Most unsual household item used whilst working on a lotus

Evening all

I thought I would start a fun and hopefully amusing topic for a change on the basis that my twincam is in my kitchen and to do this I had to remove the kitchen table and four stools. The table has since been converted into a trolley to move the engine on and a ramp to get it in and out of the front door :laughing: Plus at the weekend one of the stools is going to be converted into a gearbox stand given that the trolley jack that is meant to be supporting the front of it whilst the engine is out keeps going down.

So what is the most unusual household item anyone has used?

Cheers

Andy

are you trying to get me killed? Uber Fraue gets huffy If I use the kitchen table to rebuild a carb after she found out about the dish washer being used as a a parts cleaner and the oven to shape perspex --ed :slight_smile:

Beau doesnā€™t complain about much, Not even when I put his dish out side. If it raining he just wonā€™t go out to eat.

May not be unusual, but it needs to be praised - the wire coathanger. Iā€™ve lost count of the uses to which they can be put; general pokey thing, long distance hook thing, third hand for stretching steering rack boot over joints, general heat resistant fastenerā€¦ Always keep one in your toolkit. You never know, you may even need it to hang things up.

The modern trend is for plastic hangers, so this indespensible item is becoming rare - stock up now!

Jeremy

Like every one else I suppose Iā€™ve used:-
Dishwasher - clean parts before welding.
Oven - heating the ring gear before fitting.
Freezer - cooling valve guides and seats before installation.
John

Drinking straw - couldnā€™t for the life of me get the ā€œcoat hookā€ back in, when I refitted the rear trim, in the end I put a drinking straw through from the outside, through the hole in the air vent of my +2, and then I could get the stud located into the hole.

that would be the right angled bend piece of white plastic drainpipe from an old sink trap that was just the right size to fit in beween my inline synchrometer and weber pipes by the pedal boxā€¦ or would it be the leftover brass harpsichord string i used to keep manifold downpipe ceramic wrap in place? Iā€™ve already told you about the neat replacement for knackered plus 2 sidelight gaskets is the narrow white self adhesive foam draught excluder you can buy from B&Q for windows & doorsā€¦
Iā€™ll stop there then.

There was me thinking the drinking straw was the best one so far until the mention of one of my favourite musical insturements. Was this left over wire, or is your harpischord now minus a note or two?
Andy

Great question, the responses should be fun to read.

Related to the oven trick, Iā€™ve used a hot plate from a crock pot to heat up crankshaft gears.

In addition to the aforementioned uses for coathangers , I use them as welding rods all the time. I also hang a lot of parts to be spray painted on hangers.

Turkey basters work great to siphon brake fluid out of master cylinder reservoirs.

I keep my Zymol wax in the fridge per manufacturer instructions. Smells a lot like coconut so it kind of fits in.

Barbecue tongs work great to handle hot items like hot crankshaft gears recently heated on crock pot hot platesā€¦

I did try to cure freshly VHTā€™ed headers once (and only once) in the oven. Never really did get all the smell out.

Long, long ago I used the barbecue pit to boil water so I could ā€œboil outā€ the two carbs from my Sunbeam Rapier. Yep, boiling water to boil out carbs (I was 17 at the time). Oh yeah, used one of my momā€™s pots (never really did get all the taste out).

An ultrasonic cleaner is useful (the sort used to clean jewellry etc).

Cleans nuts, bolts, washers, plastic etc.
Even does the plugs !

Regards,
Stuart.

Everyone has had their head in the oven at least once in their life havenā€™t they ā€¦?

Ralph.

And i can still hear my mothers shriek when she discovered that the chest of drawers in my bedroom, now contained my freshly dismantled & cleaned engine, all laid out in order of course. Who needs cloathes anyway! She just didnt understand, Mothers! Curly :laughing:


In the above photo there are three flat headed screws used to secure the window frame to the door. The bottom screws are easy as they go into bobbins, the top screw does not, it has a washer that you hang on the screw and then attempt to start the nut though an opening that allows only a couple of fingers in at a time. I use a box wrench (ring spanner) with a bit of plastic bag (bread bag) and push the nut in through the plastic and then insert the the box wrench and turn the screw until it catches. that way I avoid droping the nut countless times before I get it started on the screw.

Gary

Great tip Gary, sure beats supergluing the nut to the end of my finger while I try to get the bolt started.

Stuart

You are welcome, I burned on this a lot of times and got lucky.

Gary

My wife bought a special brush for washing thermos bottles. Of course it was mislabeled - itā€™s perfect for cleaning the intake and exhaust ports. She also bought a mislabeled BBQ grate cleaning brush. Nice stiff brass bristles, perfect for cleaning aluminum parts without risking damage. Donā€™t forget the free tooth brushes from the Dentist, very handy for cleaning and detailing.

Don

How did the turkey taste afterward?

I use a four foot measure ā€œyardā€ stick turned on edge underneath the zipper of my tonneau to act as a water shed. I used to use an actual yard stick to measure the fuel in the tank, have since opted for a shorter small wooden dowel.

Most unusual (wasnā€™t for a Lotus) was the kitchen floor tile grid. Decades ago I had an SCCA D-sports racer chassis and a buddy of mine and I turned it on edge, brought it through the kitchen door and set it down squarely to make sure all corners and hubs were straight and true.

Continuing slightly off topic, Iā€™ll have to quiz my eighty four year old dad on this oneā€¦ His list of cars worked on at home readsā€™53 Morris Minor convertible, '55 Sunbeam Talbot, '57 Renault Dauphine, '63 MG 1100, '65 MG 1100, '67 Fiat 850 Coupe, with a couple of old VW campers thrown in and a two speed '63 Buick Special small aluminum block
V8 station wagon, followed by Scirroccoes, Jetta, two Benzes, and finally a Mazda sport 3ā€¦ thatā€™s chronologically. ā€¦ Now Iā€™m wondering if thereā€™s anything in the house he DIDNā€™T use to keep that batch of stuff running here in the USA.

Magnetise your screwdrivers.

Invaluable, and at no cost.

Regards,
Stuart.

Iā€™ve got a wine bottle cork in the back of the airbox where the crankcase breather used to fit. Does that count?