Old garage photo by Les Chatfield.
Dan Beaudry’s recent article on a hose reel, built from a Mobil oil can and handed down through generations, got us thinking about tips and tricks we’ve learned in the garage over the years. When it comes to garage wisdom, there’s probably no source richer than the Hemmings Nation, since our readers probably have more collective wrenching experience, on the broadest variety of vehicles, than any other site on the internet.
We’ll tee things up with a few tips we’ve learned over the years, but feel free to chime in with your own (which we’ll heartily embrace to make our lives easier).
- There’s no such thing as “too organized” when disassembling something. Egg cartons, for example, make great temporary storage for nuts, washers and small bolts, and can be readily marked for easy reference. Which leads us to tip #2…
- Always keep a permanent marker in your tool box. In addition to labeling things (like egg cartons, for example), markers can be used to create handy alignment marks, wire identification marks, etc.
- We prefer propane soldering irons to electric ones, which never seem to have a long enough cord to reach were we want them. Propane soldering irons also come with a variety of tips, making them useful for heating shrink wrap tubing after soldering wires.
- Laying on a spare piece of cardboard is warmer than laying on a bare concrete floor or a poly tarp. Keep a large piece of cardboard around to make winter oil changes more comfortable.
- Preserve your shop manuals by copying just the pages needed for a particular task, and using these in the garage instead of the whole manual. Always read through the entire procedure (or, for the more tech-savvy, watch the YouTube video) before starting a job for the first time.
- When doing routine service, lay out the tools you’ll need before you start wrenching. And trust us, you’ll still forget one.
- Keep a garage chart for all your vehicles, listing tire pressure, oil type, capacity and date of last oil change. This beats fumbling through multiple manuals or searching multiple door jambs for the information.
- When saving parts, bag them and tag them for later identification. All of us have come across wayward spark plugs, plug wires or an air cleaner and wondered, “Hmm, what do these belong to?”
- Is the top of your wooden (or particle board) work bench beyond saving? Instead of rebuilding it or adding another sheet of plywood, glue a sheet of Formica (available at most home centers) to it. The end product will be surprisingly durable, chemical resistant and waterproof.
- Film canisters (remember them?) make an excellent place to store drain plug crush washers. Just remember to write what vehicle they belong to on the cap with the permanent marker.
