What Kind of Tools to Start a DIY Garage?

Tools are just like a favorite coffee cup or footstool: personal preferences based on experience.

My advice, which has already been stated by others, is to buy just few simple tools and, when you happen to need something you don't have, just go out then and buy it. You quickly "know what you like."

It's too easy to become a tool collector rather than a home mechanic.

 

"What do you guys think of the high-end torque wrenches with the digital gauges?"

Digital gauges are great because they are easy/quick to read. Just don't assume they are any more accurate because of the ease of reading.

Of course the big advantage of the clickers is that you don't need to read them at all.

Though I tend to put down clicker wrench accuracy compared to beam/dial wrenches, Snap-On's specs are the same for both so in theory it doesn't make any difference. Beam/dials are nice for "sneaking up" on a final setting without having to reset the wrench every time. For example, often you tighten critical fasteners in stages and in a particular sequence. With a dial/beam wrench you just tighten each stage to the setting you want by reading the gauge. With a clicker you have to reset the wrench for each stage.

Of course, in reality, it's not like resetting the wrench takes a serious amount of time!

 

I bought an old used Craftsman beam/scale torque wrench for $5. It's so close in accuracy to my snap on torque wrench and so much easier to use, I rarely ever break out the snap on. If you perseverate over torque specs, then go spend big $. If not, spend $20 on a few used beam type torque wrenches. As long as they've never been beyond the elastic segment of the stress/strain curve, they'll be just fine for working on virtually anything on your car. People can go all professor on you about the merits one wrench over another and their calibration methods, etc, but in reality a wrench that isn't broken and for which you've checked the accuracy at zero Nm and at a point near the middle of that wrench's range and found to be within 5% will be great for DIY work. My two cents...I've saved the other 98 cents by buying cheap...

Ciao!

Hannibal

 

Craftsman works great, but I do own one or two Snap-on wrenches.

Since I saw you have Webers, I'll tell you one tool that I think is indispensable is a Snap-on 13mm angle-offset open-end wrench. It makes all the difference for tightening/loosening those hard-to-reach nuts back behind/underneath the accelerator pump.

I think I paid $26 for mine. Worth. Every. Penny.

 

A combination 13mm wrench, and a bench grinder will do the same thing

 

I don't know, think how much time you waste unlocking, adjusting, locking, applying torque, unlocking, adjusting, locking, applying torque. Over and over again.

Bet you have wasted hours of your life doing that, I know I have haha!!

Especially on aircraft where I had to verify the torque on specific fasteners. Check the torque wrench then observe the other individual torque the fastener then depending on the fastener apply some torque stripe on it.

Oh how I don't miss those days!

 

Like so many things, the tools needed vary with the use. If you are doing DIY work on your own vehicles, it's unlikely you are going to strain the tools much - though I just yesterday broke a KD 1/2" drive socket pulling fuel injectors from a Lugger diesel engine. Sounds like a poor quality tool, right? But there's more to the story...

Yep, I used the improper tool for the job...I couldn't find the correct regular socket in that size so I used an O2 sensor socket I had which was the same size. But, as you know, an O2 sensor socket has a slot down the side so it's not as strong as a normal socket. I figured it would be plenty strong enough to pull an injector since some O2 sensors can be VERY recalcitrant.

I figured wrong - it snapped in half on the 2nd injector... Ironically, within a minute or two after breaking that socket, I found the proper size regular socket!

Wonder if a Snap-On O2 socket would have done any better?

 

I'll throw my own 2 cents in.

You need one of these on your wall
Thread Checker (Measure Pitch & Diameter of Nuts, Bolts, Screws)

Wall Mounted Thread Checker (Measure Pitch & Diameter of Nuts, Bolts, Screws) - Hardware Nut And Bolt Sets - Amazon.com

I don't know how many hours I have wasted driving to various hardware stores guesstimating the bolt /nut I need and picking up various sizes to cover the spectrum.

 

Was a beer fridge mentioned?

Aaron

 

But you are being selective. OK also being selective:

On My Renault:

Heater blower motor resistor: 8 hours, entire console and fascia has to come out.
Headlamp bulb: 30 mins. Front undertray and valance need to be removed.
Bad joint at A/C condenser: Engine has to come out so I have left it!

On "comparable" cars:

Lotus Esprit with A/C. Timing belt replacement is the most difficult job you will even have to do on any car.

Specifically alternators: Many cars dont now have separate alternators, they are integrated into the engine. Replacement is a partial engine rebuild.

 

Can it be any harder than having to remove the engine to do a timing belt?

 

Probably yes, if you are thinking 355 where the whole subframe drops out.

 

LOL!

 

If you just enter "ring nut socket" in a search engine it will take you to appropriate sites/pics. Google produced 6 million+ results in .4 seconds!

Baum makes a bunch of such sockets for Ferrrari use.