We caught up with our Technical Editor Mat Boyd to see what Tricks of the Trade he's been using in July to add to your garage duties.
FREE TRICK PISTON CIRCLIP
TROUBLE:
I’m sure everyone has done this at some point but you are trying to remove the circlip holding in the piston gudgeon pin and it flies out and shoots across the room and you are left just praying it didn’t go in the engine.
TRICK:
Instead of prying the circlip out with a screw driver. Take a set of small needle nose pliers and grab then end of the circlip and pull it out holding onto it tightly. This will stop it from shooting out across the garage.
DIFFICULTY: 1
TIME: 1 minutes
COST: $0
TOOLS: Needle nose pliers
FREE TRICK | TOILET RAG
TROUBLE:
If you’re like me then all your rags are either dirty or way too big to be stuffing inside an engine.
TRICK:
Take a roll of toilet paper and rip it off to the right size, scrunch it up and stuff that inside any ports that you want to stop any dirt or debris getting into. It’s much easier than ripping up rags.
DIFFICULTY: 1
TIME: 0 min
COST: $0
TOOLS: Toilet roll
FREE TRICK | SQUISH IT
TROUBLE:
You are fitting an aftermarket cylinder head to your two stroke and you need to measure the squish to determine which size base gaskets to fit under the cylinder.
TRICK:
Take a length of solder and lay it nice and firmly across the crown of the piston. You can even stick it in place with grease. Then refit the head and tighten into place. Turn the motor over and then remove the solder and measure its thickness. The solder will be squashed between the piston crown and the cylinder head and measuring it will give you the squish gap.
DIFFICULTY: 4
TIME: 10 min
COST: $0
TOOLS: Solder, spanners, venire calipers
CHEAP TRICK | SEIZED SEAT
TROUBLE:
The YZ mini bikes have a bolt at the rear of the seat that fixes the seat into place. Because the way it is located it can fill up with mud and dirt and the thread starts to corrode causing it to seize or become really difficult to remove.
TRICK:
When you remove the seat, place a small amount of never seize on the thread of the bolt. This will prevent the thread from corroding and stop the seat bolt from seizing in place.
DIFFICULTY: 1
TIME: 1 minutes
COST: $0
TOOLS: Never seize compound, 8mm T-bar
