Custom made shop tools

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Moparmat2000

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Heres a neat tool i made for mopars. However it may give some of you ideas for different tools. Unlike GM cars, mopars of the 60s had specific engine crossmembers or K frames for each engine family. They do not interchange. Unfortunately most mopar A body cars came with the slant 6. Think grannys dodge dart grocery getter. Now its a great reliable engine but "not a real barn burner" in the performance department.

When i got the 69 barracuda for my son and i to redo, the seller had sold the V8 K frame out of it. But let me keep it in the car in order to move the car to its current location since the suspension attaches to it as well. Once i got the car to its location i had to drop the V8 K frame out and return it. However before i did that, i promptly made a jig off of it to locate a V8 passenger side mount. The drivers side mount is the same from 6 to V8. I also made templates to fabricate a new mount, then returned the V8 K frame to the seller of the car, so he could give it to the guy who bought it. The jig also uses the corrext K frame shoulder type locating bolts to mount it making sure the mount is in the right spot.

I was able to trade some parts for a slant 6 k frame, and used the jig, or "spider" to install a new passenger side V8 mount in the correct location. Lucked out and found a rotted to **** V8 K frame and grabbed the right mount and updated idler arm bracket so i will be using already fabbed parts instead of making my own. Mount swap and weld up took me all of about 1&1/2 hours to do. Without further introduction, heres "the spider"

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HotWheelsBurban

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Yep, i like it. I did an improptu setup like that a number of years ago. My wife had a 99 'burban K1500. I ******* hated that truck. Its like it saved itself until she met me, then it spilled its guts weekly with **** constantly breaking. Anyhoo, i needed to change a failed fuel pump in the damned thing. As luck would have it, trailering package with a 50 gallon gas tank that was ******* FULL. I tack welded a John Deere plow furrow disc i had behind my shop to the jack cup to lower the tank down and support the tank without the weight of the fuel crushing it. Worked great, that pump was the last thing i fixed on that P.O.S. and it went right to trade for a new grand caravan.
Maybe the truck was jealous of you making time with its owner?
 

Erik the Awful

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My door jack I made a month ago. Worked great.
View media item 32243
My power steering pulley puller. Didn't install pulleys real well though. After my Stepside's pulley broke it, I replaced it with the Harbor Freight version.
View media item 32249
My one-man brake bleeder. Works great.
View media item 32289
The original wheel modification I did on my hoist versus the new wheel modification. It'll slide under a lowered RX-7. The old mod, extending the wheel out, had a habit of twisting with a big-block Cadillac on the hoist.
View media item 32101
 

HotWheelsBurban

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My door jack I made a month ago. Worked great.
View media item 32243
My power steering pulley puller. Didn't install pulleys real well though. After my Stepside's pulley broke it, I replaced it with the Harbor Freight version.
View media item 32249
My one-man brake bleeder. Works great.
View media item 32289
The original wheel modification I did on my hoist versus the new wheel modification. It'll slide under a lowered RX-7. The old mod, extending the wheel out, had a habit of twisting with a big-block Cadillac on the hoist.
View media item 32101
Great use for an old lawn mower base!
 

Erik the Awful

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"Push in on the piston as you turn it to get it back in the caliper."

Sure. Apparently my Mustang is a worst-case scenario for this. I cannot apply enough force by hand to get it to screw in.

Here's my tool for turning the caliper in on rear disc brakes. Half of one of those disc brake cubes, some 1/8" plate, a couple nuts and washers, and some 1/2" allthread with the end squared off with a grinder. The only side of the cube that fit the Mustang had four nubs. I ground two of them off. If you ever have difficult calipers, you can duplicate this in about half an hour if you have the parts on hand.
View media item 32294
 

HotWheelsBurban

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"Push in on the piston as you turn it to get it back in the caliper."

Sure. Apparently my Mustang is a worst-case scenario for this. I cannot apply enough force by hand to get it to screw in.

Here's my tool for turning the caliper in on rear disc brakes. Half of one of those disc brake cubes, some 1/8" plate, a couple nuts and washers, and some 1/2" allthread with the end squared off with a grinder. The only side of the cube that fit the Mustang had four nubs. I ground two of them off. If you ever have difficult calipers, you can duplicate this in about half an hour if you have the parts on hand.
View media item 32294
Plastic pistons in the caliper or steel? The worst stuck caliper pistons I've seen were Fords with plastic pistons, when FoMoCo started using them in the 80s. Seen them lock up and turn a F350 rotor into several pieces. GM used them too, but thankfully not in our trucks. I used an old crusty 6" C clamp to push mine in. Takes a certain amount of effort, but they went in all the way. Not saying that you don't know what you're doing, just making a suggestion based on my experience in the parts house
 
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