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MG TD TF 1500 - Learned a new Hack today

This is probably something a lot of you know about, but new to me.

My neighbor is a mechanic. He was working on a new car and had to get a bolt into a tight spot. He tears off a piece of clear plastic from a parts bag, puts it over the bolt head and then puts the bolt head in the socket.

The plastic is just thick enough to hold the bolt in place and slides right off when you pull the socket off.


What are some of the good hacks you use?
Bruce Cunha

I do that with nuts that are hard to hold while starting a bolt in a tight spot. I place a piece of masking tape over one side of a box wrench, place the nut in the wrench and the tape is just sticky enough to hold the nut while starting the bolt.
PJ Jennings

The piece of plastic is a good tip. I've used that countless times for work and probably for the TF as well.

When connecting the ground wire that goes on the bolt that also attaches the wing and side panel behind the TF Volks air cleaners, I've used 3M upholstery spray.

This area is REALLY tight and sucks when you're doing this by yourself. A little spray to get your finger tip tacky to hold the nut while starting the bolt on the other side. Once started on the thread, you can get your spanner on there to tighten.

While on topic, a flexible extended magnet with flashlight on the tip is a MUST when working on these cars in tight spaces. Always dropping washers, nuts, bolts, etc....

Frank

TF1414
Frank Cronin

I will never forgive the millennials for using the word "hack" for everything. Basically anything useful is now called a hack. Yeah I know, I'm in the minority of people who actually care. Just a pet peeve I guess. But I can't remember the last time I head the word hack used to describe something that was actually a hack.

Maybe I can hack into their neural network and change their line of thinking. Now that would be a bit of ironic justice. :)

Now if we're talking about helpful workshop tips, you can do similar to the above tip by putting a dab of sealant, tacky grease, white glue, etc on your fingertip and sticking the nut to it. Usually I just use a set of super long slim-nosed pliers, if there is enough access.
Steve Simmons

Frank. I picked up a flexible flashlight a few years back. It has a extendable flexible head with a flashlight and a magnet on the end.

The sticky finger works good on my British cars, but in new cars there are nuts and bolts that it is very difficult to get your finger down to.

Steve, I don't disagree. I was just using current vernaculum. To me, a hack means a alternative way of doing something.
Bruce Cunha

I have filled a socket with paper to allow the threads of a bolt to protrude far enough to go into a tight spot. Also used paper to jam a nut in a socket.

50 years ago a good idea was a “gouge” when working on aircraft, sometimes written in a “good guts” book that we all carried with us. Sometimes it was quicker to refer to said book rather than walking back to the hangar to consult the manual.

I have notes on my electrical diagram on the workshop wall, little things I have learned and now the brain is fried it can’t remember them all.

“Hack” is not in common usage in my world, but then I am old.

Peter
P G Gilvarry

I've used a dab of wheel bearing grease to hold a screw,nut or bolt in a socket to get the fastening process started.

Cheers

Gary
79 MGB
gary hansen

There you go ,and I thought my old everyday car was called a hack
didn't the term hack come from old everyday work horses
Never heard it used for anything else here except computer hacking
William Revit

I do remember "Depot Hack" being a type of commercial truck body. Usually for deliveries, and sometimes as a type of bus.
Steve Simmons

The only way you can get the nuts to start on the dash roll on a TF is to glue them to your finger and then wriggle them around.


Jan T
J Targosz

I second that Jan. And your fingers need to be slither around in there like a cobra to get them nuts started.
Frank Cronin

When I started in computers back in 1970's,
The word HACK referred to a "back door" or to break into someone else code or program and change it to your liking.
If your did that, you were a hacker.
A friend of mine - we will call him "Captain Crunch" would mess with Ma Bell and make calls all over the world at no cost for his computers.
he was the most known hacker of the day.

Michael Grogan TD23816

I've done the same with dental floss. A couple of turns then into the socket or screwdriver. Hey, if it works for orthopaedic surgeons, it can work for us
Keith Yarbrough(TD 1275)

Hack within the activity of equestrianism commonly refers to one of two things: as a verb, it describes the act of riding a horse for light exercise, and as a noun, it is a type of horse used for riding out at ordinary speeds over roads and trails. Wikipedia
James Neel

Gee, and I always wondered why foreigners have such a hard time speaking and understanding the English language! LOL PJ
PJ Jennings

Here's my two bits worth.

I had often yearned for a specific screw diver to be magnetized, especially, long ones, so I could insert a screw deep in some cavity.

Well, here's the answer to that! https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Precision-Demagnetizer-Magnetizer-Screwdrivers/dp/B01BKX64HS/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=screwdriver+magnetizer&qid=1572894219&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzODEzM0JWMURHU0RRJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNTY4OTk1MVI3UFpKUTRRQ1BCVCZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMTY0OTE5MTVDWUFGV1c4UjZCTCZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

Yup. For a paltry $7, you can magnetize and de-magnetize, to fit the situation. And it works like a charm. I've also used it on a ¼" drive - holds the socket just fine.

Gord Clark
Rockburn, Qué.
Gord Clark

Gordon. I think that was one of my first specialty tools. It sits proubly in the inside top of my tool box. I would say I used it multiple times a year.
Bruce Cunha

This thread was discussed between 20/10/2019 and 04/11/2019

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