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I thought I'd start a new thread about tools that make working on our cars easier.
Below are three spanners, from left to right the first is a 13mm ratchet combination spanner. I dismantled the ratchet end and carefully filed it out to fit a 5/16" nut. Being a 5° ratchet it is extremely useful for undoing the bell housing nuts.
Next up is a standard 5/16" combination spanner with the ring spanner end thinned down for doing up cylinder block nuts.
Finally a 13mm open ended spanner that will fit the tappet adjusting nuts. These can become rounded over the years where worn spanners slip. Being 13mm and a tight fit there is less risk of this happening. Note that the sides have been ground to give more clearance in the valve chest.
Location: Deepest darkest Kent
Well I never. I couldn't find one so modified the metric one, well done Charles.
Here's another item that I started to use only recently, interdental brushes for cleaning jets before putting them into service.
Location: Deepest darkest Kent
A couple of odd items.
A home made tool to reduce the amount of brute force and ignorance required to install the front main bearings. I made it from a piece of 20mm studding with Austin's weird 5/8" x 16 TPI thread screwcut onto the end that goes into the crank nose.
A counterboring tool for cutting "big" inlet valve throats concentric to the valve guide axis -this block is getting Mini/Morris Minor inlet valves.
Location: N W Kent
Pipe bender for making bodywork. If you do it slowly it doesn't crimp the tube. Good for making headlamp bracketry on specials, too.
Small metal hammer has a hardened 'pick' on one end to let you bash tiny components and gets into places normal hammers can't reach. The big wooden hammer is made from a section of staircase and has a great mass behind it but a fairy soft surface so is ideal for bashing sheet metal. Neither cost me any money to make.
Having managed to destroy two hub pullers (sheared bolt, stripped thread) I welded a puller to the hub, broke the welds, welded again and finally removed the hub, I refashioned one of the pullers into this ugly but functional tool... With a cheap 3 legged puller it never fails me!
Geoff Greineg writes:
Thought you would be interested in the attached photos. I’ve been venturing in to panel beating as you can see!
The ¼ rear panel is my biggest attempt so far (on old piece of used aluminium from a broken-up caravan). I’m quite pleased with the result.
It’s been a steep learning curve, looking at quite a few utube videos,buying a cheap set of panel beating tools together with a bossing mallet,
setting up a suitable tree trunk with a shallow hollow on top, and making myself an 18” dia. Sandbag (see pic.) from scrap leather off-cuts obtained from ebay.
I feel quite confident now that I could shape the full size cover at some time, so have bought a new sheet of aluminium for just this. I’ve learnt one
very important thing – many light taps with the hammers rather than few heavy bangs, and definitely wear ear defenders! I find it quite therapeutic, but of course it takes time to get the desired shape required. As the finished article is going to have wadding and then rexine, or whatever, over the surface, a super professional finish to the aluminium is not really needed. It will no doubt get dented as per my old YW 214 did! Makes me wonder, while I’m at it, if I should make a second complete spare boot lid for ‘Sundays’ !!
Maybe you could post the sandbag photo on ‘Useful Tools’ for me at some time.
Get one of these, ideal when stripping down where nuts are often of different sizes and always seem just too tight for your fingers to hold and only about £3.00
.
Location: Piddle Valley
Like this one:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Williams-Superrench-Forged-USA-Chrome-Alloy-3-8W-5-16W-No-W8729-/351897666585?hash=item51eebc4419:g:ESIAAOSwzaJX2VS3
many thanks Jim - I just found another identical ebay one for 2.98 posted from "grandadsclearout'...
Fished out this home made tool last week as needed a set of tappet guides to shorten to work with a high lift cam.
Location: N W Kent
Jig for bowing front beams.
Interesting looking device. what powers the actual "bowing" piece? even when the beam is red hot it must need a fair bit of force to re-shape it.
Location: N W Kent
This is a basic tool that I made up to hold rear hubs while tightening and opening half shaft nuts. It holds all three studs.
Location: Ireland
John,
Thanks for posting the photo of your bending jig, I have a much clearer idea about it now.
Below is a photo of the Hub Holder I have produced locally for members of the NZ VAR.
Marcus
You are very welcome. that is a much more professional looking hub spanner
Location: Ireland
I am a sucker for nice measuring kit. I bought this proper machine engraved 2foot rule on ebay and use it regularly.
And on the back....
Anyone else got any ex longbridge tools?
R
The other tools we have been producing locally are these:
A is designed to keep in the car, it fits the rear halfshaft nut so that if you have a mishap on the road you have something on board to deal with a broken key or halfshaft, you can of course also use it in the workshop, it also fits the starting dog on the front of the crankshaft.
B is to fit the thin nut that holds the rear hub bearing on, this has usually been removed and fitted in the past with a cold chisel because no-one seems to have had a spanner to fit.
C is designed to fit the large brass nut that is on the end of the steering column and screws into the steering box, the other end is the octagonal shape to fit the alloy dust caps on the front hubs to protect the wheel bearings.
Excellent!
