What are some of the tools and chemicals in your garage helpful for a restoration?

[Jean C.]

Re: What are some of the tools and chemicals in your garage helpful for a restoration

I find that a cordless LED trouble light is a great addition to the garage as they produce a lot of bright light. Can't have too many fire extinguishers that are easily accessible. A good volt/ohm meter comes in handy.
Best regards,

[Howard W.]

Re: What are some of the tools and chemicals in your garage helpful for a restoration

Get a good digital camera to take pictures before you disassemble anything. You might want to remember how to put it back!!

[Phil D.]

Re: What are some of the tools and chemicals in your garage helpful for a restoration

I use lots of disposable gloves. Not the latex surgical gloves but the blue nitrile gloves. Buy boxes of them at Harbor Freight when they're on sale. See HF is good for something!

[Henry S.]

Re: What are some of the tools and chemicals in your garage helpful for a restoration

And if you are unsure what the tools are used for, read below The devil made me post this

DRILL PRESS: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly tearing a flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, denting the freshly-painted vertical stabilizer which you had carefully set in the corner where nothing could get to it.

WIRE WHEEL: Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprints and hard-earned calluses from fingers in about the time it takes you to say, "Oh ****..."

SKILL SAW: A portable cutting tool used to make studs too short.

PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used in the creation of blood-blisters.

BELT SANDER: An electric sanding tool commonly used to convert minor touch-up jobs into major refinishing jobs.

HACKSAW: One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle. It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.

VISE-GRIPS: Generally used after pliers to completely round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.

WELDING GLOVES: Heavy duty leather gloves used to prolong the conduction of intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.

OXYACETYLENE TORCH: Used almost entirely for lighting various flammable objects in your shop on fire. Also handy for igniting the grease inside the wheel hub out of which you want to remove a bearing race.

TABLE SAW: A large stationary power tool commonly used to launch wood projectiles for testing wall integrity.

E-Z OUT BOLT AND STUD EXTRACTOR: A tool ten times harder than any known drill bit that snaps neatly off in bolt holes thereby ending any possible future use.

BAND SAW: A large stationary power saw primarily used by most shops to cut good aluminium sheet into smaller pieces that more easily fit into the trash can after you cut on the inside of the line instead of the outside edge.

TWO-TON ENGINE HOIST: A tool for testing the maximum tensile strength of everything you forgot to disconnect.

CRAFTSMAN 1/2 x 24-INCH SCREWDRIVER: A very large pry bar that inexplicably has an accurately machined screwdriver tip on the end opposite the handle.

PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER: Normally used to stab the vacuum seals under lids or for opening old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splashing oil on your shirt; but can also be used, as the name implies, to strip out Phillips screw heads.

STRAIGHT SCREWDRIVER: A tool for opening paint cans. Sometimes used to convert common slotted screws into non-removable screws.

PRY BAR: A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip on bracket you needed to remove in order to replace a 50 cent part.

HOSE CUTTER: A tool used to make hoses too short.

HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the object we are trying to hit.

DAMN Dick, Sounds like you got your "tool safety certificate" from the same mail order place I got mine.
You forgot that "other use" for the straight screwdriver.
The one for making your spanking brand new leather seat a "one of a kind" with a perfect 6" slice in the back cushion about the same place your billfold would hit.

[Dick W.]

Re: What are some of the tools and chemicals in your garage helpful for a restoration

Shooter, the list does not tell you how a bench grinder with the guard improperly adjusted will remove about 1/4" off the side of your finger. And you have to shut it off and wait for the wheel to quit turning before you can remove your finger. Do not ask me how I know this. Or how to use a creeper like a skateboard across your shop floor. The fall will not hurt you, but the sudden stop is h*&*

[Wayne P.]

Re: What are some of the tools and chemicals in your garage helpful for a restoration

My best tool is my four post lift . Makes the rest of the tools easy to use under the car.

[Sandra H.]

Re: What are some of the tools and chemicals in your garage helpful for a restoration

Dick, You must learn how to modify your grinder.
My side wheel sander/grinders.....first thing was to remove the stupid safety shields. If I grind off my finger, I at least want to watch it.
And mine has a safety stop that can be punched (home built) if you can keep your wits about you. So the finger mod only went to the bone, not halfway to the other side.
Remember, safety first. HA.
Best, Sandy

[Sandra H.]

