Date:         Mon, 24 Jul 1995 12:11:14 -0700
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         wabbott@megatest.com (William Abbott)
Subject:      Wheel bearings/Make your own drift

	When I started playing wheel-bearing games, I took myself
down to the store and tried to buy a brass drift to tap the races
out. $25 or something- yow! So I went to my friendly local hardware
store (FLHS) and and bought a 3" brass rod either 3/8" or 1/2" diameter
for something less than $25- more like $8 I think, and sawed it
into 4, 9" sections. In the metric world, buy a meter of rod and saw
it into 250mm sections. I then gave two away as presents and still
have the other two. Of course I dressed the ends of the drifts I'd
made with a file, but using the tool will dent and deform the
end so don't get real attached to the flat, shiny, end.

	On the subject of Tools You Can Make, I also made myself
a pucka brake bleeding jar- First buy the silicone rubber tubing
from your local hobby shop- buy a short piece of each of the likely-looking
sizes and try them for fit, go back and buy 2-3 feet of the size
that fits snug over the bleeder nipple. Then buy a length of brass
tubing that the silicone rubber is tight over.
	Marshmellow Cream jars are wider than they are tall, hold about 
a pint. Drill two holes in the lid, one centered and one half way out 
to the edge, that just clear the brass tubing you'll solder into them. 
Cut the brass tube into a long piece that goes to the bottom of the jar
and sticks out about 2" (50mm) from the center hole, and a short
piece that is about 2" (50mm) long for the off-center hole.
	Solder in the short tube first for practice, remembering to
heat the work and touch the solder to it, not the iron.
	Then put a paper match or scrap of cardboard at the bottom of
the jar as a spacer, screw the lid down and feed the long tube through
the centered hole until its resting on the spacer at the bottom, centered,
of the jar. Solder the long tube, take out the spacer, mark the jar "POISON,
BRAKE FLUID" and you're done. The free end of the silicone tubing can be
pushed onto the vent tube when not in use, and that keeps the system closed
so anything in it doesn't spill.

	Bill