When it comes time to dismantle suspensions or any other monkey wrenching agenda where the wheels come off the car, a sturdy jack and jack stands are the tools for the job. A set of drive-on ramps can be the answer for less involved chores like changing the oil and filter, greasing the chassis, or replacing a leaky lower radiator hose. Thanks to the miracle of space-age … [Read more...]
Tool of the Week: Pan and Tray Edition
From the environmental protection and creative reuse division of Clunkbucket comes this installment of Tool of the Week. While not at all glamourous, the drip tray and oil change pan are supremely useful - and can in fact help save the planet. Collecting used oil in a container that won't puke all over the trunk makes it easy to recycle used engine oil. Picking up another drain … [Read more...]
Oil and Filter Change
Changing the oil and filter on a regular basis is the single best way to keep an engine running as long and best as possible. A thin film of oil molecules is the only thing that keeps gnashing engine internals from turning into an expensive heap of scrap metal by way of friction and heat. Another function of engine oil is to keep those same engine parts clean. Dropping out the … [Read more...]
Compression Test
The way Clunkbucket learned about how and why to run a compression test on an engine came only after bolting almost every conceivable replacement part onto a 318 V-8 in a 500-dollar '67 Plymouth Barracuda. Only after a compression test was it determined that the engine was closer to a V-5 than a V-8. As Foghorn Leghorn often trumpeted, there's a right way – and there's a wrong … [Read more...]
Tool of the Week: Compression Tester
From the diagnostic tools division of the garagelet comes the compression tester - or compression test kit. While there is a danger in gathering so many tools with blow-molded cases that you have to start labeling them in Sharpie or '70s-vintage DYMO labeler to tell them apart, the compression tester can more than pay for itself with the discovery of one or more dead cylinders. … [Read more...]