Pro Tip thread
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-Always apply anti-seize, copper type if possible, to all bolts that you remove, and put back in. This makes second removal much easier, especially if the bolt is exposed to the elements. Lug nuts are a big one, also the contact patch between the wheel, and the rotor. Remember to torque to wet
-McMaster Carr, and BelMetric are excellent source for bolts, and nuts. McMaster when you need to buy in bulk, and BelMetric for individual bolts like JIS.
-When installing gaskets, apply a thin layer of motor oil to each side, this makes it adhere easier, and not slip off during installation, and it will prevent it from sticking when the part is being removed. Apply to all gaskets with the exception of MLS.
-If you wear latex/nitrile gloves, try wearing thin inspection gloves underneath, they will keep your hands warmer, and most importantly they absorb sweat, so when you have to replace a glove, a new one will slide on much easier. Also keeps your hands clean should the top glove rip
-Buy a nice torque wrench. Even if its a cheap HF one, you should always torque all bolt to spec. CDI is a good name brand, its made by Snap-On, and costs a lot less.
-Tap and Dies sets can be very expensive, and will come with sizes you would never need. Buy only the size you need individually for the most common bolts, NAPA sells good quality taps and dies for just a few bucks each.
-Tips for buying tools from Harbor Freight. Hand tools are all good, avoid buying anything that has electricity moving through it. It is all shit and will break. HF is an excellent source for seldom used tools, even electric ones, like a $15 Heat gun.
-Battery impact is very nice to have if you dont have pneumatics. DeWalt, or Milwaukee are excellent brands to choose from. Ace Hardware has a lot of sales on DeWalt brand tools, a lot of them are 50% off.
-If you need garage tools like a bench grinder, or a heavy duty vac, or a pressure washer, or a propane heater, check out Craigslist.
-Winter tires are a must if your area experiences snow, or very cold temperature. Remember, winter tire compound is not just for snow, but for very cold temps. Either invest in a set of steelies, with winter tires, or check out Craigslist. Lots of folks will sell wheel and tires combo. Just match up your bolt pattern, and as close as you can to your outer tire diameter size. Do not use All Season Tires. They suck at everything, get a pair of summer tires if you plan on having winter tires. Disclaimer, All Seasons maybe better for wet
-Should you warm up your car? The answer will differ from car to car, engine to engine. What you should always do is allow the car to idle for a few seconds, 15 or so, before driving it, and NEVER go hard on it until the temps reach operating temperature. This is true for any car. For older cars, its best to fully warm them up before driving especially in cold temperatures. Or at least allow the engine RPMs to settle down before driving. Remember, when idling a car, the catalytic converter is not doing its job until it gets hot from driving. Letting a car sit and idle is bad for the environment because the cat isn't at operating temps. If you care for that sort of thing
-If you want to maintain the stock look of your interior, but want a nice sound system you can easily bypass the radio with a JL Audio CL-RLC, its a 2 channel remote control, and line driver. All you need is a set of good after market speakers, a 4 channel amp, a sub (optional) and a line driver. This will allow you to wire the amp directly into your speakers bypassing the radio. You can then choose your input method, either an 3.5 aux in, or digital in from your phone/mp3 player. The line driver comes with its own volume knob that you can place anywhere, or modify it to work off your existing radio volume knob. Its very easy to supply power to your radio so the controls still light up. The only downside is that you will loose FM/AM function.
-If you plan do suspension work on your car, buy a lifetime alignment deal from your choice of vendor. Anytime you modify your suspension components, you should always get an alignment done afterwords. Even if you dont, an alignment is recommended every two years, depending on road condition. A lifetime alignment pays for itself after two uses. Firestone does lifetime alignment, they will also rotate Firestone brand tires for free.
-So you are buying a new used car, or a car that's over 15 years old, prepare to do all the necessary tune up work. First thing, always change the oil on it immediately. You can never trust the previous owner on such task. Everything else is simple, but necessary. You want all new fluids in your car, filters, etc. Change plugs, motor oil, trans fluid, diff fluid, fuel filter, spark plugs, plug wires, rotor cap, and rotor, (if dizzy) all vacuum hoses, all belts, coolant flush, air filter, cabin filter, alignment. Check the condition of any other hose, replace if necessary. Consider doing a timing belt/chain if it hasn't been done yet.
-If you are also suffering poor MPGs, the above applies, and dont forget to make sure the car isnt missing any fender liners, or guards. Many of those are designed to manage airflow. Aftermarket bumpers, and skirts can lower your MPGs as well.
-Use RainX brand windshield washer fluid. Its like applying RainX paste to your windshield without the hard work. Works just the same
-Invest in silicon wiper blades, they are fucking amazing!
-Leather wipes work great on cleaning your dash. Gives you a nice shine, without that Armor Ally residue, and slippery surface.