Re: What are some of the tools and chemicals in your garage helpful for a restoration

Oh, and Dick......this comes under the heading of the studidest injury ever. Sitting on the fender of one of my trucks, feet braced on the motor, with a very large wrench.
Don't even remember what I thought I was doing but, gave the wrench a really hard yank towards me to loosen up something or other, wrench slipped.....hit me between the eyes.
After the stars cleared up, I got out of the motor compartment, drove myself to the hospital.....got a really lot of attention when I walked in the hospital door. Seems I had a huge forehead, two black eyes and blood to my shoe tops. I didn't feel much of anything.
Concussion, of course.
Went home, and Dad came over to see what was up (news travels fast in a small town).....Asked what happened, so I told him I had tried to committ suicide with a wrench.
He just looked at me, then said "You never were too smart".
At least he took enough pity on me to mix me a really large JD.
Best, Sandy

[Dave F.]

Re: What are some of the tools and chemicals in your garage helpful for a restoration

While some prefer beer, my most effective chemical after a long day in the shop is bourbon.

[Henry S.]

Re: What are some of the tools and chemicals in your garage helpful for a restoration

My best tool is my four post lift . Makes the rest of the tools easy to use under the car.

Wayne,
I have to agree. Once you have a lift you will find SOOOOOO many reasons to us it. Heck, sometimes I will even raise the lift just so I won't have walk around the car (TALK ABOUT LAZY). When you have all the guys hanging around the shop there is no better way to shoot the bull than to either raise the lift just high enough for everyone to sit on or use it as a table for your beer and munchies.

Shooter

P.S. Jim, haven't seen battery charger listed here yet but for many of us that forget to hook up the battery tender when we store the car the battery charger is a must.

[Mike G.]

Re: What are some of the tools and chemicals in your garage helpful for a restoration

Sandy: your "suicide by wrench" story reminded me of my old co-worker Clark Bostick who broke his jaw with a wrench removing the exhaust system on his '65 Chevy pickup.

But, back to your question. I've done 3 complete restos and I can't even imagine doing it without a good air compressor (~$1K), a blast cabinet (you don't need a huge one and get a top loader), and a solvent tank.

The bench grinder w/ wire wheel is obviously mandatory, and I've learned to NEVER use it without wearing leather gloves. I keep a pair sitting right next to it.

[Henry S.]

Re: What are some of the tools and chemicals in your garage helpful for a restoration

Shooter, the list does not tell you how a bench grinder with the guard improperly adjusted will remove about 1/4" off the side of your finger. And you have to shut it off and wait for the wheel to quit turning before you can remove your finger. Do not ask me how I know this. Or how to use a creeper like a skateboard across your shop floor. The fall will not hurt you, but the sudden stop is h*&*

Dick, Guard, what guard?? I, like Sandy pitch those during "assembly". I figure those companies just put those in for the "amateurs" that haven't been raised around the shop. We can be spotted in a crowd as the ones with missing, shortened or re-configured digits (ie: fingers and toes).

P.S. This is another reason to keep that screwdriver in the back pocket. "Killing" 2 birds with one stone, I use the "multi-use" screwdriver to stop that grinding wheel. If you time it just right and lucky enough to pull it out of your pocket at the right angle you can even sharpen that dull edge on the screwdriver so it will make a cleaner cut in that new leather seat.

Shooter

[Dick W.]

Re: What are some of the tools and chemicals in your garage helpful for a restoration

While some prefer beer, my most effective chemical after a long day in the shop is bourbon.

Talisker 20 y/o is the most effective chemical that I have found to relieve the flustrations, the pain of ground up or smashed fingers, bruised toes from droping "small" parts, burns from hot parts or errant slag from torch work, etc

[Sandra H.]

