimes its easier to reach with a crayon.
Ive found everything from burnt plug wires to broken valve springs with this technique.


This one may be common knowledge: Need to change a valvespring and have no compressed air? find a rope small enough to fit into the spark plug hole and with the piston near TDC just start feeding rope into the cylinder.. when you get to a point where you cant get any more rope in there rotate the crank to bring the piston slightly upward. You can then remove the springs no problem.


Need to clean up a set of iron cylinder heads at home? Easy Off oven cleaner will have them looking like they were hot tanked in no time.