This month's tips all provide ideas on dealing with stubborn nuts and bolts.
This month's tip comes from Brian Dettle, owner of West Desert Auto Repair in Dugway, Utah.
"I cannot remember which one (of my mentors) taught me this simple, but very useful, trick. If you have a nut or bolt in a very tight spot that would normally fall out of your socket, take a blue disposable rag or something similar, put the nut (or bolt) into a small piece of that rag and then into the socket. This should hold your hardware tight enough to get it where it needs to go."Thanks, Brian, for sharing with us what was passed on to you!
Help Installing Heavy Water Pumps
Find four 3-inch long bolts with the same thread pattern as the water pump bolts and cut the bolt heads off. Now you've made studs. Thread the studs into the engine block halfway. Put gasket sealer on your gaskets and install them on the block by sliding them onto the studs. Then install the pump by sliding it on the studs. Now unthread one of the studs and replace it with one of the pump bolts. Do this until you have replaced all four studs with the bolts. Tighten to spec and you're done.
Abdel Shahin, New Jersey
No Room To Drill?
Have you ever needed to drill or tap in a place with straight line access, but no room? Here is a helper that has bailed me out many times. Remove the chuck from a dead drill. Drive a bolt into the back end (usually a 3/8-24 with a 9/16 head). The neat part is that a 14 mm will fit really tight on it. Then you can use a socket extension to reach "that spot" or a drill adapter if you need to drill.
Larry Brautigam, Texas
