What's New in the Garage?

Who says we don't know JACK?
I bought two orange jack stands because they didn't have red to match my other two. 
Sometimes you need 4 to jack up the entire car at once!

I'd like to answer "what's new in the garage" with "a new Corvette and a real Formula 1 racecar," but I'm sticking with the truth today! Other than hitting 100 degrees outside this week (Fahrenheit that is, duh!) we've been adding some more gear in the garage that should make a lot of jobs a bit easier. Sorry, no new cars this time.

Brian bought this engine support and it made the recent 350Z work way easier than pulling the engine all the way out! 

A lot of tools come in handy very frequently, and there are other tools that are specialized for one purpose. But, when you really need that special tool, it can save you a lot of pain, anguish, and extra time. The big red engine support (above) is one of those special tools that really made our oil pan replacement job much quicker and easier! Highly recommended if you need it. 

"I am your biggest fan."
Not the biggest, not the tallest, but it is the quietest. 

Another tool, a plain old electric FAN! Like I said, 100 degrees outside tends to heat things up inside when your garage is not air conditioned. There are a bazillion brands of fans, and I went for one from Shark that I saw in a review from Car and Driver that was their quietest, only about 50 decibels. This one has a plug in cord, and once it's charged it will run cordless for a while too! On the old Home Improvement show I know Tim (Tim the Tool Man Taylor) used Binford Tools, but I haven't seen them in my local stores...Here's the Car and Driver article link:    CAR AND DRIVER FANS

Milwaukee brings the power in a small powerful 3/8 stubby impact. 

Next up, we've added to the Milwaukee power tool arsenal with a very nice 3/8 drive stubby impact. Yes, Milwaukee tools are not cheap, but this thing has some mighty power for being so small. It was a special deal on line and came with two free M12 batteries, and man, those batteries aren't cheap either! It just about jumped out of my hand on the first bolt I took off with this little devil, it was so powerful. My mistake was not checking what speed I was on, since it has 3 speeds. PRO TIP: If you're just taking off a small 10mm bolt you do NOT need to be at full power!

One more thing about power tools. There are plenty of different brands available, so you might consider just going with one, maybe two of them. Since they have lots of tools that use the same battery/charger system, by limiting your brands you can avoid needing a bunch of storage for 6 brands of batteries and 6 brands of rechargers. OK, if you have a compressor and air system, go with the air tools. If you are just getting into power tools, try the one brand method. I've ended up with Milwaukee and Ryobi, with Ryobi being cheaper, and both of them available at The Home Depot. If you're a Lowe's store fan, nothing wrong with the brands like DeWalt that they have. 

Gear Wrench long, flex-head, ratcheting set from 8-19mm. 
I don't think you can ever have too many wrenches (or too much garlic!)

Another set of wrenches got into my tool inventory too. One of my classmates had a set of these in class, and they made some of our transmission jobs a lot easier. There are several companies that make these, and I went with the Gear Wrench folks. They are available at Home Depot, and that means that I could use my military 10% discount and save a few pennies. Long, ratcheting wrenches can reach where some wrenches won't go, and of course the ratcheting feature is always nice. Similar sets are available from Icon at Harbor Freight, or Mountain on line at Amazon, and plenty of other makers. We've got Gear Wrench tools at school, and they seem to get the job done, hold up well, and cost way less than the tool-truck brands too. 

Kimi Raikkonen approved floor pad.

This week also included an upgrade to some old carpet sample squares I was standing on by the tool box, and again, I went to Harbor Freight for a $9 set of floor pads to stand on. My feet said "thank you!" already!

MATCO clip tool, in groovy purple baby, YEAH!

One last item that has come in handy is a cool purple clip remover/trim tool from MATCO. Yeah, MATCO tools cost a bit, but I tend have really bad luck with all those little clips underneath cars that hold on those under-tray panels. The clips always seem to break, get lost, and sometimes you get cars in the shop that are missing some of them anyway. This tool feels very sturdy in your hand, and I've used it on the 350Z and the Cayman and it's very handy! It's much better than just using a screwdriver.