A Serious Hobbyist look at Tools for the Automotive Workshop - Part 2

Last update: 12/17/04

©By: John T. Blair (WA4OHZ)
1133 Chatmoss Dr., Va. Beach, Va. 23464; (757) 495-8229

Now lets move on to some more specialized tools that will come in very handy but can usually be purchased as needed. First in my book is an analogue multimeter. The digital ones are OK but I prefer the old fashioned ones with the real meter movement. Probably the best source for one of these is Radio Shack. A good meter can be purchased for about $30 on sale. This will allow you to measure voltage (AC or DC), current, and resistance. This tool is a must for trouble shooting any electrical problem. I know most mechanics just use the little screwdriver looking thing with a light bulb in it, but that just doesn't cut it for me (although it is better than nothing).

A vacuum gauge is used to measure the vacuum in the car's engine and they are great diagnostic tools. Instead of purchasing just a vacuum gauge, I would suggest getting a MityVAC. This has a trigger grip to allow you to create a vacuum for testing all kinds of diaphragms, etc as well as read vacuum. They cost about $45 and many come with a great book on how to use on in troubleshooting engine problems.

A compression gauge is used to check how much pressure can be created in a cylinder. This is about the only way of locating a blown head gasket, bad valves and rings. I prefer the ones that have a long flex hose and actually screw into the spark plug holes instead of the ones you have to push on and hold.

For tuning up a car you will need a timing light and a dwell/tach meter. I prefer the DC powered timing light (about $50). This type of timing light clips onto the cars battery to power its spark sensor and trigger its high intensity light which can be seen even on a sunny day. The dwell meter is used to set the points and the tachometer is used to set the engines idle speed.

Inevitably, you will need a couple of gear pullers (2 and or 3 jaw) for removing pulleys from things like power steering pumps. There is a special puller for removing steering wheels which happen to be very inexpensive. For pulling rear hub, axles and bearings you will need a special set of pullers. A hub puller is quite large and it bolts to the hub. The axle puller is smaller and has a slide handle. The puller can be reversed for pulling bearings and races. (Harbor Freight has a set for about $33.)

Now that's what I call a pretty nice tool box. Unfortunately, we have an expensive hobby and now we start filling our garage, not just the tool box, with tools. These tools will also be a little more expensive.

One of the most important jobs in restoring a car, is fighting rust. When I restore a car, every metal part is removed, cleaned and painted. If you plan on painting many parts or the entire car, it really helps to have an air compressor. I would not recommend anything smaller than a 4hp compressor with a 20 gallon accumulator. I grew up with one like this, my dad has had his Craftsman compressor for over 20 years. When I went to purchase mine, I couldn't find one like his, so I got the next on up, a Craftsman 5 hp with a 30 gallon tank (it cost about $500). The rule of thumb is the "bigger the better", but your pocket book and available space will control your spending. Compressors of less than 4hp use 115V while the 4hp and larger use 220V. If you opt for a larger one, you might have to run a new power line from your service panel. To help dry the air (remove moisture), you will need a dryer attached to the output of the compressor. My compressor sits by the front of the garage and I have 50' of air hose connected directly to the dryer. Originally the dryer was connected directly to the compressor and consequently could not pull any moisture out of the air. To condense the moisture out, there must be some distance between the output of the compressor and the dryer, 2 inches just didn't hack it. I got some copper tubing and wrapped it around a 2 liter Coke bottle. I connected 3 foot length of air hose to each end of the coil with one end going to the output of the compressor and the other end going to the dryer. This alone pulls a lot of water out of the air. In addition, I can submerge the coil in a bucket of water to help cool the air even more.

Next, you will need some paint guns. Since the primer is relatively thick, a pressure feed gun is usually used. This type gun lets the compressed air into the paint tank to pressurize it, thereby forcing the paint out. You can skimp on the cost of this gun as the primer will get sanded and smoothed. My gun for priming is an inexpensive Sears pressure/siphon gun (found at a yard sale for $5). For painting the top (color) coats a siphon feed gun is used. These guns let the air blow past the pickup tube, creating a vacuum and sucking or siphoning up the paint. These guns are more expensive; mine is a SEARS and cost about $70. A professional gun like a Binks can start at about $150.

