CLUNKBUCKET

From the internet meme department of repairs comes this quick and E-Z tech tip for those looking to find the amber lamps. In this case the two stock amber inboard headlamps for a 1969 Citroen iD sedan proved not only near-impossible to locate, but à prix élevé for the purposes of drivable restification. The inexpensive solution comes in a can for under ten bucks. One can of Krylon Stained Glass Color spray paint in yellow can convert standard sets of clear lens fog lights or headlamps into the amber lamps in a few minutes. The task of prying the lamps or fog lights out of whatever mounts they are fused or screwed into will of course vary by vehicle. Consult your service manual or favorite forum for guidance in removal without breakage. Once the lamps are out and ready for paint, make sure the lamp surface is clean and free of grease or crud. The spray-on finish is translucent and designed for use on glass. Apply the paint in thin, even coats. Better two thin coats than one heavy one to avoid light blocking drips and puddling. Additional thin coats will bring a deeper yellow-amber to the lens. Our Citroën driving man in the field provided these photos of his own amber lamp spray paint conversion. He reports unimpaired luminosity and no breakdown in finish after nearly a year of extensive all-weather testing and actual use. With a couple hours and about ten bucks you too can bring the amber lamps.

Thanks to the SoCal Citroen Club and Andy Takakjian for the photos and tech tip.

Miracle liquids and magic pastes are usually sources of great skepticism for us here at Clunkbucket. While there are some things that might work, there are a lot more that don’t. When the folks from Rescue Tape handed us a roll of this promising tape-like stuff at the big SEMA Show last year, we already had a test for it in mind. One of heater bypass hoses in the Starlet had developed a small (and slow) coolant leak after twenty plus years of occasional contact with a chunk of under hood California smog equipment. We suspect the original bit of foam armor that protected the heater bypass hose from contact with the smog elbow disintegrated a few Presidents ago. This Rescue Tape is a self-fusing silicone material that forms a permanent water and air tight seal to resist everything save for an atomic bomb attack. A few wraps around the old hose and all would be well. Did it work? Why yes. It did.

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As much of the world plunges into the sort of deep freeze that may be the work of a clandestine global super villian, the trusty snow and ice scraper seems the perfect mid-winter Ernst Starvo Blofeld edition of Tool of the Week. Growing up in New England meant carrying one or more of these handy tools around for nearly six months out of the year, along with a childhood chock-a-block with scraping and shoveling. The archetypal Clunkbucket was in fact a 1964 Volkswagen Beetle. The heat exchangers had corroded into nothing long before the car fell for 500 bucks into the hands of this freshly licensed driver, who was more or less as old as whatever German ferrous materials the Vermont road salt had not eaten away. The car came already equipped with a scraper. This bonus snow and ice scraper served well to remove frozen crud from the outside of the window in this heatless automobile. The three-inch wide miracle of plastic injection and space age polymer technology was also very handy for scraping ice from the inside of the front windshield. Especially while driving. Heating and defrosting systems have come a long way since the rusted 1964 Bug, virtually eliminating the need for in cabin ice scraping. Snow and ice scrapers have been improved to wider and brush-equipped telescoping handle versions as shown here. Odds are good that any used car glovebox in the Northeast will contain one or more seventies-style Plexiglas models, making the vintage tools not only useful but collectible.

The dry climate and salt free roads of California are kind to older cars like the Starlet. The same warm California sun has detrimental effects on vinyl interiors. Throw in twenty plus years of sitting and sunbathing, and it’s a good bet that even the rich Corinthian leather in those 1981 Cordoba seats has seen better days. Drivers seats take the biggest beating. While the foam inside the Starlet seats is still mostly there, the stylish light and dark brown vinyl piping is clearly toasted. In the time between now and when our vintage Mitsubishi ECU collection is worth enough money to trade for a trip to a real upholstery shop for the madras seat cloth conversion, investing 14 bucks into a pair of seat covers was a thrifty solution to tattered bucket seats. Sliding economy replacement covers over crusty old seats takes just few minutes and is a usually tools free process. Read the rest of this entry »

From the what can’t it fix division of Tool of the Week comes the ongoing miracle of duct tape. This sturdy and versatile tape is indispensable weapon in the Clunkbucket Arsenal of Tools, rivaling even bailing wire in its utility. The water repelling adhesive tape was originally made of cotton duck in green for the military. Duck tape was used to help keep ammo cases waterproof, and was also found effective for holding jeeps together. A post-war heating and ventilation construction boom had tape factories making lots of duck tape to hold metal duct work together. Green became silver. Duck became duct. Duct tape is now available in many colors.

Black duct tape has in fact held together the seven pieces of the original three-piece front air dam of the Starion for many years now. Not the same duct tape. Research has proven that a well placed strip of duct tape lined up with the painted black stripe on the lower part of the air dam is good for about three to six months of stock appearing durability. A roll of black duct tape now rides with the Starion at all times. Be advised. Going up on two wheels to get to the drive-in window before they run out of Shamrock Shakes may markedly decrease the effectiveness of duct tape on low-mounted front air dams.

