Water To The Rescue
If you're running an aftermarket header and think that one of the cylinders is misfiring, spray a small amount of water on each of the header tubes near the exhaust ports. If one of the cylinders is misfiring, the water on that runner will evaporate at a slower rate than the others.with rollbar foam padding. This will cushion the blow if the handle should hit your car.
Righty Tighty
Improperly tightened wheel lugs can warp rotors, damage wheels and cause vibrations. Follow the proper sequence for tightening wheel lugs as shown. Always use a torque wrench to make sure you get the right torque value. For the correct torque value, check your owner's manual. It's also a good idea to check the torque of the lugs after you get your car back from a shop. If they did any work that involved removing the wheels, they most likely used an air-impact wrench. These are notorious for tightening the lugs too much and at different amounts.
Crimpin' Your Style
Whenever you're working on the electrical system, instead of holding the wire and crimp with one hand and crimping with the other hand
Tape Revival
Rolls of tape that sit around too long tend to lose their adhesive effect. Take the roll and put it in the microwave for about 20 seconds. The heat will soften the adhesive, bringing back flexibility and tackiness to the tape.
Mark It
Engine timing relies on the cams and crank to be aligned by a belt. When you have to remove the belt, get some correction fluid and mark it where the belt and the cam gear meet. And when you put the belt back on, there is no chance of error.
Strangle The Snake
Adding a turbo to a vehicle not only forces additional air into the engine, it puts pressure on various air lines in the intake system. This can cause vacuum lines on the intake manifold to blow off. And easy way to prevent this from happening is to simply zip-tie all the connections.
Hold the crimp in the crimper. Then place the wire into the crimp
Gassing Up
Before you fill up your car with gas, take a quick peek around for the gas tanker truck. When the tanker truck dumps its fuel, sediment can be stirred up in the gas station's underground gas tanks. If you fill up your car right after the tanker truck arrived, you could end up pumping this sediment into your car.
Cover It Up
It's always a clean look to cover your wiring with a wire loom. Another way to keep it even cleaner is to cover the wire loom with black electrical tape. Start from the bottom of the wire loom and wrap your way to the top. Doing this will hide the crack along the wire loom, which may open at any time to expose the wiring.
Keep Moisture Away
Those white pouches filed with tiny balls that you always find with electronic equipment and in shoes boxes can do wonders in preventing moisture problems. Toss a few of these sacks in your toolbox to reduce rust and oxidation on your tools. Don't forget to keep that toolbox closed.
No 'Monia!
If you have tinted windows, don't spray any ammonia products on the surface to clean them off. The ammonia fades the tint and kills the glue that binds the tint to the window. Use a product without ammonia in it, like Simple Green, to clean off the tint instead.
Don't Run It One
Some people hate stopping for gas so much, they wait until their car is out of gas and is basically running on just gas fumes. Contaminants in the gas tank will settle on the bottom of tank and picking up that last bit of gas is bad for your fuel pump, fuel filter and injectors. Don't wait for the warning light to come on; get gas when you're down to a quarter of a tank.
Lube It
Wheel studs tend to rust when they age. Spray some WD-40 or another lubricant onto the studs before installing the lug nuts. This will deter and clean the effects of road salts and other harmful elements. You'll also be able to get more accurate torque readings by doing this.
Sand It Down
After purchasing aftermarket pistons, sand down the sharp edges on the tops of the pistons. This will prevent the edges from heating up and causing detonation. Also, it wouldn't hurt to polish the tops with polishing compound. This will help keep carbon from sticking to the pistons.
Let It Run
A good way to conserve time and water after you have finished soaping your car down is to let the water flow out naturally instead of through a nozzle spray or using your finger to cover the tip. This way, the water runs off faster and leaves less water to clear off, meaning less drying time for you and no more prune hands.
Dust On, Dust Off
It's always a bitch to clean off the air vents in your ride. Rolled up tissues or Q-Tips might not work. Use a smallish paintbrush; it works the best!
By Super Street Archives
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