Found a few hours last night to get in the garage - simple task fitting of refurbished cylinder head on my Pinto, engine in car.
Whilst doing the final 90 degree torue up on the bolts as I lifted the torque wrench out of the front L/H bolt the bl**dy splined adaptor fell out the socket and disappeared down the oil return hole.
Attempts at retrieving it with my extending magnet thingy failed to produce it, and on the 3rd attempt there was a dink sound as it finally arrived in the sump.
With half the bolts Finally tightened and no spare splined adaptor I had no option but to remove the sump - which was fitted only the previous week !!!.
Take a tip - stuff a bit of rag in those 2 oil return holes first !!
ps:- guess what I am (re) fitting tommorow ??

Eek!

With a crossflow, the favourite target is the distributor hole...

David

Bug*er and sh1te!!!

I heard a similar story a while ago. Chap with Porsche 944, fitted new spark plugs himself when doing diy service. The ball out of the ratchet dropped out and fell down spark plug hole. Guy didnt realise till it was too late. £1500 bill to fix head and replace engine liner!!!!!

Moral of the story - dont use cheap tools. I use the Halfords professional ratchets and sockets and have never had any trouble, good value but decent kit for the diy enthusiast. Dont like the look of the cheap Halfords gear tho'.

Will back you up on that one, I hate cheap tools and will agree (somewhat reluctantly as I am not a Halfrauds fan!) that their Professional stuff is very well made.

Having said that, if you look in the cromwell catalogue, the proper industrial stuff in there is a similar is not slightly cheaper price.

I remember having rebuilt and just refitted an A series in a mini, rolling the car forward in gear to Tdc to refit the dizzy and watching the dizzy drive shaft wind itself off the cam and drop into the gearbox. Oh Dear!

quote:

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Originally posted by NS Dev
Will back you up on that one, I hate cheap tools and will agree (somewhat reluctantly as I am not a Halfrauds fan!) that their Professional stuff is very well made.

Having said that, if you look in the cromwell catalogue, the proper industrial stuff in there is a similar is not slightly cheaper price.

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I've always said there is no such thing as cheap tools , buy cheap , they don't last you end up with problems and replace them with decent tools ! I'm sure some will say they don't agree . Maybe for occasional use cheap tools will do the job but for more frequent/ everyday use buy good tools!

It depends on how much you value your knuckles!!
I do have some cheap tools which are for when my 'mates' want to borrow them.
But why is it that I never lose the crappy tools, only the expensive ones??

Bad luck but considering the fact that no damage was done,consider the sump removal as some sort of training!

Having worked mainly on Japanese cars and making my Locost with a Nissan engine what I would say is buy good sockets for the main sizes like 10 12 14 and 17 mm because most sets of sockets have sizes that you just NEVER use I have one good ratchet and a motley colection of sockets but the commonnly used ones are the best I could buy . I would say that once you have the basics buy the INDIVIDUAL tool you need when you need it and over time you will end up with a kit that does what you need and not to much scrap metal that you carry around needlessly .
Best wishes
Iain

Fiat distributor drives tend to fall into the sump as you lift them out as well I found. I have a set of Britool combination spanners which would have cost 3 times as much if I'd bought them individually. I used to use a cheap socket set and replace the ones that wore out with decent ones but I found a Kamasa set that was only £20 and has endured everything I've thrown at it.

Agreed, I have a set of Half Fords Pro range, and good value they are.

However I am still using a set of "bedford" spanners that my Dad aquired in the last war!! (1945), I have used them for 35 years, maintaining all my vehicles and they are still good... I believe he swapped 200 cigarettes for them.

Been good value and qualiry.. cos I paid nowt for them! and am still using them.
My Kamasa socketset is still going strong after 20 years. The Half Fords set is OK after about 10 year.
Cant complan... you get what yer pays for,
I agree about replacing the worn ones with decent ones.. worn through most use.. replace with quality!.