Thread: AA Workshop Basics

RTFM....

READ THE FLIPPIN MANUAL...

This is about the single most important tip you will read anywhere. If your going to make it out there in grease monkey land. Read and understand the manual BEFORE you start doing anything (this is especially important for the haynes)

If after reading the manual about what it is that you are about to undertake then theres one of 2 problems in evidence either you or the manual are not up to the task. The solution is the same in both cases, more research.

Ive been spanner spinning for a long time, and even on landies I still consult the manual whenever Im doing something, OR I use a cheat sheet that I've compiled for the really common numbers like valve clearances, wheel nut torques, spark Timings. I dont leave home without a full copy of the RAVES, my series manuals and a heap of other grease monkey docs on a HD along with a laptop that can read the HD. Its very very easy to get distracted and pick the wrong number from the back of your brain when your doing something youve done a zillion times before.

I'll let you be the judge on whats worse the loose fitting that lets go some time down the track spilling oil throwing the rod or letting the wheel go wanderabout OR the one thats too tight and snaps off spilling oil, throwing the rod or letting the wheel go wanderabout.

once you start getting into the swing of reading manuals (especially the repair and overhaul ones) you start to pick up on things like "hey I need to replace the seals and according to the workshop manual theres 6 of them but the parts diagram only shows 4" then you move onto a different sub assembly and realize that the 2 missing seals are actually part of a different listing.

be honest, how often have you started a job, realized you've forgotten something and had to drive down to the local shop to get Item X only to proceed on for another half hour or so just to realize, Damn it I now need this too. Now, nod sagely if youve not only done that but then when you were putting it together needed yet another trip down to the store to pick up something you didn't get on either of the first trips.


and in the next exciting double episode. Cleaning things And the correct use of locking devices.

Cleaning things....

Ok hands up how many of you have, without looking, just reached for the nearest rag to wipe something down? just stuck your hand into the rag bin and grabbed one to clean the grease off of your hands? Congratulations your now due to spend the next N hours either looking for the nut/bolt/carby jet/o ring that was in the rag on the bench and/or Y hours at the in patients waiting to see a DR to remove the curl of Swarf from under your fingernail and to give you a tetanus shot.

What about cleaning something, Ever just grabbed the can of brake clean to shift a bit of stubborn gasket? used a commercial degreaser on a gearbox or engine block?. Did you check the MSDS? what about where the over spray was going? I'll bet you didn't know that some brake cleaners will dissolve half of the polymers in some plastics or that some degreasers and detergents will attack some metals. Ever seen someone have at a greasy engine with the high pressure gurney? ever seen what happens when you put 100+psi of pressure onto a seal that was only supposed to deal with say 1 or 2 psi of pressure, from the other direction?

The point of all of the questions is this. when you clean you need to be careful. A pin or bit of swarf hidden in a rag is just as likely to do something stupid like get stuck into a housing where it can play merry hell with fine tolerance equipment as it can into your flesh. Using the wrong cleaner in the wrong situation can leave you with an expensive repair bill and or wasted time as you fix something that wasnt really a problem. The truely sad thing about all of this is its something that most people wont get till they frell it.

Go on ask me how I know that a $99 gurney from Kmart can knock an inch long hole in the rocker cover gasket of a 2.25 four pot. on second thoughts dont.

Locking devices.

Unless your talking about padlocks and door locks they are one use only. Most of them depend on the deformation of a material to provide a binding action. Spring washers get flattened, Nyloc nuts get the nylon squished out and thread deformed nuts (aka pinch nuts) get reshaped into normal thread. once thats happened they dont grip any more if they dont grip they dont work.

Split pins and roll pins get weakened when you install them because they deform, when you get them out the get weaker still, they may not break when you goto put them back in but they might under load. They wont usually come out but they can send small parts into places where you dont want uncontrolled small parts.

in short... Dont reuse locking devices, the biggest nyloc nut that I know of costs $45 dollars but since its used to hold bridge plates together It doesnt get changed all that often. On a landy the most expensive locknut is probabley the one on the diff pinion flange, I'm not sure about you but I kinda like knowing that particular bit of flingy metal death is kept well and truely under control $10 or so aint that much compared to the cost of a funeral.

oh and dont put other washers over or under lock washers of any kind that just denies them the grip on the surface metal they need to work.

never forget them... always check them first.

so the bloke who dropped it off checked them all did he, or so he reckoned. you have no idea how much time gets wasted because someone, somewhere forgets something simple and when the job gets passed onto the next bloke he assumes that the something simple has already been done or else he wouldnt have been given the job.