-If you need to do some serious leather care, or restoration look no further than http://www.leatherique.com/
-Speed Bleeders are a huge time saver, they are a brake valve with a check valve that makes brake bleeding truly a one man job. Prevents air from getting sucked back in, do not need to tighten the brake valve while applying brake pressure. Build your own brake fluid capture device: Take an old brake fluid container, pref 1 quart size, drill a small hole, and run clear vacuum hose through it. Make sure its long enough to make a small coil at the bottom. Secure it with a zip tie below, and above the cap. Drill a small vent hole in the cap, and attach a short, 2 inch silicon vacuum line at the other end. The silicon line will allow it to slip on the brake valve much easier. Speed Bleeders also work on clutch slaves.
-When bleeding brakes, put a piece of wood, or something similar below the brake pedal so it does not bottom out. The extra travel will cause the seal inside the master cylinder to potentially come in contact with rough metal causing damage to the seal. If you ever bleed brakes and found that the master cylinder went bad, its because the seal was exposed to contaminants inside, and failed.
-Braided brake lines can be very expensive in kit form, but custom lines are lot less expensive. Sites like anplumbing.com/ they will get everything you need for a lot less. You can also minimize their complexity by switching from a two piece, to a one piece line. Depending on vehicle, and brake line routing.
-Rotors and pads. If you want better braking, start with proper tires, and good suspension. If that checks out, start with good pads. Absolutely no need to upgrade your rotors to slotted, or drilled. Those are for cooling, and preventing brake fade. So unless you do a lot of racing, or live in the mountains. Those rotors will wear your pads faster, and most cant be resurfaced. They also have reduced braking surface. While you're getting your brakes done, take the time to clean up, and lubricate the side pins. Remember to use brake lube only.
-Brake clean is expensive, but a gallon of the stuff is only $30! Only downside is you loose the pressure you get from a can, but a nice quality squirt bottle can make up for that.
-WD40 is for getting things loose, or displacing water. It should never be used as a lubricant, or a metal protector. It actually attracts dirt. PB Blaster is one of the best penetrating oil, and AMSOIL Metal Protect is a long term metal protector. Dont forget about white lithium grease, dry graphite, and other proper lubricants and sprays. Each have their own use. WD40 can be used to give your engine bay a nice show room shine. Just remember that its temporary and will get dirty fast.
-Do you experience wind noise due to a bad door seal? Already tried Shin-Etsu grease, but still hear wind noise. Try brake fluid. Rub a thin layer of the stuff on to the rubber, just thin enough for it to not linger. This will swell the rubber up a bit, and make a better seal.
-Looking for a leaky window seal, or panel in your car? Get a gallon of water, add food dye that stands out against your paint, dump the gallon over the effected area, repeat a few times. Wipe the left overs clean off the paint, and follow the dye behind the panels. No need to stand there with a hose.
nice thread
If you need a power window regulator or a glass on a power window regulator then bring a power tool. Cut the wires right before the connection (from the door side, don't ruin the regulator) and power it through the battery of the power tool.
Wow, screencapping.
>>11529238
Nice thread, more please. Do you have any for absolute noobs?
>>11529598
lurk moar
>>11529598
This is all that I could pull off right now, people can add their own
>>11529598
Rightey tightey lefty loosey
>>11529374
Why not just bookmark it now that threads get archived?
When buying tools for a workshop, you can never have enough hammers. A plastic deadblow, heavy sledgehammer, and a small claw hammer are a must for any garage.
-Every other fuel up, instead of checking your facebook for those notifications you're not getting, check your fluid levels and tire pressure-including the spare
-Track your fuel mileage if you put a full tank at every fuel up by zeroing out your trip odometer at a full tank, then dividing the miles driven till the next time you fill up by the number of gallons you put in. This isn't 100% accurate but will give you a pretty good idea of what you're getting and will help indicate if you're starting to have issues if the mpg starts to drop.
Fill fuel tank to half instead of completely full, muh weight savings and emmpeegees. More noticeable on vehicles with large fuel tanks, obviously
You can rotate your tires yourself if you're too poor to afford axle stands, or don't have them with you. Just use your spare tire to temporarily put the car on the ground while you switch tires
I think everyone knows this one, but let a bit of air out of your tires in the winter to get better traction on snow. Nothing extreme, and you need winter tires to experience the full benefit.
(in cold weather) If you have heated seats in your car, turn them up to max and leave the heat off. The seats warm up faster and are more efficient than the blower in a cold car
these suck, sorry
For mpgs= drive around town in stop and go traffic with windows down and ac off.
For cruising above 45mph windows up and Ac on (drag becomes more of a drain on mpg by then)
Get a $20 bluetooth or USB obd2 adapter and an app like torque for your phone or computer, enjoy diagnostic data
If you do an oil change, change a gasket or generally wrench on your car, put a piece of cardboard or newspaper under your engine that night. Take note of any leaks and there positioning the next morning in case you didn't tighten something properly.
>>11529598
-american cars usually use SAE nuts and bolts (fractions of an inch, 3/8", 7/16")
-european and japanese cars usually use metric (millimeters, 10 mm, 13 mm)
-check technical manuals or google to find out what you're dealing with before hand
-issues don't "fix themselves," the symptoms you notice are gone but the issue is still there
that's what I have that hasn't been mentioned
>>11530905
Except on cv axle nuts. One side is reverse thread. Can't remember which side though.
