Welcome to the Tool of the Week crust removal Independence Day edition. The battery post and terminal cleaner brush is really two tools in one. The lower part of gizmo is full of stiff wires that clean up battery posts in short order with a few twists of the handle. An opposite twist of the handle reveals that inside the housing is a bristling porcupine of added utility! … [Read more...]
Drive-On Ramps
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...]
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...]
Tool of the Week: Magnetic Tray
From the tools that support the use of other tools department comes this week's featured tool of the week - the magnetic tool and parts tray. While there are dozens of different shapes and styles of this useful shop item, the simple yet effective concept is one that works as it should. Magnets attached to the bottom of the tray keep wrenches and errant nuts, bolts, and other … [Read more...]