TipsTricks&Tools

[octane]

This thread is for posting about your best tips, tricks and tools.

It's not for "how to change main bearings" etc.
but short favourite tricks or a particular tool that you found helpfull
or smart ways of doing some particular procedure.
I've seen quite a few of these around the forum
and thought it would be convinient if we collected them here.

The reason I got this started
is that I have one trick that I thought everybody used
....but NO;
every time someone walks into the workshop
they go: oi, that's smart !

So I guess it is...ha ha

Here goes;

having taken off various parts from the engine (to paint them seperately);
front engine cover/waterpump cover/water plumming etc.
I've made (as I allways do, dismantling mechanical parts)
a piece of cardboard with primitive 'drawings' of the parts.
I punch holes with a screwdriver and insert the bolts, screws etc.
in their coresponding positions.



..makes it a hell of a lot easier to keep track of witch bolts etc. goes where.


Octane

[mmstingray]

I've discovered that the easiest way to remove my muffler is remove the lower shock bolts and tie up the rear wheel. Otherwise the clamps and stuff get all caught up in the centerstand, and it also makes getting at the rear axle a helluva lot easier.

Old news, perhaps, but not to me...

Great info as always, Octane.

[Try]

This thread is for posting about your best tips, tricks and tools.

Great idea Octane, thank you very much for your
creative work, I think we all appreciate it.

[spaniard]

My best advice

Use the right tool for the Job. Or it will co$t you.

Digi pictures before dissasembly and during dissasembly are priceless.

[mmstingray]

Digi pictures before dissasembly and during dissasembly are priceless.

If I had a dime for every time I've said "No need to write it down...I'll remember", I'd be rich enough to have somebody restore my bikes for me.

[QUEEENlE]

ahhh but mmstingray ... i d be richer <grin>

Hugs
Q

[heraldhamster]

Use the right tool for the Job. Or it will co$t you.

Digi pictures before dissasembly and during dissasembly are priceless.

amen to both of those!

...jm.

[semerm]

digital pictures during phases of disassembly can help too.

[Paxton Gomez]

"oi, that's smart!" Yes indeed it is. Thank you both! 8)

[Bandanna]

today,i found two round pieces of metal.the roundness is the equivalent size of a brake caliper piston.


the first piece of metal round,i welded a hex nut dead centre.(welded on the outside of the nut,leaving the thread)

i then drilled a hole,dead centre of the other metal round,and placed a hex nut over the hole,and welded around the outer edge..(so now you have two pieces of round metal,one with a hole right through,the other blanked off...

if you take a long threaded bolt,screw the metal round onto the bolt..

you then screw the blanked off metal round to the end..

PURPOSE????

you then have a tool you can insert into your brake caliper,the blanked off end to the caliper piston,and the other just inside the caliper(like a pair of brake pads without the disc inbetween)..then
when the bolthead is tightened, this will push the caliper piston back without having to hammer the piston face causing damage..

you could also use worn brake pads instead of finding round,but the round makes it a multi-use tool you can use on any caliper...

hope you get the idea,i havent got my camera with me to photograph,but i am sure you will be able to picture in your mind,what i mean..

thanks all.....................

[heraldhamster]

bandanna,
that makes total sense to me. INGENIOUS! now I wish my welder wasn't in Oklahoma... grrrrr.

[mmstingray]

To push the caliper pistons back in, I just use a big C clamp. It's nice, even pressure and only takes a few turns.

[Sidecar Bob]

I have a bic C-clamp that I only use for brakes. It is old and has a nice rusty patina that has been soaked with brake fluid over the years, so I am extra careful not to use it for carpentry.


My tip: To tell which spark plug lead (if any) is dead (bad coil/points/ignitor/&c) without removing the plugs I use a neon bulb (the kind that used to be used in the pilot lights of electrical devices pretty universally before LEDs came along).

I have a small neon that looks something like the one in the pic below, and I cut off the leads and pushed it into a 6" or so piece of plastic tubing.

I hold the bulb near each plug lead (with the engine running) and if there is voltage present the bulb flashes with each pulse.



Note: This will not work with an incandescent bulb. Some neons seem to work better than others, and you may need to be in a relatively dark place to use it.

[octane]

Bob that is quite amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Absolutely brilliant.

How on earth did you come up with that!






BTW I guess it's what we over here call a halogen bulb????

[octane]

On the brake thing;
this is what we use



different but same.
Squeeze it in and move the 'blades' outwards.