There's nothing better than rolling a new project out of the garage: the sense of accomplishment from completing the job, the paranoia over every new sound, and the anticipation of a smokey, tire-ruining pay-off. But all of that can come to a grinding halt when that one control arm bolt you forgot to tighten down decides to make a break during the test drive. D'oh!
Grease pencils, paint markers, and office-grade white-out are indispensable tools, but we'll also call them cheap insurance as this is a sub-two-dollar solution to prevent some very expensive problems. The key here is to mark the hardware against something that does not move with it, ex: on a stud, paint a line over both the stud and nut; or on the bolt-head side of an assembly, mark the head with the part itself.
When a big project comes together, it's easy to lose some track of the details as you pick up and set down different jobs over the course of several weeks, months, or years - because what project has ever stayed on the planned timeline? Punch lists are a great way to keep track of the big steps of the build, but if you made a line for every nut and bolt on the car… well - you'd need a really, really long list. Even worse, a sleep-deprived weekend at the races can go wrong when a mid-round thrash leaves loose ends hardware, and even a good day at the races can knock nuts and bolts loose.
Better yet, marking your nuts and bolts with a reference line after you've torqued them down is a quick way to spot check your progress during any project, while also giving you early warning if any hardware is trying to back out. There's no “Did I tighten everything?” moments, a quick look can confirm that everything is ready to roll; and by looking for any marks that don't line up, you can catch any hardware that's trying to rattle itself out.
Keep the greasy side down at the races
Grease pencils are excellent for temporary markings, and should live in your racing toolkit. They're are the cheapest option for marking hardware (about a dollar at our local hardware store), and we like them for because they can be easily wiped off for remarking after you bolt something back together. For items that you service or replace regularly (coilovers, suspension, rockers, driveline, etc), this allows to quickly remark the hardware after reassembly for a fresh reference line. Paint pens and white-out tend to be harder to clean off without some kind of solvent or brake cleaner, making grease pencils the best choice for short-lived marks.
Paint your project… for safety!
For items that won't see much tampering, paint pens are great for more durable marks. Paint pens tend to leave behind the most visible lines, making them the easiest to see in low-light. They can be used for temporary marking as well, but often need a brake cleaner or solvent to remove, so keep that in mind. If you're in a pinch, white-out pens or brushes can be used - or even nail polish can be snuck into the garage, if you have access to that sort of thing!
This may seem OCD, but at the end of a project, it's nice to be able to have a visual double-check as a way to spot long-forgotten loose ends; and during the races, reference marks help keep track of the completion work between rounds while also providing an easy spot check on abused hardware.
Wrenchin' Wednesday is a weekly garage-hackamajig, making wrenching great again with small tips that make working on your project easier, cheaper, and maybe even a bit faster. We're probably not the first with any of these ideas, but you won't be the last to know every Wednesday!
Last week, we talked about using dollar store carabiners to keep your box wrenches organized on-the-go!
The post Wrenchin' Wednesday: Check Yourself Before you Wreck Yourself appeared first on Hot Rod Network.
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