[Guest]

Well we found out last week tat Midlife an Camchinist are top dogs around this place (Don't let it go to your heads).

This weeks question is inspired by Red Green When he says "When you don't have the right tool for the job...Find something else!!"

What was the most creative use for a tool, using it for a job that the tool was NOT originally designed?

Mine.

There have been so many I can't remember. Not having a tappet puller, I did manage to get my snap ring pliers to coax out the pesky collapsed lifter without too much trouble. Oh, Thenthere was the time I used a Drill and a cup wire brush as a laith to turn and polish shome wheel center caps.

What is yours?


Don

 

[boss351]

Lets see..... I once used a headliner support bar as a peice of metal to tack weld to the quarter panel and pull it out as I was welding..... of course I have also used potatoes to remove broken light bulbs.

 

[G1967T]

Gotten lifters out of a Cleveland using one of those magnets on a handle that looks like a car antenna.

 

[Teebone]

Great for sucking up oil and antifreeze..when it seeps in those little low cramped spots on the intake that you can't reach with a rag

 

[Guest]

Re-Bar. It comes in so many different thicknesses ., can be bent inot almost any shape, and adapted to almost whatever circumstance that may occur. Always have a few lengths of it in its various thicknesses around. /forums/images/icons/wink.gif

 

[pi71]

thought this might help in a different way,, carmex is bar none the best treatment for hemmeroids ,believe me ive tried em all , being a private investigator i sit on my butt on survelliance all day, ive tried all the ointments and carmex is the best, hope this helps someone,, bet you didnt think youd see this on vmf.....

 

[dodgestang]

1. Exhaust pipe to install new grease caps on new rotors

2. Everyones favorite.....using the entire floor jack handle in unionison with a standard 18 inch breaker bar for removing those really pesky bolts.

 

[blindman]

I once used bent paperclips to remove the radio in a late model Ford.

 

[twotoots2]

Lets see, I've used SCREWDRIVERS as cold chisels, allen wrenches, punches, pry bars, wrench...where a regular wrench won't fit, shovel, hoe, planter, scraper, gouger, paint remover tool. I've put crescent wrenches on the square shafted screwdrivers to provide more torque. What else? Oh yeah paint stir stick, putty knife, and last but not least, an eating utensil.

 

[G1967T]

One of those little Scottie dog magnets to hotwire a 1957 Triumph TR-3.

 

[whizco]

I used the electric winch on my trailer to help pull a tree out of my back yard! Does that count?

 

[Dean]

At the shop its always been "creative-time". Preventing scratches in customer's paint was always foremost, so one thing we use is a common weed extractor, wrapped in masking tape, for pulling door panels (works better than the regular door panel pullers, and doesn't bend!). There are dozens of other things, but I can't give away too many trade secrets *G*

 

[KeenBean]

A must for any garage is an assortment of 2by4's.

I guess they quailfy as tools, well at least the way I use them.

I have used them with jack stands, Pry bars for installing springs, CV axles. Changing a clutch and needed a little clearence in the tunnel, Wegde one between the engine and apply pressuse...Bamm! All the room I needed. Even used one as a jack on a friends car that was lowered too much for my jack. Slid one under for some lever action. I've used them for anything and everything. At 2 bucks each they are the cheapest tool I have ever bought.

The uses are endless, maybe not the safest somtimes but it gets the job done

 

[TheShagg]

WD40 works as hand cleaner (especially for coroloss)... thats probably my most creative /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

 

[cpegram]

I once saved the world from nuclear destruction using only a paper clip, a matchbook cover, an apple corer and kj jelly.
I could tell you how I did it, but then I would have to kill you.

 

[kalincloyd]

Many years ago, when I was in high school, I owned a 74 Maverick. I installed side pipes on the car and had nothing to use to run from the exhause pipes to the side pipes. No problem, I have some radiator hose here, as hot as the water is that runs through it......................................anyways she sounded pretty dang good after I installed the radiator hose/exhause pipe. Well until I jumped on it and blew holes right through those radiator pipes.................lol

 

[rhyno9]

Remind never to ask to borrow your carmex. /forums/images/icons/tongue.gif

 

[egnorant]

So many....Duct tape around a swivel extension, bent screwdrivers to scrape those hard to reach places
(donut gasket), gotta cracked 7/16 box wrench that slips at the proper torque for an Austin Healey rocker arm, 6 foot prybar made out of a Model T driveshaft, many shaved or bent wrenches, various others that were only one time used and quickly forgotten.
Bruce (TX)

 

[68_wildfire]

Using a 3+ foot tubular steel pole (with lots of duct tape on handle for comfortable grip /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif) to hold a rachet to break loose the bolts on the harmonic balancer while tapping a lead from the hot battery cable to the starter solenoid. And boy can it jerk hard /forums/images/icons/wink.gif

 

[Art]

Being a machinist by trade, early on I aquired an ability to make do with tools on hand, if not on hand, make a tool to do the job.

A couple of weeks ago I was having a hard time re-installing a front cover on an early 289. I didn't want to remove the pan so the front cover needed to be "shoehorned" back into position. After the front cover was in position and the bolts started, I noticed the front seal was not concentric with the crankshaft snout. I could not get the front cover into position and hold it there while I tightened a couple of bolts to hold it.

Looking around the shop, I spotted a harmonic balancer spacer from an old FE motor... It slid over the 289 crank snout, all I had to do is press a sleeve over the spacer, turn the outside diameter down so the sleeve would fit the hole in the front cover with about .003" clearance.
Then it was a matter of prying the front cover down, sliding the new "line up" over the end of the crankshaft, into the front of the front cover, release, and tighten the bolts....

It worked!