Re: What are some of the tools and chemicals in your garage helpful for a restoration

OK Mike, my compressor may work, but for what do I need a blast cabinet?
And can a solvent tank be open? How big? Large enough for a cat to get into? (I already see another accident in the making.)
Probably can scrounge around at the local welding shop or have the guys at the dump keep an eye open for suitable tank material. I'm afraid of the muriatic acid, so will have to think about that one. Or are you talking about something along the lines of a degreaser?
The leather gloves are draped around my little shop too....along with safety goggles and breathing filters.
Best, Sandy

[James S.]

Re: What are some of the tools and chemicals in your garage helpful for a restoration

I am interested in hearing what are the "must haves" for the garage.

Eastwood kits (zinc and plate)
pry bars
krylon 1613
krylon tough coat
clear paint
Alluminum polish compound
polish wheel
rouge
3 ton floor jack
compressor and tools
drill press
WD40
Heat gun
dremmel tool
wire wheel
vice grips and vice
and so forth
easy outs
tap and die set

What about special chemicals or sprays?

Jim,

SIMPLE GREEN (concentrated) buy it by the gallon at Home Depot. This degreaser is absolutely the best desolving solvent I have ever used and it's biodegradeable. I removed the kerosene in my cleaning solvent tank and replaced it with Simple green, and it works like a champ. It has some water, so it will evaporate in the tank, so I keep a plastic bag over it when not in use to keep the liquid from evaporatuing. I can place a part in there overnight, and most of the crud has desolved. And it cleans up with plain old water, and there are no harmful fumes. I can then place the part in the media blasting cabinet for further preperation for paint, etc.

If you invest in a media blasting cabinet, don't buy a cheap one. And don't buy a cheap air compressor. Buy a compressor that can put out a constant 80PSI under all demands. Ingersol Rand makes very reliable units. If you go cheap, you'll have headaches all day long and it will take you a ton of time to media blast parts. Some people may have a different opinion regarding the 80 PSI constant air flow that I recommend, but I have learned by experience. You'll also need to set up a water trap on your compressor for the summer months, (winter air is drier, so not so much of a problem with moisture) that is unless you invest in a compressor that has a built in drier (the drier is actually an A/C unit that removes 99.9% of the moisture); very expensive, but if you plan on restoring several cars, a worth while investment. If you buy a compressor without a drier, ensure you have a filter between the water trap and the media blasting gun to remove more of the water vapor. Even the best water traps cannot remove all the moisture and this will clog the gun, and you will become very aggrivated. This is why you need a high out put of PSI in your compressor as more mass of air is required to flow through the additional moisture filter and more PSI will pick up more media for blasting your parts. I then moved up and bought an Ingersol Rand comprssor with a drier; it pumps out a constant 110 PSI and can make mince meat out of an rust and does the job lickity split!

Buy a blasting cabinet that has a vacuum port to suck out all the dust caused from the media hitting the component you are blasting to remove rust, etc. I attached a shop vacuum to the vacuum port and placed it out side my shop so all the dust was routed outside. Don't put a dirty part with grease and grime in your cabinet or it will contaminate the media you are using. I use 80 grit aluminum oxide for mild steel parts, etc., and 80 grit glass bead for aluminum parts. High quality glass bead media for aluminum is excellent for bringing back the original factory finish. With glass bead, deflecting the gun at an angle will produce a higher sheen. I also buy the more expensive glass bead because it lasts longer and produces a high quality concourse finish. Most people that see my parts think I paint them. I also use glass bead at a very low pressure to remover paint from plastic parts and the results are superb. Aluminum oxide media is excellent for removing heavy rust and after blasting, the surface is now prepped for the paint.

You'll need a Metal Prep solution (I use PPG DX 579) to clean and etch the metal, then rinse with water. The "dry air" from your compressor will be perfect for blowing off the water from your part and then paint immediately. If you don't want to paint the part immediately, I use another product by PPG DX 520 that sprays on a liguid phosphate film on the bare metal that ionizes the metal and keeps it from rusting (it is a protective film on the bare metal). You then rinse and blow off with "dry air." I have left parts out for months with the DX 530 phosphate coating, and the parts never rusted. If you use compressor air that has any moisture, it will contaminate the parts you just spent time on cleaning.

Oh, don't forget the refrigerator to store the beer!!!

Jim
Meticulous Restorations