Homemade and modified tool thread

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Ricko1966

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Okay,I've talked about this before but finally got around to taking a picture. That's a homemade noodles light/test light. That's about 12ft of 2 conductor speaker wire,2 leds twisted in opposite polarity,remember leds are polarity sensitive, they won't light if they get power reversed that's why two twisted in opposite polarities. 2 T pins. You slide the t pins in the backside of the connector you don't even have disconnect anything,string the wire somewhere safe and hold the bulb end down with the wiper blade. Now you can see from the drivers seat if you have a working circuit,you can even test drive for intermittent problems. If I had been thinking I would have used 2 different colors,hooked it both ways and noted which light lit with power in which direction,so I'd know which side was power and what side was ground. Ignore the bread twist tie,it's just holding the bundle. I need 2 new LEDs and radio shack is gone,and the ones I bought from. Ebay are junk. Where do I go? P.S.. it's LED so it's safe for the ECM.
 

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HotWheelsBurban

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Left to right.

Fancy bolt ground down to 3/8" square for turning sockets in really tight places, often with the socket cut short on a lathe. Has seen plenty of use since the initial job it was made for.

Socket turned down to fit exhaust pipe bolts on a 1997 Taurus when I changed the oil pan gasket. Not used on anything since.

1980's Buick V6 Diesel injector nut wrench. Has come in handy without further modification on a lot of impossible to get to with normal tools 5/8" stuff. Somewhere I also have the 1980's Buick V6 Diesel intake runner head bolt access plug 5/8" to 9/16" male to male hex tool. Originally welded a 9/16" nut onto a 9/16" bolt. Twisted off like a wet noodle. So I super glued a 9/16" nut onto the head of a 5/8" bolt then used that as a guide to grind the 5/8" head down to 9/16" then welded a 5/8" nut onto the threaded end. The plugs came out easy, and I've used it a few times on threaded plugs on other things. The car's owner had head gaskets replaced but the numpty that changed them didn't get the heads quite tight enough and one injector nut was a tad loose, causing a little leak and a knock and steam out the exhaust. Those tools were done in the 1980's.

Don't recall what the 7/8" wrench was bent up for, but it does get pressed into use on occasion and IIRC has been 'torch modified' more than once.

The last item, I have no idea for what I needed that size socket with two little nubs on the end, but I'm sure it was important because I gave it a spritz of gold paint.

There have been many others over the years, usually crafted out of various bits and bobs of bolts, nuts, and pieces of metal. Mostly modified again for the next one off need and eventually either scrapped or made a permanent part of something. C10MixMaster's transmission tools are pure luxury compared to what I've used on automatic clutch packs. A curved washer off a Mustang II lower arm strut bushing, a length of 1/2" threaded rod and two nuts, a piece of flat metal with a hole in the middle and both halves of a slightly flattened old crankshaft bearing. Hold the rod in the bench vise, assemble everything onto it with the bearing halves adjusted for access if it's an inside snap ring, turn top nut until things are loose enough to get the rings out.

Similar tale with a GM steering wheel lock plate compressor. Cut hole in middle of thick enough flat steel, heat and bend ends down. Make the ends just the right height to where the nut will screw on a bit over one turn so when it's run down to compress the spring there's enough room to get a couple of picks in at the ring. Probably my most used homemade tool.

If'n you don't know, there's a lot of interchangeable parts between 1980's GM and MoPar steering columns. The four mounting bolt holes on the bottom are the same. If you don't care about having a steering lock you can toss the plate and a GM wheel and horn contact ring fit right onto a MoPar column. Did that in a 1941 Hudson pickup hotrod with a 1985 Cimarron wheel on a mid 80's MoPar RWD (IIRC New Yorker) column and used a Chevette column mount to attach it to the MoPar pedal and brake booster support. No idea *why* I'd kept that Chevette steering column for so long but it finally got to go buh-bye after donating the mount that was on it. The reason for the Cimarron wheel was because it was an inch less diameter and a lot flatter, very important in a 1941 Hudson pickup cab that is just the front half of a sedan when they should have been lopping the back ends off coupes or broughams. (But that's how all the car chassis 1930's and 1940's pickups were done, so Hudson did it too.)

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IIRC Saginaw built the tilt columns for Mopar.....I know the ones I've been in look really similar.
 

Hunter79764

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I need 2 new LEDs and radio shack is gone,and the ones I bought from. Ebay are junk. Where do I go? P.S.. it's LED so it's safe for the ECM.
I get everything from Amazon... Something like this might be easiest. If you wanted a mini project, you can get the bare LED's and a handful of resistors and make a Christmas Tree style light that shows you if you have 4v, 9v, 12v or 14v (I'm just throwing out some levels that might be useful) and which polarity it is.

I've rigged up similar setups but it's always been temporary. I ought to do like you have here and make a permanent tool. Good idea.

 

Ricko1966

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I get everything from Amazon... Something like this might be easiest. If you wanted a mini project, you can get the bare LED's and a handful of resistors and make a Christmas Tree style light that shows you if you have 4v, 9v, 12v or 14v (I'm just throwing out some levels that might be useful) and which polarity it is.

I've rigged up similar setups but it's always been temporary. I ought to do like you have here and make a permanent tool. Good idea.

Thank you.
 

Ricko1966

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I was putting a charger up the other day and didn't know if everybody knew this trick. You could use napkin rings or short pieces of pcv but the toilet paper tubes are fancy enough for me. I like it cause I can just pull the cord and I've got it ,and putting it back up is easy,no looking for tape,no having tangled cords next time you go to use it.
 

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Copymutt

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Grain cracker & brew pot.
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Copymutt

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Forge and first tool it made.
tongs have a habit of poor grasp on hot steel. Mig welded old file faces on working bite.
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Copymutt

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My primary work station.
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Copymutt

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Stir plate for yeast propagation.
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Copymutt

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Super light weight, warm fishing hut/ sled.
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Camar068

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Grain cracker & brew pot.
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More on the grain cracker? Be good, if it's easy enough, to use to grind up corn/peanuts/etc for deer bait.
 

Copymutt

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More on the grain cracker? Be good, if it's easy enough, to use to grind up corn/peanuts/etc for deer bait.
Its a one off. The 80 Rockwell rollers were from a 70’s pressure fusing copier, none around anymore.

Here‘s a few alternatives, some powered, some hand crank.
 

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