need tool advice

Another oddity here is a timing light. People hardly ever need timing lights these days, but when you need one, you really really need one. And it's something nobody else will give him.

You can never go wrong with socket kits, though. And really, really good screwdrivers.

--scott

Yes! It is one of those things that makes finding cooling system problems a lot easier.

--scott

An excellent idea! Get a good one from Grainger, though, and not one of the cheap Chinese sets. I'm not sure what you can get for $75, though.

What kind of cars does he like? If he likes European cars, get the metric set. If he likes BMWs, get him an M24 socket also. Most mechanic's kit sets don't come with a socket that big and it's a thing he'll need a lot of on some of those cars.

--scott

In looking at the IR thermometers, I see you can spend anywhere between $25 and $500. I have a tiny $25 one that I keep on my boat to shoot the outboard's cylinder heads if I ever think I might be overheating on one side or another, but it's a POS, if you know what I mean. It can give me an idea if they're way out of line but I don't trust it for anything more than that.

Is this something that a typical mechanic would spend $500 on, or are the expensive ones for some sort of ultra-special use? Are the ~ $75 ones good enough for troubleshooting car cooling problems?

Thanks for all the help guys!

PS: my fall back (if I'm told that $75 IR thermos are not good enough) is to box up a collection of handy odds and ends including a couple of different size mirrors, a couple different magnetic and claw grabbers, a mechanic's stethoscope, etc.

ToolOutfitters.net ToolOutfitters.com

Good tools, Good prices, Good seller.

They even have a Tool Forum where all kinds of tools can be discussed:

Thanks for all the good advice and ideas.

My solution for the three criteria I settled on $50-$75 budget (shipped) "Handy" tools that are not likely to be included in a large starter set of professional tools. Nothing that is "cheaped out" - decent/acceptable pro-quality at price point

Mechanic's Stethoscope $15 Large-ish inspection mirror w/ LED $10 Small-ish inspection mirror w/ LED $10 Claw grabber $10 Small magnetic grabber $10 Larger magenetic grabber $10

He'll use all of these things sooner or later and be glad they're in the box when he needs them, probably won't even think of them until he needs them or borrows one for the second or third time 8-)

Those are all hand items to have. I only wish they made a self guided grabber... Just finding those dropped parts can kill some serious time!! ;-)

Personally I think there is a time portal that dropped parts fall into. Then they return to the current time a few hours later....

"Steve W." wrote in news:hgebkg$kmb$ snipped-for-privacy@aioe.org:

I do believe the "lost parts" (and small tools) thing has become worse since automakers started installing plastic splash shields under the engine. I just drop the shield, and lo! Oftentimes the lost item suddenly enters current time.

Look around and get a big strong magnet. That will come in handy for finding nuts and bolts that get dropped on the ground.I have two old raggity ones I bought at a scrap iron yard many years ago.Don't let any kind of magnets get too close to your computers, that will screw them up big time. cuhulin

Dad gave me a Craftsman one maybe 30 years ago and I still use it, even though most of my cars these days have a computer that will take over the timing as soon as I remove the jumper. (I also count some inherited wrenches from the Diamond Calk Horseshoe Co. that are older than I am as being among my favorites.)

Anyway, as others have alluded, (a) Craftsman is usually good enough for most purposes, and will certainly hold him until he develops personal tastes in tools and sources thereof; and (b) the art of shopping at Sears is to keep what you need in the back of your mind, know what it usually sells for, and wait for them to put it on a big sale. There are also certain Craftsman tools that are of interesting and useful outside-the-box design.

You could do worse than the Crescent or Channellock homeowner set from the big-box stores, actually, for a kid just starting on a long road that never really ends. Even if the mainstream of what he buys, on and for the job, turns out to be a certain brand that a franchisee brings around on a truck, everything has its niche. I have some tools that have zero snob value -- a few aren't even objectively very good

-- but which occasionally turn out to be the only thing that fits in some godforsaken snake burrow that constitutes maintenance access in the computer-addled imagination of some soft-handed clean-suited "engineer" (don't get me started!).

Happy holidays,

--Joe

You mean you have some of those ground down, bent with the hot wrench and cut off wrenches too???

How about that set of cheap sockets that you grab when you find a half rotted off nut/bolt head that NOTHING fits. You know, the ones you drive on with a BFH then throw the entire thing away....

I have an open end wrench I ground down a bunch of years ago, so I could make it fit into a tight spot.Another one, a box end wrench, I cut in half, I don't remember why.Needle nose pliers I heated up and bent the jaws into a right angle.I have quite a few times before had to beat a wrench with whatever was handy to make it fit on a bolt or net.

Some Craftsman wrenches are manufactured at a factory in Arkansas,,, I Say that is Good enough for anybody. cuhulin

"Steve W." wrote in news:hgf1ue$h80$ snipped-for-privacy@aioe.org:

Done exactly that myself. That was the only way, for instance, of adjusting the master cylinder pushrod on my Honda without pulling the entire booster.

Plus I had to make my own suspension-spring compressor tool when I could not find a usable one on the market. (Remember that some generations of older Hondas did NOT have Macpherson strut suspensions!)

Living in the Rust Belt, I've faced this problem more times than I can count, and have used the same solution! I've also had to use a Dremel to make a new hex on rusted bolts because they were /so/ rounded-off that nothing would even stay on them, let alone fit.

To be fair, this problem has been around for a long time... really since the introduction of OHV V-8s. Remember pulling the rocker shaft assemblies and having one pushrod stick to its rocker arm, and then before you can grab it it falls off and disappears down into the lifter valley, meaning that unless you can fish it out with a grabber you have to pull the intake manifold and valley pan? I do :( Turns a quick valve seal replacement into a run to the parts store and a couple hours' extra work (of course most of that is because if you remove the intake and valley pan, you *have* to clean and paint them before reinstalling...)

nate

I don't know the answers to your questions, so I'm watching this thread with interest :)

I think the one I lost was an "Actron" brand one that I didn't pay that much for, but I don't know how accurate it was. It seemed reasonably accurate around cooling system type temperatures, but if one was trying to measure, say, the temperature of one's headers I don't know how good it was.

nate

Jeep CJ3B Page has some good tips on how to remove rusted nuts and bolts, how to make some tools too.

Flat Fenders Forever! cuhulin

Same here. I have a couple sets of the Erwin bolt-out extractors. They work very well for the chewed up bolts/nuts.

Roger that. I forgot about those; I bought a set of the Crapsman- branded version of that tool, and they absolutely saved the day for me. Was trying to remove a supercharger bracket from a VW G60 engine, and it was held onto the block by socket head cap screws, with rounded off sockets. (Thank you previous hamfist, I mean mechanic.) Of course they were recessed into holes in the brackets, so no chance to try vice-grips on them. If those hadn't worked, I would have had to pull the radiator for clearance to drill the heads off, not something that I was looking forward to doing. (and worst case, I might have had to destroy the bracket, and finding parts for a G60 isn't easy these days.) Not a tool you use every day, but when you need it, it's a lifesaver.

nate

"Steve W." wrote in news:hggn5i$oav$ snipped-for-privacy@aioe.org:

Another on my list of tools to buy eventually...