Tools you made or customized?

[73 MACH 1 MAN]

Anybody make tools to work on your cars where your normal tool dont work or fit into. Or have you made any thing to help you while working on your car

Here are 2 of mine that I made

1. I tried to get to the nuts holding the Upper Control Arms on and with a 429 w/headers on it theirs not much room to get a socket or wrench in there. So I made this. I took a Craftsman 3/4" combination wrench and heated it up with my propane torch and bent it to better fit onto the nut getting the right angle on it to bring the wrench straight up avoiding the headers and the Shock Tower. But the wrench was too short to get a grip on and be able toi get any leverage on. Sooo I cut the open end of the wrench off and ground it down to fit into a piece of chrome pipe I had laying around! What can I say it worked perfectly!! ::chili::







The other one was just to make it a one man or woman job to drain my oil pans into gallon jugs!



So what have you made or customized to work on your mustangs?

 

[OLE PONY]

I like the funnel stand idea! I usually end up spilling oil trying to hold the funnel and pour at the same time.

 

[73 MACH 1 MAN]

I like the funnel stand idea! I usually end up spilling oil trying to hold the funnel and pour at the same time.

Yep thats why I built it! Got tired of spilling oil all over the place!!

 

[Wolverine]

1. I tried to get to the nuts holding the Upper Control Arms on....

I was working on my car with a friend when the 1/2" wrench combination wrench I was using ended up being to fat to remove a nut. He took my wrench over to my grinder and proceeded to grind it to 1/2 of it's width. My first thought was STOPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!! My father told me to take care of my tools so they will take care of me, and here my friend is grinding half my tool away!!!!!

However, the tool worked wonderfully, I still have it, it has never failed me, and I learned if I need to improvise by bending, sawing or grinding a tool, JUST DO IT.

2. The other one was just to make it a one man or woman job to drain my oil pans into gallon jugs!

Wow. I love that.

Side Note: Be careful using the word jugs around here. Doc will go nuts...be careful how you use the word nuts too.

 

[TheJ]

I didn't make this for working on my car. It is used to take an odd sized shower temperature valve out and the valve sticks through the back end of the socket that's why the nut was added. I made it for my dad for his work.

 

[73 MACH 1 MAN]

1. I tried to get to the nuts holding the Upper Control Arms on....

I was working on my car with a friend when the 1/2" wrench combination wrench I was using ended up being to fat to remove a nut. He took my wrench over to my grinder and proceeded to grind it to 1/2 of it's width. My first thought was STOPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!! My father told me to take care of my tools so they will take care of me, and here my friend is grinding half my tool away!!!!!

However, the tool worked wonderfully, I still have it, it has never failed me, and I learned if I need to improvise by bending, sawing or grinding a tool, JUST DO IT.

2. The other one was just to make it a one man or woman job to drain my oil pans into gallon jugs!

Wow. I love that.

Side Note: Be careful using the word jugs around here. Doc will go nuts...be careful how you use the word nuts too.

Your dad was right about taking care of your tools BUT sometime ya gotta do what ya gotta do!!! Plus I probably have about 10 3/4 Combo wrenches!!!

I didn't make this for working on my car. It is used to take an odd sized shower temperature valve out and the valve sticks through the back end of the socket that's why the nut was added. I made it for my dad for his work.

Yeah I have some 3/4" drive sockets that I welded 1/2" drive sockets to work on half shafts on some of my old T-Birds and my Lincoln!

 

[mikepasquale1]

I used an old brake pressure switch as a piston stopper for when the brakes need bled. I cut the top of it off amd drove a sheet metal screw into the top of it to keep the spring loaded pin in a fixed position. Worked great. Beats spending 20 bucks and waiting for it to arrive for the real piston stopper.

 

[midlife]

My favorite tool right now is a small jeweler's screwdriver (flat tip) that I ground half of the shaft down, making a flat surface on one side and a curved surface on another. It's the perfect size and shape to extract various pins out of connectors by indenting the retaining tab. The various parts sold in catalogs for removing pins are worthless and do not work worth a hoot.

I have a late '30's offset wrench: 3/4" and 23/32" made by Blackhawk that I inherited (stole?) from my father's collection. It is the perfect tool for loosening up the upper control arm nuts on the inside shock tower. The offset gives you that much more rotation because the wrench now clears the shock tower hump on each side of the nut. They don't make hand tools like they used to; this one is a real gem!