Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Workshop Tips

Has anyone a tip to give that makes life easier in the workshop ....nothing fancy like buying a CNC milling machine .... just stuff you've found that makes life a bit easier.

Here's a couple I've been using all weekend to kick it off.

Buy a second cheap angle grinder .... that way you don't have to be constantly changing between cutting disc/flapwheel etc during a fabrication job .... saves time and helps not to wear out the shaft lock as these are often a bit marginal and wear with constant disc changing.

Buy a pack of cheap Tippex type correction pens .... the ones with the 'hypodermic' metal nozzle .... great for marking out just about any surface (wood, metal, plastic etc) and being glaring white always easy to see.(even in bad light or absent glasses)

Something or nothing things but make life a bit easier.

Always on the lookout for ideas ..... What do you have??


K

The most useful tool I have is a pair of simple aluminium measuring calipers made for my Grandfather in the local L.N.E.R locomotive shed.

He had a British motorbike, and apparently nobody ever went pillion twice.

The calipers are engraved "Fearless Fred"

I use them regularly for measuring.

A digital calipers makes life so much easier for me after using a vernier for decades. They are so cheap now compared to when Mitutoyo introduced them in the 80’s.

I have a Birmingham spanner, a big hammer, my most used tool! Seriously with old age approaching fast I have a couple of those thick foam pads sold at autojumbles to help the old knees and a couple of 72 LED inspection lights with magnet and hook available cheaply from Home Bargains so that I can grease my nipples. Plus magnetic and claw type pick up tools are frequently used too!

More for bikes, but can be used for cars. I have a hospital drip stand - I use it to hang a remote fuel tank (high enough for a good gravity feed) and also my carb balancers

Also have a whiteboard on the shed door - can stick notes to it with magnets, make lists, draw stuff etc...

Also made lots of 'S' hooks out of old tent pegs.Very useful for hanging parts off the rotary clothes line so they can be painted.

Wurth Brake cleaner is very good for getting paint off rotary clothes lines.

In 1987, I borrowed a low slung supermarket trolley as a cradle for a spare Triumph 1850 engine. The fuel supply was a had held Squezy bottle. With a jury rigged cooling system made from exhaust pipe, it could be started and run until the thermostat opened.

Yep. Keep it tidy :-)

2 tips from me:

1. Measurement conversion. 1 inch is 25.4mm - which is a complete PITA. But if you pretend that it's 25.6mm then conversions become a lot simpler and the margin of error isn't that great. Half an inch is then 12.8mm, a quarter is 6.4, an eighth is 3.2 and a sixteenth is 1.6mm. Also 40 thou is 1 mm.

2. Lighting. Buy a couple of cheap 5 foot LED lighting battens, wired to a good long length of twin-core flex wired to a standard plug with a 3 amp fuse. They make excellent movable work lights and give a good spread of bright white light. Here's one in action helping me change the fork seals on the Bonneville.

Not a tool but the best mod I've done recently is to replace my old fluorescent tubed light fittings with LED strip lights. Work every penny....