Tips & Tools

[Raymond]

Full Members will be receiving your copy of Pagoda World 17 in the next several days.  In it there is a short article about nifty shop tricks or re-purposed tools that may prove useful when working on pretty much anything with an engine or wheels.  Here is a thread for you to post your nifty solutions, odd ball contraptions, or unexpected instructions for overcoming whatever challenges you might have encountered while working on your car.

Here's a simple one I encountered over weekend.  I was changing the fuel filter and because it sits dead vertical, I discovered that the new sealing gasket would not stay in the groove where the canister seats.  So a little dab of Vaseline around the back of the seal held it in place while I re-installed the filter and canister. 

I have also used a little bit of Vaseline on the new cork gasket on the locking gas cap.  I put it on there once three years ago and the gasket does its job perfectly and allows the cap to loosen and tighten much more easily and without damaging the cork.

Read the 17th 2015 edition of Pagoda World to see what's in there and then share what clever tricks you have learned over the years, or over the weekend.

[Travis71280]

While I was setting the preload for the crush bushing on the rear pinion gear on my truck, I needed an in-lb torque wrench (i forgot what the torque spec was, but too low for the torque wrench I had), so I took my 3/8" socket wrench and positioned the handle so it was parallel to the ground. I then took a 2.5lb barbell weight and balanced it on the handle of the wrench so the pinion didn't rotate. I ballparked the c.g. of the wrench handle (thus using this to find the torque component contributed by the wrench) and then the distance from the weight to the center of the pinion to back out the corresponding torque. I would then tighten down the pinion nut and repeat the balancing step until I had the specified torque needed (which corresponded to x distance from the pinion on the handle of the wrench). I knew physics would help me out one day...

[Naj ✝︎]

Alternate 17mm  valve adjustment tool for the 280 SL.

naj

[Jonny B]

I completely forgot to post about the really cool tool I saw at PUB this year. As we were walking around, watching and learning about different aspects of maintenance, I kept noticing the colorful use of pipe cleaners! Joe was using these to keep small nuts (or other small parts you can string the pipe cleaner through) in the proper place. For shorter term take-aparts, I though this was a great idea. It is easy to see, and it keeps those little parts right near where you need them. I am doing a first run right now, as my friend and are doing a head retorque and valve adjustment, so the small nuts that hold the throttle rod in place are secured with said pipe cleaners.

[Pinder]

Brakes:

Bench bleeding Brake master cylinder can be easily done with a cheap hose you can get from Home Depot. its very flexible and clear and the diameter plugs into the where the three brake line hoses screw into. Simply cut 3 sections about 8 inches long push then in and put the other ends into the resovour then push piston with screw driver. You can see any bubbles the hoses and it will bleed easily.

Detailing:

1. Wire harnesses can be cleaned of grease with laquer thiner on a rag and / or Fantastic cleaner.

2. If on your Gear Stick knob the white lettering has faded you can paint with a brush interior paint or any water based paint around the lines then wipe clean. this will fill in the groved lettering.

3. 000 wool works great to clean glass and chrome.

Water Pump:

If you have a short nose pump you are replacing with the long nose pump which seems to be more redilly available, you can ssimply leave out the spacer and use the long nose pump with shorter screws.  Water pump can be done with radiator in place if you dont have AC.

General:

Air tools make quick work of seized on nuts and bolts. So does a good blow torch. i have the Yellow Cans on my plumbers soldering tip (I have the one that starts on a push button). The yellow gas burns much hotter than the old blue cans and gets things hot quick. worked wonders on exhaust manifold down pipes etc.

To remove studs use two nuts tighted on to each other and then back out using  first not on stud.

[Pinder]

Also Have used an impact screw driver to get off stubborn screws. basically its a heavy metal screw driver with interchangeable tips and you hit it with a hammer. it turns on impact. works great.

[mdsalemi]

So does a good blow torch. i have the Yellow Cans on my plumbers soldering tip

Yellow cans are MAPP gas. Way hotter than the blue bottle propane, but about 4x the cost.
If you do any kind of plumbing, best to keep an acetylene torch around. Not an Oxy-Acetylene welding torch, but a plain Acetylene (B-Tank size) tank and a torch. I've had one for years, and once you've used one you won't go back. I have a MAPP torch and pardon the pun, but even that won't hold a candle to acetylene.

A B-Tank isn't too costly, and most welding supply places will have them used. A used torch set and regulator on eBay is about $25.

I've done a LOT of home plumbing work over the years, and the last B-tank I had lasted about 10 years!

