What brands to look for ? Are any "cheapies" worth it for the sometime use they will get? How long a hose do you need? A drier is needed for spray painting - do you need a lubricator? (not when painting )Any of the eBay stuff worth it? And anything else you can add.

_________________
David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

Spray painting a Mini is just about the only need for an air compressor.
Rattle guns are a tool of laziness and no nut needs to be rattled up.
They invented torque wrenches and breaker bars for this reason.

A rattle gun is one sure way to snap wheel studs. The last time I had tyres fitted, the apprentice broke two studs with his ½" drive gun before thinking better of it...

I suppose it's the way they get taught and every other car doesn't break wheel studs, or something like that.

Hand tools seem to be a thing of the past in many places.

Paint Gun, Sand Blaster, Die Grinder, Airjet thingy & Tyre Gauge

_________________
Stop Licking the Dog...I Don't Care Who Started It

air powered saw and chisel are good if your cutting out rust and seperating seams

Air ratchet with custom made really long socket for removing handbrake cables when stripping a mini . Air ratchet comes in handy at other times as well when you've got limited acces/working room . I have a rattle gun , it's been used thousands of times in reverse but only once in forward . It's great for getting things off that the uneducated have jammed on with breaker bars and lengths of pipe but I don't use it to do anything up with .

_________________

3/8" rattle gun, air ratchet, sanders and grinders, air drills, die grinders etc. Air nozzles are great for blowing out the inside of the car before painting and you can get the gunk out from under the crossmember like no vacuum cleaner ever will and it will only blow out onto your wet paint when you spray if you dont remove it before. Power and air tools were made to make life easier and they do if used correctly. Stick with better brands as you need hearing protection for the cheaper ones even if they do the job. Chicago Pneumatic, S&P, Ingersoll Rand are all well priced if you use them even occasionally. Get a compressor with a larger air tank or you will run out of air pretty fast like Mick did with his sand blaster with only one. A squirt of oil into your tools every time you take them out of the cupboard and they will last a life time for home use. Make sure your air line runs from the compressor to you car plus 1 1/2 time around the car for length, probably not worth the money for a retractable reel unless you use it a lot.

_________________
Michael N

S&P are a great brand, and not hugely expensive.

Air hacksaw is one tool I use a lot in my collection.

And very wise words from Clubby74

Cheers,
Tricky

_________________
"Not Speeding Officer..........Qualifying"

Air Nibbler - Awesome tool. Can be used to cut rear speaker holes (I wouldn't do it again, but I did back then) without removing the rear window.

Air drill - Compact and powerful, was great for putting my exhasut sensor in.

Air, orbital sander - Can use with wet sand paper, I wouldn't do it with electric, danger!

And all the painting gear of course, also on work experience I helped "repair" an MGA with an air saw by removing some sills etc. It worked well.

I've found air tools are great and have a big range of uses. Generally they are reasonably priced, and don't break, if oiled regularly !



PS. I should also say, that we (my family) have two compressors, and old, big and powerful one in the shed which was used for painting my car, but got a little unreliable and started over heating in summer . So we bought a small cheap 'project air' one and a retractable reel and mounted that next to the Mini's for quick work and tyre pumping. The cheap one, is suprising good, it's reliably, quieter (believe it or not!) and much more adjsutable. However it runs out of steam fairly quick, so it's not recommended for big jobs like painting.

_________________
1964 Morris 850, 1330 Supercharged - 81.8hp atws.
1975 Leyland Mini S 1100S powered - Nice and reliable.
1977 Leyland Mini LS - Project LS-T

I've got a few things but a cheapo rattle gun is great for getting things undone. I always use a torque wrench for critical things and hand tools for tightening though.

Daniel

_________________
Videos - Turbocharged A-Series on Dyno & at Wakefield
Mafs waz not my strong subgeckt at skkol

I can't get by without my sandblaster. It cleans, blasts, removes paint and is therapy for a weary soul at the end of a looong day.

There's something about destruction which completes one....


Supercrap have a sale on with their 2.5 HP compressors at the moment (if it hasn't ended) you get most of the air tools listed above, impact sockets etc included with one of their compressors. Beats buying them individually, and they're not that crappy either I have found.

_________________
SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

I have a right angle grinder. its awesome for cutting out panels that join another at a right angle coz you can get in really close. I have a air ratchet but I dont use it much as its a bit of overkill. The rattle gun on the other hand is badass, breaker bar pfffft . They are supercheap but the amount I use them they should last for a while. I paid about $99 for a tyre pump, rattle gun, air hammer, degreaser, and ratchet and a few other bits a pieces. If you have ever rounded a bolt off trying to undo it it is a hundred bucks well spent.

_________________

Love my air tools, most of them being Toolex, including the compressor. I went for a big one, because I plan on doing several cars in my lifetime (I'm only 22, but the list includes many American muscle cars, I hope to do at least 1)

Toolex 1/4" Die Grinder - one of greatest investments, bout $50 - $60 for a little kit (the bit's are useless stone crap), and I paid $80 for a real nice burr bit, eats metal like no tomorrow!
https://ishop.gasweld.com.au/ishop/stock/item/534389

Toolex 3" Cut-Off Wheel - been great as a little grinder for cleaning little things like burrs on bolts, making bolts into taps and lots of other little jobs.
https://ishop.gasweld.com.au/ishop/stock/item/576144

Grip (I think it is) 1/2" Air ratchet - good little tool which I bought mainly to undo and make my work easier, got 1/2" because thats what my socket set is. Although I've done 99% of the mini with my 1/2" set, a 3/8" & 1/4" would be beneficial as well. In which case I'd get a 3/8" Stubby air ratchet.

Grip HVLP Spraygun (anadized blue with alloy paint res.) - Awesome spraygun (my first) but comes with 2.0mm and 1.4mm tips and all bits needed to sway, and was about $100, its been a great investment.

Toolex 15S Compressor - 58L tank, 15cfm. Its been great!
https://ishop.gasweld.com.au/ishop/stock/item/535018

Air blower - one of the most used accessories! Dust off anything and prep for paint! (And make wheel bearings spin really really fast! )

Edit:

Also got a supercheap Random Orbital sander, has been awesome as well, cept if oiled with a couple of drops it tends to oil your project as well after some heavy use.

And my next tool will probably be a rattle gun, undo'ing like never before!

The Mini's studs are smaller then "normal" wheel studs so the apprentice who's used to every other car overtorques them and doesn't have the experience to recognise his mistake before they snap.