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NICE TO HAVE TOOLS IN MY GARAGE

Also very useful – all time favourites

Over the years I’ve acquired so many tools, so much stuff. Most of them are not every day tools, but they make life easier, working on cars more fun and they are very useful for more advanced projects. This is my list of Nice To Have Tools that I have in my garage.

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Oil Change

Time for an Oil Change? Well, make sure you have a new filter and the right oil for your car. Problems loosening the oil filter? I’ve had severe trouble several times. And I tried different tools, depending on th car, some work better than others. Then I found two little helpers, that both work great. Sometimes you can’t really get to the filter (my Saab 900 SPG for example), so the other tool works better and vice versa. Thats the 74mm Oil Filter Wrench, works with a 3/8″ or outside 27mm hex. Read more about choosing the right oil and how to change oil.

Not a big fan of universal oil filter wrenches, bought this for a car that didn’t have the correct oil filter wrench available.

Then I got this drain pan for an oil change, works perfectly well, easy to catch bolts and fill the old oil into containers. What was important for me when I picked this was the size, it is big enough (16 litre or 4.23 gallon) for the amount of oil that comes out of an aircooled Porsche 911.

And if you want to fill new oil into your aircooled Porsche and no one to hold the funnel, you want to make sure the funnel is long enough and is leaning onto the decklid. Not so easy not to spill any oil while filling in oil after an oil/filter change. Tried different ones, then I found this one. Works great, especially when you do the job by yourself. It even has a filter in it which is super easy to clean.

How about transmission oil? Ever changed that yourself on an early aircooled Porsche 911? Well, not that easy to get to the filling hole. This one does the job just great!

Bolts, Nuts & Threads

I always tell my girlfriend, it will only take half an hour. Yeah well, you know how the story ends. Getting screws out is while working on classic cars, a major issue. I tried spot-welding but this extractor set worked so well at so many occasions.

But sometimes you can’t even use the extractor set, e.g. when space is limited. This nut splitter helped me so many times. It works with nuts from 13-24mm.

But sometimes you can’t just replace a nut or a bolt, you have to fix the thread. Honestly, even if those moments might not be the greatest in life, I love to use a tap and die set. This is the one I got and I am happy with it to this day.

Valve Adjustment

If you do adjust the valves on your car, no matter if it’s a Porsche or BMW or any other car, you need a feeler gauge. That’s the most precise one I could find.

Piston Ring Pliers

If you go even further, work on the engine yourself and want to get your pistons back in, this is a necessary tool to compress piston rings, no matter if its a water- or aircooled engine. 

Universal Ball Joint Puller

Needed a tool to remove ball joint pivots of steering arms and steering tie rods. Found this in the catalog of Hazet and was quite surprised how great it is. Jaw opening 23mm, Clamping range 2.56 inch. 

Impact Wrench

The Ryobi impact wrench was the first Ryobi power tool I bought and I couldn’t be happier with the product in all respects. Get the Ryobi impact wrench as a single product and buy the fast charger and a 2-battery pack seperately! Saves money later! The impact wrench has up to 400 Nm of torque, 3 speeds and the battery lasts forever!

Power Ratchet

Another great tool that I don’t want to miss. A fantastic tool for hard to reach areas with up to 40 Nm of force. Super light and easy to regulate speed with that paddle switch.

Tire Inflator & Pressure Gauge

A lot of people ignore the importance of the right tire pressure. After I got the first Ryobi tool (and was happy with it), I bought this tire inflator & pressure gauge. It has a maximum pressure of 150 PSI, thats enough. And it’s super portable, light and small, perfect if you go to the track!

Air Blow Gun

Well, honestly, there is no need for an air blow gun if you don’t have a compressor already. But if you got one, an air blow gun is very useful to remove dust or to dry parts.

Rivet Joints

Thats a very useful hand riveting tool, good for all kinds of rivet joints, blind rivets up to 5mm of diameter, a fast and safe way to do rivets.

Magnetic Pick-Up Tool

Ever lost a bolt or a nut or a washer in the engine bay? I did, many times. and I was very happy I had this magnetic pick-up tool. It say it’s got a traction force of up to 4500g. Never tried that, nuts and washers are never that heavy.

Brake Pistons

Working on brakes is not for everyone. And if you’re not sure about what you’re doing, let experts do the work. But if you feel comfortable with working on the brakes, a brake pistons readjusting tool comes in handy. I bought this more likely by accident but I am happy to have it and I used that a lot while working on my Porsches, BMW, Volkswagen and Saab.

Brake pistons readjusting tool

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