-When changing your fluids, ALWAYS remove the drain nut first. When doing motor oil, make sure you can remove the filter before you drain the oil. Nothing sucks more than draining your trans fluid, and not be able to remove the fill nut. Or having to pic related to your oil filter.
>>11533797
Did you mean to say remove the fill nut first?
>>11531118
>$20 OBDII adapter
This is a recipe for not having it work in many vehicles. YMMV, but if you don't drive Japanese, skip the $20-$30 adapters. They won't work.
>>11531696
this is so wrong it hurts. american cars have used metric for the past 30 years.
protip: jap and korean cars use JIS bolts. if working on one you will need a 10mm,12mm, 14mm, 17mm and 19mm socket, along with some smaller sizes
american and most european will be 10, 13,15,18 and 21
>>11531873
ive pulled 100s of axle nuts. they arent left hand thread.
>>11529238
>always apply anti seize
please dont do this
>>11534983
Why not?
>>11534523
Ugh, yes. Remove fill nut first
>>11535018
not that anon but it can affect torque readings and also sometimes you need the friction of the bolt to hold itself in place, for example anything that vibrates.
In which case I would use super strength loctite, which would be a cunt to separate later, but its better than rust.
>>11535018
Most fasteners are torqued assuming that the surfaces are dry and clean. Adding a lubricant (whether it's grease, oil, or what have you) can cause you to over-torque the fastener far beyond what was intended.
On the flip side, any amount of rust and/or burrs will also affect the accuracy of your torque wrench - if you torque two bolts to 50 ft/lbs, one rusty and one clean, the rusty bolt will be exerting less clamping force compared to the clean bolt. In these situations you probably do want to use a bit of silicone grease or anti-seize to get closer to the proper clamping force. Even then you have to be careful - I've lubed up old bolts for the strut mount before only to have one of them strip completely even though I'd only gotten it hand-tight with a 3/8 ratchet.
>protips thread
this is first day shit man
>>11535068
>>11535099
>Remember to torque to wet
Many engine bolt's torque numbers are already wet as they come in contact with oil, or require to be lubed up before insertion.
Bolts, and nuts that are flared, or use locking washers will not come loose, or vibrate out if moderate anti sieze is used, and they are torqued down to wet spec.
>>11535330
Locking washers are fucking shit. Ive replaced many a bolt with locking washers and they are terrible and Ive always ended up using something else.
>>11531118
Funny because stop and go is when traffic really cooks you and you need AC while if you're going 45 having the vindows down finally becomes viable and fun
>>11531873
And wheel nuts expensive italian cars
Ferraris tighten towards the rear. I think some Lambos are the opposite
>>11529245
>buy a lifetime alignment deal
I do, but my car is too low to go on their racks.
hitting large bumps seems to fix some electrical problems
>>11535494
Also not to mention that using the ac at high rpms is bad for compressor life
>>11536726
So is mine, I bring ramps.
>>11536755
What is a compressor clutch
>>11535099
i agree, only lube fasteners when specified. some wheel nut are supposed to be lubed on mating surface and lightly on thread, so far only come across a handful like this though.
my tip
>suck a bit of brake fluid from the reservoir (a plastic syringe is perfect) before replacing disc brake pads so it doesn't overflow and ruin your paint.
>>11529238
>pro-tip never go on 4chan to get mechanical advice.
-Try and find vacuum diagrams for your car. A lot of older cars will have aged/cracking vacuum lines or that might be causing any number of issues. You can replace these with silicone lines that can be purchased cheaply. If you don't want to do that, you can also buy rubber replacement lines at your auto parts store
I have some scratches here and there and i can see metal - what do i able to do myself?
>>11529238
>Always apply anti-seize, copper type if possible, to all bolts that you remove, and put back in
Use nickle anti seize on exhaust bolts because of the higher heat capacity
>>11538866
Not much. Need to be sanded and bogged if deep enough, then blended back to the surrounding panels. best bet is to just touch it up with a brush.
Wood is an amazing jacking tool, it's also great for spreading load when you need to jack something delicate like an oil sump (for changing engine mounts or getting access, never support the full weight of a car on the sump).
Stuck nut? Blow torch it. Then hit it with a hammer. Never, ever use an Easy Out. They suck, and if it gets to that stage cut your losses and get out the grinder.
Fouled spark plugs can be cleaned using caustic soda, that's oven cleaner to me and you. Leave them in a cup of oven cleaner tip down overnight then toast them in the oven for fifteen minutes.
>>11538943
wow, never heard of nickle anti seize. thanks!
>>11542456
Yeah it saved my assume a few times on exhaust bolts
The copper only rated to 1800F the nickle to 2400F
Another tip is to use all stainless bolts on a stainless steel exhaust even on a normal exhaust it may cost more but they don't get siezed by rust and makes it easier to remove them in future
>>11545306
The stainless itself is more likely to seize from friction than regular carbon steel. But with antiseize it shouldnt matter
