Car Parts and Accessories

Choosing the right tools

Building up a kit of tools for routine repairs and to deal with roadside emergencies does not involve a big initial outlay. A basic kit can cost some R50. With this as the starting point, the best way to build up a comprehensive kit is to buy extra tools as they are needed.

The quality of tools varies considerably and buying some of the cheaper ones can, in time, prove to be an expensive economy.

A cheap spanner is a typical example. The jaws will eventually spread under pressure and mutilate a nut rounding off the corners until it is impossible to shift and a nut-splitter may be needed. At the least, a badly fitting spanner can mean bruised knuckles.

Buy the best tools you can afford— cheap tools are poor economy.

When a job is finished, clean and dry off the tools and give them a thin smear of oil or spray with a water-repellant aerosol to prevent rusting. Properly used and cared for, they will last a lifetime. Mechanics in dealers’ workshops use a number of special tools, designed to simplify difficult jobs. Many of these tools are not on sale to the public and may be needed only on rare occasions.

If it is not possible to improvise with other tools, it may be worth going to a firm that operates a hire service for specialist equipment. This can include paint spray apparatus and hydraulic jacks.

The most important aid that any home mechanic should have is the workshop manual for his car. It gives vital information on operations such as the correct sequence of engine stripping and reassembling, the exact clearances and adjustments of various components, and the torque loading of nuts and bolts. Workshop manuals can be bought, usually from the car manufacturer or dealer or from your motoring club.

Car and garage toolkits

In addition to the tools supplied with a new car—usually only a jack, a wheelbrace and perhaps a box spanner—a home mechanic should have two separate kits : one to carry in the car to cope with breakdowns, and another to keep in the garage for routine servicing and repairs. Tool manufacturers put together a wide range of kits with the home mechanic in mind. A motorist will have little trouble finding one to suit his needs and experience. Try to avoid accumulating a vast number of rarely used tools.

Tools to carry in the car

Set of 7 or 8 open-ended spanners Spark-plug box spanner

Set of feeler gauges

Circuit tester

8 mm or 4BA spanner for distributor terminal nut, or complete set of BA spanners

Magneto file for contact-breaker points

Engineers’ screwdrivers—large and medium

Electricians’ screwdriver—small

Cross-headed screwdrivers—small and medium

Tools for the garage

Set of ring spanners

Set of sockets (including plug socket) and their lever

Brake-adjusting spanner

Chubby screwdrivers–straight and cross- headed (Phillips type)

Side-cutting, round and snipe-nosed types of pliers

Electricians’ combination pliers

Calipers and 300 mm metal rule

Hammers–hard and soft-faced

Universal drain-plug remover

Torque wrench

Lock-on wrench

Set of Allen keys

Wire brushes

Distilled water dispenser

Battery trickle charger

Combination pliers Roll of insulating tape

Two jumper leads

Adjustable wrenches—medium and small

Hammer, 350 g ‘ball pein’

Tyre valve key

Tyre pressure gauge

Tyre depth gauge

Tyre pump

Drivers’ handbook

Fire extinguisher

Hydraulic jack and axle stands Electric drill or hand-drill

Set of twist drills 0,5-6 mm

Oil syringe and grease gun

Files and cold chisel

Creeper and car ramps

Receptacle for waste oil and funnel

Paraffin washing bath–plastic bowl

Workshop manual

Fire extinguisher

SPECIAL TOOLS

These may be purchased if sufficient use can be made of them to warrant their cost Valve-spring compressor

Nut-splitter

Hub-puller

Stud -extractor

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