I am not sure if it belongs here or in the fabrication forum but I thought I would post and others would do the same. I have bought countless tools that claim brilliant things but do not deliver in the slightest! The point of this thread is to help others out by sharing information about what does not work!

Harbor Freight :
PLASTIC WELDING KIT- http://www.harborfreight.com/c...41592 - Could not get anything to stick to anything else! I know see why $400 tools that do this exists.. Thats what it takes to work!

16 TON HYDRAULIC PIPE BENDER http://www.harborfreight.com/c...35336- Crushes every tube I have tried! From 1/2" DOM and erw to 2.5" ERW and DOM.. Both get crushed and never bend like it leads you to believe.

Thats what I know thus far.. Not too bad.. Whats you guys got to add?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Want2race &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
16 TON HYDRAULIC PIPE BENDER http://www.harborfreight.com/c...35336- Crushes every tube I have tried! From 1/2" DOM and erw to 2.5" ERW and DOM.. Both get crushed and never bend like it leads you to believe.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

umm... you can't use a "pipe" bender to bend tubing. Pipe and Tubing are VERY different. Tubing uses exact dimensions, meaning that 1.5" OD actually measures 1.5". Pipe that is called out as 1.5" is something different than that. The pipe measurement system is kind of strange.

If you want to bend tubing you need to get a tubing bender. I have the JD Squared Model 3 bender, and find it works great. http://www.jd2.com/ There are many other brands out there as well. I would never use a pipe bender to bend tubing for something that mattered...like...a roll cage for instance. The tubing will be crushed/misformed etc. and make for a weak structure.

 

God, where to begin. Here's a start:

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr...48000

Sears 3.5 ton shop jack. It does work...just not very well. It is impossibly heavy and takes foreve to raise even the Integra, let alon the Excursion. I hate it.

 

Any Balljoint seperator other than the "OEM" brand that Autozone sells..

A small hammer..

 

About 3/4 of my friends from school. Get jobs already!

 

All my British cars, at least 3 of my Hondas, and probably most of Karl's cars...

(assuming this discussion isn't restricted to tools)

 

The Mityvac brake bleeder system. After about 10 pumps at the trigger, it draws about .01 cc of brake fluid.

Speedbleeders to the rescue!

 

Cummins brand 24V Cordless Impact Wrench. Got one for Christmas...says it can generate up to 240 ft-lbs of torque...it won't even get the lugs off the CRX. Prime example of a tool not to cheap up on.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Sean O’Gorman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">About 3/4 of my friends from school. Get jobs already!</TD></TR></TABLE>

hahaha

 

I was thinking of getting that, thanks for the warning (costs only 100$)

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Want2race &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">16 TON HYDRAULIC PIPE BENDER </TD></TR></TABLE>

What you have there is for exhaust pipe. NOT for anything structural.
I'm actually baffled that you even thought you'd be able to bend 1.5 inch (.095 wall?) DOM tubing with that.

This is not a case of the tool not working. Its a case of the operator not knowing what he's doing and buying the wrong tool.
And you're building a race car. With no plans.
I'm kind of starting to see why Adam has been picking on you. This is kind of scarey in that it demonstrates how little you really know about what you are doing.

I'm not picking on you or trying to be mean, but honestly, I'm not a fabricator and I still was able to take one quick look at that thing and know it wasn't for constructing a roll cage.

I'm kind of glad that thing you're building isn't in my run group. Really.
And I sincerely hope you plan to have an actual professional double check your work before you attempt to race that car.

 

That little, cube-shaped piece of crap "universal" rear brake caliper retracting tool from NAPA...

I got the real one for $75 and it rocks.

K

 

- My SE-R#1 (transmission in pieces) I'll be in "project daily driver" this weekend at VIR.

- CCT impact gun bought from World of Imports on sale. Crap, crap, crap. The busted Craftsman gun it was to replace works better.

-"Easy out". My *** its easy. All I did was mangle the hole so it can never be used again.

-My ability to find a single, attractive, intelligent, non-smoking, no kid-having female in Cleveland County NC. Or even within 50 miles of Cleveland County...

Surprisingly, the $109 2-ton aluminum Cal-Hawk jack I got from WoI works like a champ. 2 thumbs up


Modified by MaddMatt at 5:09 AM 2/9/2005

 

Griot's Garage Vaccum Brake Bleeder contraption that I got for christmas - try bleeding the rear brake line, just try. One beer, two beers, six beers ... what am I doing again? It's real good for sucking out the old fluid out of the reservoir. Oh and that dumb red tip they put on the end of the hose doesn't fit any bleeder nipple I've come accross.

My horn doesn't work.

My brake light intermitently comes one, fades off and comes back again.

My clutch is dying and the flywheel's going with it.

My shocks are blown.

My ability to install my roll bar is inoprable.

Thought of some more:

Have you noticed that it's nearly impossible to find a 14mm hex key socket? Took me going to 4 different places.

Blowing a fuse and relay all at once on your brand new I-tali-ano motorcycle while reinstalling the turnsignals - wtf?