Now that you have a compressor, you have an excuse to get some of those nice air tools you've been looking at, like a 1/2" drive impact wrench (about $40). This really makes changing tires easy and reduces the busted knuckles when trying to undo a really rusted bolt. (Note, I purchased a 2nd 1/2" impact wrench. It's a Champbell Hausfeld Professional PL1502 for about $65 from Northern Hydraulics. It has about twice the oomph of my $30 wrench. I love it, buy use it sparingly - when the cheap impact wrench won't cut the mustard). My most used air tool is a 3/8 drive ratchet (about $30), and I don't know how I ever lived without it. No more hand cranking on the ratchet, just press the trigger and it does all the work! A 1/4" die grinder ($25) with an arbor and a cutting wheel is an easy way of cutting off bolts and such. I also have a 3" sanding pad for it and some stick on 80 grit sandpaper. For doing body work a dual action "DA" sander (about $40) and an inline sanders (about $60) are real time savers.

Speaking of body work, Harbor Freight has a nice set of body hammers and dollies for under $20.

For cleaning paint and rust off of metal parts I use a 4" high speed (10,000 rpm) grinder (from $40 to $100). The grinding stone can be removed and replaced with a knotted wire brush. Unfortunately, these brushes are pretty expensive (about $15 each) they are the only ones rated to handle the 10,000 + rpm's of the grinder. For relatively large areas, this high speed wire wheel does a better job than paint stripper. I purchased an inexpensive one for $40 from Harbor Freight. My dad borrowed and loved it, so he bought a Makita for $55. However, we both like the one from Harbor Freight better. The 2 drawbacks to the Makita are, 1 - the arbor size is metric M10x1.25. Most discount houses sell the standard 5/8" x 11 brushes but very few handle the M10x1.25. Consequently, getting the wire wheels is harder and more expensive. The second problem is the Makita's safety guard is screwed to the case and cannot be moved. Many times we wanted to move the guard around to allow better access when cleaning a part. When using these grinders, you should wear some sort of eye protection. I've purchased a face shield for about $12 from Northern Hydraulics. Since I wear glasses, goggles tend to fog up. You should also use some kind of hearing protector. I bought a pair of "Mickey mouse" ears from Northern Hydraulics for about $8. Finally, you should wear a pair of leather gloves. I've had the wire wheel get away from me and nick my hands. It took forever to heal, and left some nice scars.

In addition to the high speed grinder, the 3/8" (VSR) electric drill can be use to clean parts by chucking up a wire wheel. The wire wheels are about $5 and an arbor to hold the wheel is about $2.

For small parts or places that the grinder can not get to, a sandblaster is great! I started with a siphon blaster with a 50 pound sand tank (from $50 to $100). The sandblaster requires that you have a compressor. For working large pieces, I'd tie a rope across the corner of my yard fence and clip (with clothes pins) a large plastic tarp to the line and down on the ground as a floor mat. When I blasted the parts, I position the part so the sand would ricochet off the parts and hit the plastic back drop. When the sand hopper was empty, I'd scoop up the sand and refill the hopper. When blasting parts in the open like this, you should wear some kind of mask to keep from breathing the sand. The cheap paper kind will do. But if you have purchased one of the better ones for painting, use it. You will need to wear something to protect you eyes also. A pen pal in California told me that he uses a cheap swimmers face mask. For those of us that wear glasses this doesn't work well so try an inexpensive face shield. For small parts, a sandblast cabinet is great although expensive. I've found 3 that are quite reasonable. The first one is quite large, 30"x24"x24", and made of very heavy cardboard made by Savings by Design, Inc. and sells for $70. I purchased this one because it was the first reasonably priced cabinet I found. I already had a sandblast gun and tank so all I needed was the cabinet and gloves. The nicest part about this cabinet is that when you are through, you can fold it back up and put it back in its shipping carton for storage. The biggest drawback to it, is that the sand is not automatically recycled. It must be done manually! Most sandblast cabinets have a collector at the bottom to hold the initial load of sand. As a part is blasted, the sand falls back into this collector to be reused. Not so with this one, when the sand hopper is empty, you remove the top and sides of the cabinet and scoop the sand up and refill the hopper. The second cabinet is plastic, 22-3/4" wide, 18-1/2" deep, 14" high, comes with a blast gun, and automatically recycles the sand for about $130 from Harbor Freight Tools. The third cabinet is a Model 730 bench top just released by TIP Sandblast Equipment & Tools for $199. In addition, TIP has the plans, to build one, for $6 or a kit for about $100. I'm not sure what I'll do when the cardboard on gives up the ghost, either build the one from the plans from TIP or purchase the plastic one from Harbor Freight.

