The Tips and Tricks thread

[mike1980ra40]

Cleaning radiator over flow bottle: (if your doing a flush)

take bottle out, half fill it with boiling water, add CLR and give the bottle a good shake, let it
sit for a while, give it another shake then use a bottle brush to get the stubborn crud out of the
corners, after that rinse it out. should be spotless after that.

["Z" UTE]

Add a small handfull of nuts bolts and screws to the CLR, helps to scour the scale off.

cheers Chuck.

[Z2TT]

If your power windows arent working very well, take the switch/button out and take the switch apart until you see the contacts. You will notice that some contacts are black, get a piece of sandpaper and sand them down until they are very smooth, so they make better contact. Before I had done this the windows on my Z2 Soarer went up so slow, after I had cleaned out the contats they went up nearly 2x faster.

[af300e]

I heard a rumor that wd40 was fish oil in a solvent carrier........

[70XIN]

isn't just WD40 a funny smelling variation on diesel/kero?

[GT1978]

Most penetrating lubricants are kero based however WD40 states on the can that it's contains no kerosene.

[Cuts]

Prob been said before, as i havnt read the whole thread, but if you using paint stripper, do it inside, cover in some sort of plastic sheet/glad wrap etc and leave for halfa or so, this stops the stripper evaporating (and therefore lowing smell), and means when you pull the plastic off most of the paint comes with it, then the rest is slides off with a paint scraper and bobs your mothers brother.

if you hands are mega dirty, get some clean grease (say a tablespoon), rub that in for a bit and wipe on a rag, this will remove most of the dirty shit and make the following clean easier. Prob best to wear gloves though.

steel wool and autosol/brasso is the best for polishing ally

automotive razors are good for gettin stickers/rego stickers etc off windows, they wont sctratch the glass at all (unless you try)

other simple things like if you are dropping your engine, unbolt as much as you can off it, such as power steering pump/air con compressor and leave cable tied (and still connnected to their systems) in the engine bay. You wont have fluid everywhere and you or need a regas.

also if you are dropping and engine if you can drop the engine/box onto a pallet on pallet trolley, when you put it back in you have more height adjustment options, and you get pretty good movement with the trolley

Something for gtfour (and other stock tmic) owners. If you are taking off your tmic (regardless of model) undo hose clamp on the front of the cooler, but unbolt the tb flange off the tb (insted of the hose clamp), will make your life 100 times easier for removal and installation. Alternativly get a front mount, they are better lol.

quality tools are worth the expence (prehaps not going all out like snap on), using breaker bars saves your ratchets. Umm long and short series sockets are a good investment (especially 1/4 drive i found)

["Z" UTE]

WD40, or other water displacement fluids, are great for penetrating small spaces. They do this because they have a very low viscosity. Wondeful for loosening nuts and bolts but good for SFA else.

The very fact that they are a low viscosity fluid, would in my opinion render them useless as a lubricant. I never use WD40 or other WD fluids to oil anything.

There are plenty oif genuine "oils" and greases, that will do a far superior lubricating job than WD fluids.

Key barrels on the car and around the home, use graphite powder.

Household door hinges, use sewing machine oil.

Door hinges on cars use white lithium grease, yup, it is available in a spray can.

Window runners in cars, lithium grease.

A lot of information pertaining to lubricating various parts of your car, can be found in the vehicle owners manual. Dont have an owners manual for your car? Buy one for any car at the next swap meet or TOYFEST.

cheers Chuck.

[darryl]

If you accidentally spill a sh#$#oad of oil on your' cement flour, cement powder does a pretty good job of absorbing the oil, which can then be easily swept away.
(better than wasting heaps of rags trying to soak it up)


also most of the tips for cleaning oily/dirty hands (washing powder etc.) end up hurting like all hell if you've got any cuts. Just get some solvol.

[GtiRboy]

I haven't read the whole thread..

But when removing rego stickers, get a peice of glad wrap that will cover the sticker easily..

Wet the glad wrap and stick it over the sticker...Now wait half an hour or even an hour, then pull the glad wrap off and then pull the sticker off, it will come off without ripping and so god damn easily!!!

[Duk]

Obvious to some, but not to all.
When removing an engine from RWD car and leaving the g'box behind, it often helps to remove the engine mounts. This allows the engine to be lowered to gain access to the often hard to get top bellhousing bolts and makes it easier come reassemly time to line up input shaft with the clutch .

[o_man_ra23]

You know, I have never had a problem doing that Plonka??

But if your removing a motor from a RWD car, can I suggest just pulling the darn gearbox out?? For the sake of a couple of litres of gear oil (none if you have a spare output yoke), it is just SOOOOO much easier. Plus, you are able to give it a hit with the gerni while your at it.

[tomvale13]

I haven't read the whole thread..

But when removing rego stickers, get a peice of glad wrap that will cover the sticker easily..

Wet the glad wrap and stick it over the sticker...Now wait half an hour or even an hour, then pull the glad wrap off and then pull the sticker off, it will come off without ripping and so god damn easily!!!

Thats a good one, will have to remember it.

All's I know is, if you've got itchy balls;

-pinetarsol.

[o_man_ra23]

Thanks for giving me a new quote for my sig Tom

[tomvale13]

No worries,

wish it could have been something more helpful and not balls related.

Wait the other sig was balls related too.

Oh dear.