[tel76]

Michael,
Would you know if the yellow canister gas (MAPP) produces enough heat to be used in conjunction with Silver Solder?

[Shvegel]

It really depends on the mass of the part to be soldered. I have done a fair bit of small stuff up to anout the size of a 3/4" copper pipe.

[tel76]

Shvegel,
My question is about SILVER soldering not plumbers or body solder.

[mdsalemi]

Hi Tel,

Plumbing solder in the USA is now basically, Silver Solder. Mostly tin, with a small amount of silver, and no lead. So, when you join copper piping with modern solder you use silver solder and a MAPP cylinder works fine, though Acetylene is hotter, faster and better.

If you are doing precision jewelry-like soldering, I know there are a variety of solders of different composition, different metals too depending on what you are joining. Each has different hardnesses and different melting points. Some comes in premixed paste form with flux added, some in bars, some in strips...http://www.cooksongold.com/Solders/  Because the melting points vary, you have to choose your tool. A MAPP gas flame is just above 2000 degrees C; the blue propane just below 2000 degrees C; and pure acetylene (without the second bottle of oxygen) about 3000 degrees C.

Since the MAPP and Propane are similar in temperature, my own experience is that the results are similar. I bought a MAPP cylinder/torch once for emergency use and all I did was wish I had the acetylene! It didn't appear to be much better than propane. Some small desktop "systems" will have an oxygen tank too--and that raised the temperature a LOT. I've never used (or needed) such a thing; my experience is limited to propane, MAPP, and pure acetylene in household use. My father and sister have a lot of jewelry experience, however...

Brazing is much like "silver soldering" with a wide variety of brazing materials. You need to know what you are joining in order to select the correct one. For example, to braze copper to copper, you might choose a high silver content (15%) brazing alloy, with copper and phosphorus. Melts well below 1000C. If you are joining steel to steel (or stainless), even higher silver is called for, such as a 40%.

Always best to check with the supplier (or manufacturer) who should be able to help you choose the proper soldering material and appropriate torch/heat source.

[Pinder]

When I was in high school in england we did silver soldering and I think what we were doing was Brazing. My guess is the the MAPP guess from home depot using the benzomatic tip wont get hot enough. Howver using the MAPP gas compared to the regular blue bottles is way quicker and makes soldering copper really quick even on 3/4 pipe. for auto work Ive found it pretty useful to reach for it and and fire it up in secondss with the auto tip. very handy tool. I cant say if its any good for brazing or silver soldering.

[Benz Dr.]

I use a specialty brazing rod from a company called Exergon. It's pricey stuff but it melts at a lower temp than regular stuff and is ideal for plugging small pin holes in water pipes that are found in older MB cars. It flows like butter or regular solder when you get the heat set right. I doubt that anything other than a shop torch would melt it but then I've never tried.

[tel76]

Pinder is correct silver soldering is a form of brazing, the ideal heat source is oxy/acetylene (there is no heat with acetylene on its own, just smoke, you need an oxy:/acetylene mix).
Plumbers solder and body solder requires less heat therefore the blue cans are ideal, silver solder needs more heat to braze with and brazing with brass requires yet more heat.
The silver solder that I have has 42% silver in the rod, the blue cans do not produce enough heat and as I dispensed with my oxy/acetylene welding gear years ago I was hoping that  there would, in this day and age be an alternative gas (in cans) available.

[Tyler S]

Eric, HGX is slowly finding its way into the market. It's an additive that increases Propane's thermal btu's close to Oxy Acetylene. Hopefully available in cans soon.
 Here's two links but there are many others.
http://www.weldmyworld.com/blog/2011/05/three-alternatives-to-acetylene-fuel-.html
http://www.weldmyworld.com/blog/2011/08/how-to-pick-the-best-fuel-for-cutting-metal.html

[mdsalemi]

there is no heat with acetylene on its own, just smoke, you need an oxy:/acetylene mix).

Tel, I don't know where you got this information, but it's not correct. Many plumbers, particularly old-school plumbers use a pure Acetylene torch. I have one, made by Prest-O-Lite. It does NOT have provision for oxygen mix. Believe me, it burns plenty hot--and for what it's worth, not a puff of smoke--zero. It is suitable for all kinds of plumbing both residential (which might top out at a 1" pipe but is generally ½" and ¾") and commercial. In the commercial, you'd see copper pipe up to 2" easy--and I had plenty of 1.25", 1.75" and larger at the car wash I owned. Those plumbers used precisely the same kind of pure acetylene torch that I have. It isn't suitable for welding or cutting however and for that you'd need an Oxy-Acetylene setup

See the photo of a simple Prest-O-Lite regulator and torch, along with a "B" (refers to size; there are smaller, MC sized, as well as larger ones that require a cart). That B tank holds 35 cubic feet of Acetylene and as I said earlier for most people doing occasional plumbing and service this will last a very long time. I've done one tank exchange in 23 years.