I ended up purchasing the plastic cabinet from Harbor Freight and love it. My only complaint with this one is the pick up tube. It is a short piece of pipe that sits in the tank. As you use the tank the tube floats to the top of the sand and you have to push it back down. I've thought about modifying this system by drilling a hole in the bottom of the tank and placing the tube through there. Then make another hole above the grate that holds the parts and run the hose from the gun out the upper hole, out side the cabinet and down to the pickup tube. Just haven't had time to play with this idea yet. Another idea I just had, was to make some small aluminum straps to hold the tube in the hopper. The straps could be pop riveted to the box. I think I'll have to try this idea first!

Before leaving the topic of sandblasters, I should mention that there is a pressure feed sandblaster. These consist of a sand hopper that gets pressurized. As with the paint guns, this pressure helps push the sand out and does a better, faster job than the siphon types. A friend just told (6/14/96) me that he bought one from Big Lots for about $80. A steal. Tip also sells them but they are substantially more expensive.

If you plan on doing any major work like pulling an engine or pulling a body off a chassis, an engine crane is a must. I purchased mine, a 2 ton hoist, for about $250. While these can be rented, I figured I had to pull and replace the engine and the body of my Morgan, and pull and replace the engine and body of my '75 Bricklin. At about $35 per day rent, I could just about purchase one for the rental fee, so I did and been saving money ever since.

A hydraulic press is a useful item although expensive. However, it's nice to be able to press bearings on and off when you need to. Harbor Freight as several nice presses for about $120.

Another item is a welder. There are 3 basic types of welders: oxy-acetylene, arc, and MIG or wire feed. While the MIG welder is the most expensive of the 3, I would suggest a MIG welder for an initial investment. MIG stands for welding for dummies! Not really it stands for Metal Inert Gas. But is the easiest to learn to use. Most welding on a car is replacing thin sheet metal panels. This is what the MIG does best. In addition, the MIG welder doesn't generate the heat the other 2 welders do. The wire feed feature makes welding easier for the hobbyist use. I'm purchased a Lincoln SP100 MIG welder for about $600. To add the gas regulator, bottle, hood and gloves cost about $200 more. Most discount houses sell a wire feed/MIG welder made by Century for about $300. I don't know anyone that has one, and most of the welding suppliers here don't stock parts for them. The MIG and the wire-feed welders are the same unit. The difference is for MIG you add the gas regulator and bottle of gas. There is a different sleeve that goes inside the cable that feeds the wire also to handle the difference in the diameter of the welding wire. The MIG wire is about .023" while the gas less wire is has flux in it core and is about .035".

I must admit that my dad already has the oxy-acetylene (with the 5 foot tall tanks) and an arc welder. However, I find that many times I need a lot of heat or to cut up something, like a car that my friends and I are stripping. To move my dad's tanks from his place to mine is a real chore, and to move some of the things I'm working on to his place is even harder. Consequently, I looking for (and would suggest) a oxy-acetylene torch and cutting head with the smaller 40 to 60 cubic feet bottles. This setup has the advantage of portability. The only drawback is that the bottles of gas don't last as long. It's a real pain to run out of gas on a Friday night and not be able to use the equipment until Monday night after the welding suppliers open Monday.

In closing, the tools just mentioned represent quite a sizable investment and will start to set up a very nice work shop. Remember, you don't have to go out and purchase all the tools at once. Keep a list of desired tools prominently displayed or just hand it the your wife, girl friend and kids (or all three). There is always a tool for every gift giving occasion.

If you aren't already familiar with the companies I've mentioned, here are the names of several mail order tool houses. If you don't have their catalogues, simply give them a call and they'll send you one. They make great reading. You can spend hours just drooling over all the tools you don't have and dream of how much easier life would be if you only had that tool.

Enjoy your Bricklin

John Blair

Harbor Freight Tools, 3491 Mission Oaks Blvd, P.O. Box 6010, Camarillo, Ca. 93011- 6010 (800) 423-2567 - They have a wide range of items from shop rags to milling machines.

Kitts Industrial Tools, 22384 Grand River Ave. Detroit, Mi. 48219, (800) 521-6579 - They have a wide range of items.

Savings by Design, Inc. 13810 Champion Forest Drive, Suite 235-K, Houston, Texas 77069, (713) 893-7578 - They handle the cardboard sandblast cabinets and siphon blast guns.

Sears Tool catalogue, Can be picked up at most Sears stores.

TIP Sandblast Equipment & Tools, Dept H, 7075 Rt. 446, P.O. Box 649, Canfield, Oh, (800) 321-9260 - They specialize in sandblasting equipment, siphon feed blast guns and sand reservoirs, pressure blasters, ready made cabinets, cabinets kits and plans.

Return to the Index of Tech. articles