The Tips and Tricks thread

[takai]

dude, there is alot of unguided information in this thread. not so much bad info just abit of either obvious or not so ideal ideas.

Which is why misguided ideas need to be rectified, if not for the original poster but then for the people who will read them tomorrow, or 3 years down the track.

Regardless, greasing up the mounting bolts for calipers is extremely dangerous as if you are relying on stopping for corners and the like then you REALLY need your brakes, and you certainly dont want your wheel, disc and brake caliper in 500 bits all over the road after you tried to brake from 110km/h on a highway.

[RA23]

If u need a bigger hose clamp you can join 2 smaller ones together in series

same goes for cable ties

Polystyrene foam is also good for making moulds of items for fibreglassing. Especially hollow items where you can glass around the entire thing and then pour thinners or metho into the inside which will melt the polystyrene.

This only works with epoxy resin. Polyester resin will eat polystyrene foam. For polyester use PUR foam (the finer blue or green stuff)

all so because the resin will EAT some gloves..

Buy a $5 box of 100 latex gloves at the supermarket/Bunnings. They are not affected by epoxy or polyester resins. Get the powdered ones as they are much more easier to put on!

About these gloves: if you have a 5 minute job that will create 15 minutes of work to get your hands clean: also use those gloves. Only do this when you are working by yourself, anyone who sees it may think you are a poof.

[Mr DOHC]

or u can go to the servo {usually shell} and go to the LPG pump, they usually have an ass load of plactic gloves there so u dont get the smelly ass lpg fumes on your hands, i usually nick a stack of them too

[Toycrash]

Uh, i wouldnt be lubricating the mounting bolts at all. If anything i would be loctiting the mounting bolts to the strut. Especially after having seen what losing a mount bolt does at 180km/h.

Maybe he ment caliber sliding bolts?

[Youngy]

The best cleaner I have used for sticky items, grease etc etc is DE-SOLV-IT citrus clean. It seems to work better than other citrus cleaners. Is not oily like Eucalyptus oil (sic), does not affect paint like thinnners or acetone etc. And best of all it is not chemically abrasive - plus you can get it at any bunnings.

Here is some info on it - http://www.capitalservicesny.com/DeS...%20Solvent.pdf

[TTMX83]

Maybe he ment caliber sliding bolts?

Yes I meant the slides. Depending on the design of the caliper of course.

[TheStitt]

I've gotta try this this weekend.
If it works, and I'm willing to bet money it will, then rep point for you !

The Sean well get Rep

we do this all the time at work valve grinding past works a treat

[tooch]

Good tip for those people with aftermarket rims, instead of the stock tire wrench or those dodgy cross bars, keep a 1/2" drive flex handle and appropriate size socket in your boot, makes it much easier changing wheels and doesnt scratch the hell out of your wheels! Often the stock ones don't fit in the wheel nut holes on the wheels and you dont find this out until you get a flat somewhere

[BradW]

I posted this in another thread but thought I would also put it up here.

A tip when chasing a short in your wiring. Instead of wasting heaps of fuses get two short bits of wire and strip both ends. Push a piece of wire into each side of the fuse holder. Then join one strand of wire from each piece together and you have a fuse. When the strands "blow" just get another two strands and try again. When you run out of strands, cut the end off the wire, strip it back and start again. Saves blowing hundreds of fuses trying to find your short

[Toycrash]

I would prefer using my multimeter and decent wiring diagram tho... Not wery safe trick on newer cars with ECUs for everything

[4DaDrift]

Edited post.

[Cressida91GLX]

that cross-fusing is really dangerous as it over kills the purpose of fuse. The best way is using a multimeter and try to set it on resistance indicator and see for different resistances and find out the faulty ones.

But in a desperate situation where you don't care, yeah for sure connect the damn thing direct to the battery

[nihilism]

Posted this in another thread the other day so i might as well put it up here.

If you get stuck somewhere with a hole in your sump for whatever reason, grab a bar of soap and jam as much as you can into the hole, blocks up the hole and doesn't get attacked by the oil.

[RobertoX]

^^ I've heard the same about fuel tanks, apparently the soap reacts with the fuel making a seal, temporary measure only, obviously

[Viper]

Posted this in another thread the other day so i might as well put it up here.

If you get stuck somewhere with a hole in your sump for whatever reason, grab a bar of soap and jam as much as you can into the hole, blocks up the hole and doesn't get attacked by the oil.

Wouldnt the heat from the engine/oil melt the soap??

I guess you could always jam another bar in there... but im sure you would run out of oil.. or soap...