Modified by bb6h22a at 12:31 AM 2/9/2005

 

Things that suck:

- HF floor jack
- autozone $8 balljoint seaparator
- my ITR
- Bimmerworld

Things that don't suck

- Chicago (HF) 220 ft-lb impact gun
- my 325is
- amazon.com to get me through the offseason
- Lee grimes & Koni
- P1 Auto
- Carbotech

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Sean O’Gorman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">About 3/4 of my friends from school. Get jobs already!</TD></TR></TABLE>

LOL

 

B16 cable trannies!!! **** I"m on my 3rd one in less than a year, well, first was an LS(yeah right), second was a J1(eventually started to pop out of gear), and now I have an S1, which won't go into 3rd or 4th sometimes, can't even grind it in...but I think I have the problem on that one solved...I'll update that later.

 

chicago electric orbital buffer: i think i'd have an easier time waxing the car with my elbows.

HF double flaring tool: won't hold pipe to save its life.

Russell ss brakelines: fitment so bad it necessitated my buying the shitty flaring tool. i hear stories of a "bad batch" though, and maybe that's what i ended up getting.

HF metric flare nut wrenches: ok they work, but i've snapped off the feet on at least 2 of them.

any number of no name rachets: sometimes you gawk at spending $24 on a craftsman 3/8" drive or more on something nicer, but then you use a crappy rachet that inevitably breaks and you suck it up and buy a real tool.

and one last HF item:
metric racheting wrenches. not only are they designed to be the most useless high profile handtools on the world, the clicky thing on my 12, 14, 17 died within 5 uses. I got a real set of racheting wrenches for Xmas.

i do like HF though, even if it's just because of the electric impact...

 

A la .RJ -

Things that suck:

Autozone Flywheel stopper
Pickle forks (labeled "Ball joint spreader" at Autozone)
The IRS
The gas guages on '88 CRXs (seems like nobody's works)
Craftsman electric impact wrench (luckily they have a great return policy)
2 car garages

Things that don't suck:

Syncro Shift 2
Ratcheting wrenches
R compounds
Getting my car finished in time to compete in March

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Catch 22 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

What you have there is for exhaust pipe. NOT for anything structural.
I'm actually baffled that you even thought you'd be able to bend 1.5 inch (.095 wall?) DOM tubing with that.

This is not a case of the tool not working. Its a case of the operator not knowing what he's doing and buying the wrong tool.
And you're building a race car. With no plans.
I'm kind of starting to see why Adam has been picking on you. This is kind of scarey in that it demonstrates how little you really know about what you are doing.

I'm not picking on you or trying to be mean, but honestly, I'm not a fabricator and I still was able to take one quick look at that thing and know it wasn't for constructing a roll cage.

I'm kind of glad that thing you're building isn't in my run group. Really.
And I sincerely hope you plan to have an actual professional double check your work before you attempt to race that car.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

It may be the wrong tool.. but I read the fabrication forum and asked the question and the general consensus was it would work.. The consensus also said it would not work on exhaust tubing!

As for plans I have them.

The entire chassis plans have been autocad designed by Jim Mcsoley.
http://www.mcsorley.net/locost/

Its not really an uncommon project.. Its pretty popular in england and other parts of the world.

As for having a professional look at the work, thats constant. My dads a structural engineer and an approved Army welder (different army but probably same stds)
He has a pretty damn good idea of how it should be.

As for running in your group. I think the car may land up running NASA because they appear to be designing a class for just this type of car!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Want2race &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">As for plans I have them.
The entire chassis plans have been autocad designed by Jim Mcsoley.
http://www.mcsorley.net/locost/ </TD></TR></TABLE>

:eek:

That chassis looks like a wet noodle.

 

it doesnt look too bad RJ... there are definate things that could be done to help it out but its not that far off.

 

OT

Most of the diagonal tubes are missing from the models and the drawings. When they are added, the spaceframe becomes mostly triangulated and pretty strong.

btw - McSorley did not "design" this frame. He simply published a fairly accurate set of drawings to detail the vague drawings in the orginal Locost book so that scratch builders would have an easier time doing this. His drawings are not actually complete. He did take the original design and stretch it into a couple of different configurations so that fat boys could fit in one...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RexRacer19 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">OT

Most of the diagonal tubes are missing from the models and the drawings. When they are added, the spaceframe becomes mostly triangulated and pretty strong.

btw - McSorley did not "design" this frame. He simply published a fairly accurate set of drawings to detail the vague drawings in the orginal Locost book so that scratch builders would have an easier time doing this. His drawings are not actually complete. He did take the original design and stretch it into a couple of different configurations so that fat boys could fit in one...</TD></TR></TABLE>

yep.. but mines book standard I would think there is plenty triangulation especially since mines going to have the engine as a stressed member and the IRS in the rear

 

Other things that don't work...

- brake ducts on a FWD car. I can never get this right.
- my $300 Karcher power washer. It just stopped working.
- Harbor Freight drill bits (snap!)
- I/O port camera mount. Adjustable, yes. Shaky picture, also yes.
- The spam filter on Eudora Pro arbitrarily stopped doing anything.

And I guess I'm picking on Sears...

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr...21000

7" orbital buffer. Raging, hulking pile of crap. The flimsy little pads go on with elastic and as you buff the car, they move around on the pad. Once they've done that they're off center, and the orbital action sends the pad flinging across the street. Which since it now has a bunch of crap on it, you now have to wash. Again.

I hate it.