Five quick, easy, low-buck (or free) garage tips to make working on your car easier

Posted on Dec 2, 2016 in Featured | 2 comments

While working on a recent tech story for Hemmings Muscle Machines, I was reminded of a few of the things that I do or use in the garage that can make certain projects a bit easier to complete. I’m providing them here so you can benefit from them, as well. At the same time, we can open a dialog for you to share some of your garage ideas to help the rest of us.

If the Shoe

When it comes to car stuff, I’m a pack rat, so keeping things organized can be a chore. Keeping things organized cheaply can be even more of a challenge, right along with finding places to put everything. For about $10-$15, I was able to make use of the garage door pass-through to the house and clean up my workspace a bit more.

I picked up one of those shoe organizers that are usually hung on the inside of a closet door. Then I loaded it up with a bunch of my garage supplies. They now stay neat and organized, are easy to get to and are stored in a space that otherwise would have gone unused. If you decide to do this, make sure you get the ones with the clear pouches, not the opaque ones, so you can see all the stuff easily.

Trucker-sized Reflection

A few years ago, a big pickup with huge mirrors passed my vehicle too closely and broke the driver-side rearview mirror glass the night before we were to leave on a six-hour multi-day trip. Not having an outside rearview mirror is not only incredibly annoying, it can be downright dangerous.

With no time to replace the mirror with a new GM one, I decided to visit a local truck stop and buy a large, plastic, wide-angle, convex mirror as a temporary fix. Since it was made primarily for a tractor-trailer, it was quite large and just about the right size to fit inside the stock housing and replace the broken glass. It even had its own adhesive pad to ease installation. And it cost about $5.

When I later got the mirror replaced at the dealer, I decided to keep the convex one in my toolbox for anytime I have to work under the dashboard. By properly positioning it and a light I can see everything I need to see without having to lie down across the footwell with the doorsill destroying my lower back.

No Creepin’

Sometimes I want to just get under the car quickly and easily to get some work done without having to jack it up and use jackstands, but the creeper won’t fit under it with me on it and the car at static ride height. I could just lie on the cold garage floor, but that’s no fun either. I started using some of those lock-together anti-fatigue foam flooring tiles that are sold in just about every discount store and hardware store on the planet. They are about a ½-inch thick to offer some padding and insulation from the cold. Though they likely aren’t impervious to all automotive fluids, they do clean up fairly well from some spills. They are also cheap enough to replace easily if you ruin a few. Usually sold four to a package for about $17, you probably only need two to work under the car, so you’ll already have two replacements—or you can double them up for a real cushy workspace.

Get Your Cans in Line

From time-to-time we all double-up on various automotive fluids, cleaners and/or spray primers and paints etc. Some may have a finite shelf life. Just in case, I take just a few seconds to grab a marker and put a date on the bottom of each new can or bottle before I place it on the shelf. This way I’ll know what order to use them in to hopefully ensure that whatever’s inside performs at its best. And I’ll know when it’s time to simply dispose of those that may be too old to do their job correctly.

Happy Homes for Redundant Hand Tools

It never fails: If you have worked on your own car over the years, you have certainly ended up with redundant tools—multiple copies of identically sized screwdrivers, sockets, wrenches, hammers etc. The situation could have been facilitated by receiving tools as gifts over the years or maybe you replaced tools that you lost, but ended up finding again later. Whatever the reason, here’s how to put them to work, while making your life easier. I just take individual groups of tools that will work for specific tasks and keep them in their own boxes at the ready.

I have a box with tools needed to work inside the house. I have a box that’s ready to travel in the car, etc. This way I don’t have to take everything I need out of the big toolbox in the garage every time I have a job to do that’s not in the garage. Having these smaller boxes prepared saves time and effort and puts tools to use that would have just sat there. And the garage box stays fully stocked, so I don’t have to hunt down what I would have taken out of it.