Replacing windshield wiper blades is one of those things that most of us forget right up until the five foot blizzard hits. Those wiper blades that have been baking unused in the hot sun all summer? Toast. The good news is that replacing wiper blades or wiper refills takes minutes, and can provide improved visibility in even the crummiest weather. Swapping out a set of wiper blades is a task best performed on a balmy day with an iced beverage, instead of a freezing rainstorm at the supermegamart parking lot.

The meat of a windshield wiper is a strip of rubbery material attached to an assembly that holds the strip against the windshield. The job of the windshield wiper is to clear water, bugs, snow, dirt, and lobsters falling from trucks off the windshield to clear up the forward line of vision. Rear wiper blades also come in handy to remove the same from rearward glass. If heavy rains, snow, slush, or downright harsh weather is more the norm than upgrading to heavy-duty winter wiper blades can help get through the slush and ice.

How to Replace Windshield Wipers of Wiper Refills Step-by-Step

Wet weather is not the only thing what wears out wiper blades. Wiper blades take their greatest amount of abuse sitting unused in the baking hot sun. The same UV rays that make the summer days long and lazy can cook the flexibility and usefulness out of wiper blade material. Worn blades that worked OK during summer showers will usually give up when the first winter storm hits. Danger can strike with just one unfortunate moment of impaired vision. The good news swapping out crusty old blades for the new replacements is an easy deal. Some auto parts stores will even swap out wiper blades or refills with purchase for you while-u-wait.

From the how did they get that thing in there division comes the snap-ring pliers edition of Tool of the Week. Snap-rings themselves are also known as circlips, rotor rings, and retaining rings. These flattish rings are usually found holding in a bearing or assembly by way of being stuck into a machined groove. In this case a pair of snap-rings was holding a piston onto a connecting rod by way of a steel pin. Snap rings can also be found holding u-joint bearing cups in place. Look closely before hammering.  A snap-ring pliers set or a fancy multipurpose pair of snap-ring pliers won’t get used too often, but you’ll be glad you have them when you run into a snap-ring. Attempting to remove a snap-ring or circlip with tools other than snap-ring pliers may have possibly lent these flat clips another name. The where did that damn spring steel thing go clip. In this case, a snap-ring assortment is a good plan.

From the Mitsubishi forklift engine department comes this special Engine Stand bonus how-to edition of Tool of the Week. The Engine Stand is a purposeful tool that is designed to hold an engine block for dismantling and assembly. While these stands are great to have around, they do not posses an abundance of utility when not holding up an engine. Most engine stands are often seen in their natural habitat of back yards, or sides of houses half covered by a blue tarp. Up until recently, one of the Clunkbucket engine stands was holding up a spare Toyota 4K-C engine in the garage, and the other languishing in the back yard, holding up a blue tarp. The clarion call of free parts from the internets along with a drive to the wine country has since put the spare engine stand back into useful service holding up yet another Mitsubishi G54B turbo engine block. In the processes of this engine transport excursion we not only figured out that the Starlet can carry a spare engine, but that an engine stand can be used as a fulcrum to extract an engine block from the Starlet. We also put to the test the old maxim that free is always better than good. Read on for a step-by-step guide of something that by law we absolutely cannot recommend you attempt.

Step-by-Step Economy Engine Block Transport

Welcome to the we’ll make it fit bonus trick edition of Tool of the Week. If there were an equal amount of space around every nut and bolt, we would all only need one kind of wrench. The reality is getting the twist to the fastener in just half the battle. What goes together like butter at the factory usually puts up a fight in the garage. Why did they put that bolt up there against the firewall? So folks would buy universal joint drives! Shown are impact and hand cranked varieties of universals, or wobblers, that have collected over time in the Clunkbucket Arsenal of Tools. The least expensive universals are the non-impact u-joint type, which have their own issue of wobbling around every direction except the one they should. Years ago we learned a trick to solve that problem with a short length of electrical tape. Follow a simple step-by-step for improved universal control.

Achieve Universal Control with this E-Z Tape Trick

Changing a set of spark plugs is a task that always sounds like an easy job, because most of the time it is. Swapping out a crusty spark plugs for a freshly gapped set is one of the few routine things left to tune up on modern engines – with modern being a relative term around here. Problems start with certain engines and spark plug designs that can turn changing the spark plugs into everything but easy or money saving. Fear not. Spark plug disaster is the exception rather than the rule. A little research can prevent a lot of headache.

Fuel. Air. Spark.

The obvious task of the spark plug is to light up the fuel and air mixture when the piston reaches the top of its compression stroke. The resulting burn pushes the piston back down in the cylinder. So it goes. The less obvious function of the spark plug is to transfer heat away from the combustion chamber as a heat exchanger. The spark plug wicks combustion heat through itself into the metal of the hole it’s screwed into, and into to the engine coolant surrounding that metal. Spark plugs are rated from cold to hot based on the speed at which they can transfer heat away from the combustion chamber. At the correct heat range combustion byproducts burn away. The spark plug cleans itself!

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