Ok be honest. Half of you know what i mean and the other half of you wouldnt know a set if you saw them. Survey time.
doriandarby,
Oct 21, 10:08pm
I have two sets.One in my toolbox for the motorbike valve gaps, the other on my hands for the wife's valve gap
andrea_w,
Oct 21, 10:09pm
.and I bet that other half is racing off to google to find out what a feeler gauge is lol. Yep I know what it is. and nope, I didn't use google haha
bigjerry,
Oct 21, 10:12pm
ha! what gap does she run mate. .Like new or is there a little more tolerance for wear these days. oh and what bike did you say it was haha
doriandarby,
Oct 21, 10:13pm
Well the big end is knocking a bit these days, and the valve has recessed into the head a bit.The bike is all good though.
bigjerry,
Oct 21, 10:13pm
I have a couple of sets but i must say I havent had them out of the top drawer in a long long time.
antwerp87,
Oct 21, 10:50pm
i have 2 sets. One angled one for those tightheads that you cant get to the valves with and the 2nd kinchrome set which i have had since i was an apprentice. Use them with every cam belt
oramac,
Oct 21, 11:48pm
How can you maintain vehicles without them!
whqqsh,
Oct 22, 2:28am
use them on wheat mill rollers every week (but theyre about a foot long). but with electronic ignition these days I dont think my cars seen one for years.
yogibearz,
Oct 22, 3:34am
yep got several sets but they get bugger all use now.
lovemore_mbigi,
Oct 22, 4:26am
Have two quality sets of these indispensable items.
And they get used regularly.
Barry Cadeish Hint: Need shim stock!A cheap set can be cut up to answer.
skin1235,
Oct 22, 5:06am
biggest PITA when they changed to metric, have a few sets, most were imperial, the early metrics came out double marked as imperial and metric, but the markings quickly wore off
who still has a rachet tappet adjuster!, screw driver down through the middle of the socket and a marked dial with degrees, who even remembers them-or the procedure to use them properly the only way to properly adjust with used rocker arms or cupped valve stems ( triumph etc)
skin1235,
Oct 22, 5:07am
many a hillman imp with a few 'buttons' made from the spare blades
ginga4lyfe,
Oct 22, 6:10am
Feeler guages! I got quite a few of those, about 4 metric ones, and 2 imperial ones, I also got horse shoe type micrometers, and normal Micrometers, I got loads of tools for a guy that never actually was an apprenntice mechanic or auto sparky, though i do most of the work a mech or auto sparky would do ( though i hate alarms )
socram,
Oct 22, 6:11am
With the one surviving older car not doing the mileage and the newer cars going to the main dealers for service, mine don't get much use these days!
sr2,
Oct 22, 6:39am
I sometimes wonder how many young mechanics have ever used bearing blue or a boring bar or even know how to weld properly; how times have changed. I must point out however that I??
skin1235,
Oct 22, 6:58am
A glance in the drawers of the modern mechanics toolbox says that lapping sticks, grinding pastes, bearing blue, plastigauge etc are unknown products today, spill testers, shoe riveters, cylinder hones ( brakes) are equally missing from the workshop benches too there are many who still don't realise that a flexihose off a grease gun will fit most calipers to remove seized pistons far quicker and less damaging than nipping the piston in a vice or with pliers etc The engineering skills are not even taught anymore - no lathe to build a bendix removal tool, no drilling, threading and filing , then blueing and hardening to make a decent pair of brake hose clamps back in the day we even had to make a single flaring tool for multiple size pipe - and they had to work properly - the better ones could actually made that single into a double with another 10 minutes on the lathe
ontwowheels,
Oct 22, 8:58am
yip i know what feeler gauges are- use them fairly regularly at work. Still imperial too. Most of what I work on was built in imperial. I cant weld, but have no requirement to do so, would like to pick up the skill. maybe one day when I have time and $$ for a project car. not sure what a shoe riveter is, but regularly use reaction guns (for solid rivets), as well as blind rivet guns, both hand and pnuematic.
ladatrouble,
Oct 22, 9:32am
The young guys don't know what half the stuff in my toolbox is.I was showing one a muffler chisel the other day.I have one draw just full of hammers.they just have a hammer.
ontwowheels,
Oct 22, 9:44am
problem is everything is bolt on bolt off these days. how many of the younger generation do anything themselves! It is all oh I ticked up a 20k car, then I got xx garage to fit a Gready blow off valve, thrust intercooler and a linx computer and by 10"exhaust tip xx panel beaters to paint it, and xx auto trimmers to do the interior bro. When I was a little younger (not that I am old now) I was into the rotary scene, but at least all the guys I knew with these cars did the majority of the work themselves, or at least tried too. Some worked well. others never got finished, such as shoe horning a clevland 302 into a S1 RX7. it was driveable, but not finished or road legal when it got passed on to someone else to complete.
pollymay,
Oct 22, 9:47am
Lol I have lots of stuff, I even know how to use valve seat cutters, the old serrated hardened steel ones. Won't touch a modern head's seats though, too hard. Brake cylinder hones etc I use the pretty often, I've had friends go full derp trying to use feeler gauges "there is not one big enough" *takes it, puts a couple together at a guess and hands it back* A rough tolerance check is better than none at all
bellky,
Oct 22, 9:48am
you need them when rebuilding a rotary
lyonruge,
Oct 22, 10:08am
Oh no, feeling old, still have a few sets of feeler blades, did a mitsi forklift last week, 4g15, set the valve clearances, havnt done it in years! had to put points and condenser in it too! Few years back i used to work on a guys 1947 big twin harley, with a sidecar, he had the original manual for it, was reading how to set the tappetts on it, it said to use one thickness of standard writing paper for the inlets and 2 thicknesses of standard writing paper for the exhaust valves!
mugenb20b,
Oct 22, 11:21am
Easy. A lot of engines have hydraulic lifters and distrubutorless ignition systems.
mugenb20b,
Oct 22, 11:23am
$hit.if you need to use feeler blades to do a cambelt, you're doing something wrong.
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