OK, stand by for what is probably a dumb question…
Fairly new mx5 owner here, have had to have quite a few repairs done to get my 1992 mk1 in shape, but am slowly getting to know the car’s innards enough to feel confident enough to attempt a few repairs of my own, simple stuff like adjusting alternator belt etc. for now.
So just wondering what tools I should invest in? Especially spanners - is there a certain size (or range of sizes) that would cover most tasks, or is there an adjustable spanner people would recommend?
Apologies for asking such a basic question, but not sure where else to find this information!
(oh, and while I’m asking dumb questions, would a 1 ton car jack be sufficient for changing tyres?)
You are after metric spanners and 99% of spanners sold today are metric, AF spanners which are in inches have not been used on cars since about 1980.
Sizes you will need go from 6mm to 22 mm for most jobs about the car.
Say two set of combination spanners that are open end at one end and have a ring spanner of the same size at the other end.
A socket set would also be handy with a ratchet. if you can get one with a 3/8 drive that would suit most bolts on the car. A half inch drive set would do but the ratchet is physically larger and in some cases there is not a lot of room on the MX5. A socket set with both 1/4 drive and 3/8 drive would possibly be better as the 1/4 drive ratchet etc can work in a more confined space especially for smaller nuts and bolts.
Keep an eye out for spanner sets on LIDL and ALDI as the come up quite often are are usually about £7 and are of adequate quality for normal domestic use. Buy two sets as you may want to put a spanner on the nut and one on the bolt and a socket may not be suitable in all cases.
Get yourself a good rechargeable hand light and a magnetic bowl to keep nuts and bolts in when you are working on the car, the bowls are available on ebay for about £3. The hand lights about £15
If possible get a small two ton trolley jack if you have the space to store it the halfords one will be just fine and if you realy want to treat yourself get one that goes down to 80mm most are about 130mm at the smallest hight and this can be a touch too tall for some MX5 jobs but they are usually dearer say £70 ish but also buy a pair of axle stands and some wheel chocks. These are safety items with the jack as the jack can fail.
Combination ring spanners, metric; I like the ratchet professional set from Halfords. The fine ratchet, especially on the 12mm, has been a life saver at times.Although you can buy spanners individually, and you will find 8mm, 10mm, 12mm, 14mm and 16mm being used a lot, the full sets (usually upto 22 or 24mm) are better value. The Halfords ratchet set is about £50, and frequently its on offer, but its worth the cost.
Get a 1/2" drive socket set as well. I started off years ago with the usual Halfords 3/8" drive set, which came with metric and never-used Imperial. That was also very good, but there were a could of occasions I managed to snap an extension. Eventually I went to 1/2", and built up a set from scratch. Again, I went for a Halfords ratchet; these are very good for the price, and have never let me down (I once toyed with a funky American “Scorpion” drive, which had a sort of t-bar at the end of the lever). I prefer the hex-sided sockets, rather than the cheaper star sockets, since they are less likely to round off the heads.
I don’t really use adjustible spanner much; there are a couple about, just cheap ones, large and small. Molegrips get a fair amount of use.
A metric Allen key set is also invaluable; you need them to adjust the rear brakes for instance. No need to go fancy; basic no-brand ones will work.
In addition to the above I’d also consider getting a breaker bar - very handy for those hard to undo fasteners (like wheel nuts refitted with a windy-gun). If using 6-sided sockets on a breaker bar with limited access remember that you can turn the socket through 90 degrees on the 1/2" square which will effectively rotate the hex by 30 degrees (very handy when fighting with brake caliper bolts in side a wheel arch).
Definitely. When I was a kid I had a star type socket set. When I started working on real stuff I binned them and used proper 6 sided sockets. The Halfords professional stuff takes a lot of abuse and can be very cheap with a trade card.
Get youself this kit for home use, we got some to try out and to see just how far we could get with the kit, and just how stronge the spanners etc are, we have done god knows how many water pump changes, suspension, diff’s etc with this kit, well worth the money and we have not been gentle with them, they have had some hammer,and i mean hammer.
Everything is in it par a 9 and 7mm spanners and a good breaker bar which are easy got to add to the kit
Instead of a dedicated breaker bar, I have one of these:
Takes a 1/2" drive socket, cheap, available everywhere, and you can stash it in your boot, to replace the rather pathetic factory wheel brace.
The spanners not to buy are those cheap ratchet sets you see at sunday markets. Utterly useless;
Heh, a genuine Leatherman is also invaluable; the bone saw on my Supertool is handy for hacking through plastic. Forget about the knockoffs; mines taken 17 years of abuse. The story behind Leatherman is that the inventer went on holiday to Europe in a VW van, and when he got back, he thought it would be real hand to have a single tool to cover all of those common jobs. Not sure where the bone saw or skinning blade came into it on the Supertool though.
8mm for bleed nipples on brakes (7mm if recon calipers have been fitted). 10mm, 12mm, 14mm and 17mm cover most basic jobs. 19mm for the sump plug on early engines. 21mm for some suspension stuff, the wheel nuts and crankshaft pulley bolt and 22mm for the lambda sensor. 23mm for the diff filler plug (the 14mm open ender will do for the gearbox filler) & 24mm for the gearbox and diff drain. Get a spark plug socket too.
Thanks for all the detailed info, really appreciate it, very useful indeed! Will see what my budget can stretch to, though a bit spent now on tools will almost certainly save me a fortune in garage fees.
You can usually get axle stands and a hydraulic jack as a combo deal from Halfords etc. 2 stands will suffice for now; it can get a bit larey raising a car up on 4 stands, and there aren’t many jobs that really need this.
Note, you can get further discounts on screwdriver and tool sets if brought with this.
TBH, going under a car with axle stands isn’t particularly great. If you are going to do something like fit an exhaust, underseal, its grim. OK for drain oil, working on brakes etc.
These are basically the same as the Clarkes stands sold by Machinemart. They’re rubbish IMHO: used a 3 tonne pair to support the back end of a Jag, and managed to bend one of them. The ratchet idea doesn’t really work; I prefer the ones that use a steel pin to set the height.
Each to their own, I really like the ratchet stands, easy to raise and lock and I haven’t bent mine yet even under the Jag. Mind you, I seem to remember that mine are the taller 6 tonne Clarke stands. Only disadvantage is that you cannot stack them for storage.
That jack is better than nothing, but a 38cm max height is a a bit restrictive. I would prefer to put the money towards the cost of a higher lift jack giving more room to work under the car.
I’ve got one of those breaker bar / wheel wrench thingies above - Draper one. I very rarely use it as the angle is wromg which means it puts pressure on a socket at an angle - result is that I’ve split 2 sockets on my wheels.
I’ve invested in a socket / spanner set from Halfords professional range. Cost me £100 & has 1/4", 1/2" & 3/8" drives & sockets as well as ratchet spanners. Best thing is that it has a lifetime warranty so if you break something then you just take it back to a Halfords branch & it gets replaced. A worthwhile investment I think - they have always got them on offer.
Makes sense - a jack and 2 axle stands shouldn’t set me back by too much, then I could do things like oil changes. Will definitely be investing in these things asap, thanks again for all the info.