Because pure acetylene is unstable (decomposes explosively) it can't be compressed and stored like normal gases. Thus, inside the tank is a sponge of acetone, and the acetylene is dissolved in the acetone.

[tel76]

Michael,
I got my information from practical experience, when I was an apprentice I was sent to technical college and one of the things we were taught was welding, brazing and soldering.
At my place of work we had a large bottle of acetylene and a large bottle of oxy: with regulators on top and hoses to the torch assembly, this was mounted on a trolley, I can assure you that when you initially light the acetylene you get a lot of smoke, when you add the oxy: the smoke disappears and you can adjust the flame to your requirements, this set up was also used for cutting.
From what I understand from above DC has the same set up.
The above set up has largely disappeared as most workshops here only use mig welding, there are three body shops near my workshop and non of them have the traditional welding sets.
The plumbers here use butane or propane (I am not sure which), the local steel supplier does not use acetylene but a butane to do there cutting (much cheaper).

[mdsalemi]

[/i]

The plumbers here use butane or propane

I've never heard of butane being used for soldering, but propane just isn't hot enough for commercial plumbing work; yes it will work of course but it takes way too long to heat up a joint, and time is money. MAPP (those yellow cylinders) is way too expensive; Oxy-Acetlylene is not for soldering; too hot. You don't want to melt the copper, just heat it up!

That photo attached was not a fabrication but a generally used and commercially available product for lots of sweat-soldering of piping; it's what I own and what I use. Plenty cheap and plenty fast, too. Maybe just not available or not used in the UK. Mine does not smoke but the torch head and regulator isn't made to use with oxygen and that might be the difference between your experience and mine. I've never used an Oxy-Acetlylene torch and you probably haven't seen or used the torch shown in my photo. I've been using it for years.

Though the thread here has digressed a bit a lot of plumbing in the USA has gotten away from copper pipes with sweat solder fittings. Copper is expensive; plumbers are expensive and soldering takes a lot of time. "Shark Bite" push fittings are a bit costly, but they take no time to use and are reusable. PEX tubing is also gaining acceptance with push fittings.

[Raymond]

Digressed "a bit"?  We don't have an emoticon for hysterical laughter. 

[mdsalemi]

Better yet, make your own!

http://www.sherv.net/emoticon-maker.html
http://www.rw-designer.com/online_icon_maker.php
http://www.myemojicreator.com

and there are more if you cannot make what you want here! 

[Shvegel]

tel176,
Getting back to your original question this is 5/8" OD copper tube brazed with Harris Stay-Silv 15 with a Bernz-o-matic TS4000 torch burning Mapp gas.

[Pinder]

Thats the same one I have been using. Its a great torch  and I love the instant start feature.

[Shvegel]

I have a TS 8000 at home that is a bit hotter.

[RonB]

To unfreeze  rust bolt - frozen pistons take 50% ATF & 50% Acetone - it will unfreeze anything .

A frozen motor was unfrozen  tried pouring  WD-40 for 3 weeks still - would not budge .

Using the 50 ATF & 50 Acetone - was able turn it over 8 hours later.

Should make life easier.

[Shvegel]

I wanted to find a way to test the fuel injectors and delivery valves of the fuel injection pump for leak down without removing them and started rooting around the shop for parts when I realized I had a tester already built in the form of a Bosch CIS tester like this one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SG33800-Complete-CIS-K-JETRONIC-INJ-TESTER-free-fast-shipping-now-/162193730344?hash=item25c37feb28:g:pTUAAOSwFe5X0Epo&item=162193730344&vxp=mtr

I simply turned an adapter to connect the hose with the valve on it to compressed air but you could just as easily remove the hose and adapt an air fitting to the valve.   Very simple to use.  Connect to injector or delivery valve, connect air,  open valve and fill to 50 psi(3 Bar) and close valve.  Watch the gauge and see if it drops over 30 minutes or so.  On the delivery valves of the injection pump I would try 20 PSI at first because the more pressure you put on the delivery valve the harder it is trying to close so you may mask a problem if you just put 100 psi (6.5 Bar) on it.