Tools you Improved

[RockJustRock]

People TRY to improve duct tape by folding over the end to make a pull tab. Pisses me off because who wants THAT hanging off of what they are working on. Then there are those complete no-minds who insist on calling it duck tape.



I don't care how many million rolls they've made and sold, that's just WRONG!

[AndyB]

Duct tape and beer cans can actually make a very good sounding exhaust on a late 80's Mustang.

Of course after five minutes, the tape melts, and you're back to where you started. But it genuinely sounded good for a short time!

[67 Malibu]

I use empty duck tape rolls on shelves & on an old Craftsman intermediate box that I have. One without a flip-up lid that is designed to set another box on top of. Since I do not have another box on, I put them on the top & put the cans of whatever in them. Brake Free, WD 40, etc. Anything that likes to get knocked over easily. And Duct Tape comes in more than gray. There is a black one (Gorilla Tape, I believe) that is supposed to be stronger. I used most of a roll to patch up the convertible top on the '67 (in my avatar) after a wind storm somewhere in Missouri tore it up on the way to the start of the '14 HRPT in Charlotte. That actually got us through the Tour & all the way back home.

[DanStokes]

Here's some of the tools I've made/modified over the years. You do what works at the time. Note that none of the cut-up ones are Snap On!

The big bent wrench was to remove the upper nut from the strut on our Windstar. It worked.

The smaller bent ones were for who-knows-what. It's not unusual for me to reheat and rebend for a different project. Note that the larger of the two is also narrowed across both the box and open ends.

Then there's the homemade crow's foot. Don't remember what for but I do remember that I would have had to buy a set and I just needed this one.

To the right is a pile of distributor wrenches (some of you old-timers may remember what a distributor was) the first of which was made at GMPG when I worked there, so around 1969ish. I think it's the one in the center of the 3 toward the top.

Dan

[70chevyC-10]

Dan - did you know Tommy Thompson or his Dad who both worked at the Proving Grounds ? I know Dad was and equipment operator, not sure what Tommy did.

[DanStokes]

Dan - did you know Tommy Thompson or his Dad who both worked at the Proving Grounds ? I know Dad was and equipment operator, not sure what Tommy did.

Doesn't ring a bell. The PG was a MAJOR place when I worked there with each Division having their own shop, personnel, etc. I worked for Chevrolet first as a driver then later as a tech in "Special Test" doing really early emissions testing. If they worked for, say, Harrison (cooling and refrigeration) or Oldsmobile or ??? I wouldn't have come across them. IIRC, Chevy alone had well over 1,000 employees though that might have included the Tech Center in Warren.

Dan

[DanStokes]

More screwed up tools:

Another weird wrench.

Several with screwdriver handles. The one next to the wrench was made in about 1965 and is made to pull the spring on old GM headlight buckets so you can replace the sealed beam headlight. I never thought there would be a time that I wouldn't need it! The one next to it has an odd blade that doesn't show in the pic and the other 2 were to grab something (spring, snap ring, etc.) and give it a tug.

Dan

[AndyB]

I probably have more strange oddball tools than modified ones. There's a fair few that I've just made instead, and scarily enough they tend to work better than the proper ones!

One of the very most useful ones is a long 90degree bitdriver. It's actually made for adjusting carbs (specifically, idle mix screws) on bikes where you not only have to do it while it's running, but need an illuminated mirror to have any hope in hell of seeing what you're doing. With the right bit, it's stupid useful for stuff like badly-placed hose clamps and the like.

The stuff I've made or modified is pretty much bike-exclusive, and answers problems that I've never seen when working on a car (e.g., holding the goddamn clutch basket while removing the center nut, but where the chassis interferes too much to use the 'correct' tool).

[Monster]

I once threw a Chinese POS screwdriver into the trash bin ... there, improved !

[pdub]

I modified the sheetrock in our garage one time with a wrench from about 8 feet away - does that count?

[AndyB]

I once threw a Chinese POS screwdriver into the trash bin ... there, improved !

Why'd you chuck a perfectly useful prybar out? Nothing a couple licks on the bench grinder can't improve!

If you add a good vise and some heat, you can make a surprisingly useful, wide hook for chewing up the inner race of a bearing you're trying to remove from a blind hole before giving up and hammering greasy rags in to force it out the easy way....

[Monster]

This was one of those super-cheap types with the red dyed wooden handles that must have missed the heat treat ... it bends like butter and I didn't need a bend-bar in my tool box. Actually, it wasn't as good as Chinese .. I believe it was Pakistani.

[70chevyC-10]

Doesn't ring a bell. The PG was a MAJOR place when I worked there with each Division having their own shop, personnel, etc. I worked for Chevrolet first as a driver then later as a tech in "Special Test" doing really early emissions testing. If they worked for, say, Harrison (cooling and refrigeration) or Oldsmobile or ??? I wouldn't have come across them. IIRC, Chevy alone had well over 1,000 employees though that might have included the Tech Center in Warren.

Dan

I think they worked for the Proving Grounds itself rather than a car division. Road graders, snow plows, loaders etc is what Dad did.I think Tommy graduated Milford High about 68 or 69.

[DanStokes]

I rarely came across the PG staff as they were known. I graduated in '65 so I wouldn't have met him there - I was off working, making babies, etc.

Dan