What sounds more feasable.

the bulbs contact point is a bit dirty, the spring is a touch weak and its not quite contacting the replaced bulb correctly so its not working

OR

theres an intermittant earth fault that goes to the ECU which in turn is preventing the system that operates the bulb from sending the initiating signal to power up the unit to turn on the bulb?

or

Did you check the fuse yet?

oh

on fuses.

dont just replace them with larger ones. Sure occasionally you will get one that lets go because its old and cheap. but they blow for a reason you really should find out what that is before you put $10 worth of fuses into the socket till you get on that takes the load. Go make yourself a test light out of a reversing light holder and some clip leads. plug that baby in inplace of the fuse and while theres a short circuit condition in the wiring it'll glow nice and bright then when youve got it fixed it'll go dim out or whatever it powers will do the same.

Remember

Fuses do not protect items like radios, ECU's or anything thats not the vehicle wiring. The fuse blows to stop the electrons in the battery from turning the wires white hot and setting fire to your vehicle. (unless you own a jeep)

Originally Posted by scott oz

Almost every spring washer I've ever seen has a flat washer under it? I'm assuming a spring washer is a locking washer?

One question the serrated type washer; I was told there is a certain way/side they should be put on /clamped is this correct. Would I be correct the serration would face anti clock wise so it would bite against the surface of the object and the retaining nut against undoing?

yep, the washer is put there to stop the spring washer from damaging the metal underneath or from pulling through.

give it a go, get 2 pieces of flat steel and an appropriate size set of nuts bolts washers and split washers. bolt them together in various combinations, torque them up to the nominal torque for the size bolt you use and see how you go undoing them.

tool control and stuff...

Keep an eye on your tools and your parts, we've all read about murphys laws of mechanicing and the description of tools. You know the one that reads a hammer is a divining rod used to locate the most expensive part within reach of the $5 bit your trying to get to move. Well that kind of tool control isnt what Im talking about here, maybe I'll get into that later along with the correct tool for the job. (and for all of those out there that know me no its not going to be the gas axe)

Tool control is making sure that you know where all of your tools are when you're not using them and they aren't in places like sumps, on chassis rails, in tyres (yes, I have had to pull a tyre apart to retrieve someones mobile phone and no, after having been taken for a test drive the confetti didnt work anymore) if you're really lucky lack of tool control means you get to buy a new whatever it was you forgot. If you're unlucky you get to replace the engine and the radiator that you just boiled to death.

But tool control doesnt just end with the tools, what about workshop gear, vehicle parts, rags anything that might get somewhere its not ment to be. Its very entertaining watching a group of newish mechanics trying to work out why the truck engine wont run properly spending days stripping the fuel system and tweaking the injector pump just to have someone come along, remove the aircleaner to turbo inlet pipe and remove the fist full of rags that had been sucked in out of the aircleaner housing. Before you ask why you'd stuff rags into an aircleaner housing, its a common practice, if you remove the air filter put some rags in to prevent things falling into the housing and winding up in the compressor wheel of the turbo charger. Of course you are supposed to remove them prior to starting up.

so in a nut shell.

Keep all the bits under control and in a safe place at a minimum it will save you some time and effort looking for them.

I have a little tip i picked up working on older cars

When fitting gaskets with or without silicone sealant wet both surfaces of the gasket and part with oil prior to fitting or squirting on the Silicone not to much just enough to wet the surface

It stops the silicone and gasket from sticking but not from sealing so when you pull it apart next time you don't have to scrape gaskets off

****This doesn't apply to head gaskets****

Speaking of fuses, the number of times I have been told the fuse has been checked, only to find it is open circuit. Cheap glass fuses are the worst, but I had a guy with an 86 RR come in without dash lights, nor RH tail light and number plate light. I checked the fuse panel with a multi meter and discovered a faulty blade fuse. Looked fine! New fuse and away it went. Moral: get a multi meter and learn how to use it.

Originally Posted by bee utey

Speaking of fuses, the number of times I have been told the fuse has been checked, only to find it is open circuit. Cheap glass fuses are the worst, but I had a guy with an 86 RR come in without dash lights, nor RH tail light and number plate light. I checked the fuse panel with a multi meter and discovered a faulty blade fuse. Looked fine! New fuse and away it went. Moral: get a multi meter and learn how to use it.

I've been told its better to use a test lamp than a multimeter. What do you reckon?