Tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. we'll be back in the shop live for a special episode that JG calls "NO SUBSTITUTIONS: Tools you should never try to fake." We’ve got a few ideas of specific-use tools you should never try and improvise, but we’d love to hear yours as well. Post your thoughts below and we’ll discuss and demonstrate live Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. We'll embed the live feed here, too.
Pretty much everything in that picture...
Also spring compressors, not that I haven't with ratchet straps.
Ah, you can easily fake a fender roller. But brake line flaring tools? No way.
Turns out pry bars are better pry bars than screwdrivers. Who knew?
The0retical wrote: Also spring compressors, not that I haven't with ratchet straps.
I used a bicycle once. Desperate times call for drastic measures and all that.
Pete Gossett wrote:The0retical wrote: Also spring compressors, not that I haven't with ratchet straps.I used a bicycle once. Desperate times call for drastic measures and all that.
Useless without pics, as the kids say. I need a tutorial in how to use a bicycle as a spring compressor.
Safety glasses, with a decent pair of those, I'll happily fake the rest.
air impact guns.
i have a still perfect working ingersoll rand one that is 30 years old handed down from my grandfather, and a pile of dead cheap ones.
Daeldalus wrote: air impact guns. i have a still perfect working ingersoll rand one that is 30 years old handed down from my grandfather, and a pile of dead cheap ones.
Ahh, the Ingersoll 231C tire shop gun. I sold hundreds of those.
I own one that looks like it was dragged across the country behind a truck and it still kicks ass.
I've tried and failed faking a low-lift trans jack. Turns out having a real one is much better.
Not car related but chainsaw.
Today I turned 1.5 large trees into firewood. Short of a lightsaber, no other tool could have come even close.
I've never owned a fender roller but I have rolled the fenders on probably 40 cars. So... that one is easy to fake. In fact, it's easier without that ridiculous contraption in the pic above.
Flaring tools are a good one. So are dies (taps too).
Come to think about it - there is very little you can't "fake". Bearing presses, spring compressors, ball joint tools, snap ring pliers, punches, recessed bearing pullers ... you name it and I've done it without the right tool. I consider it a badge of honor that I can replace cams and adjust a BMW VANOS without a single special tool. But it's kind-of a lie because I just made my own stuff.
I have a fertile imagination, a big scrap pile, a lathe and a welder. I mock your specialty tool catalog. Until I'm in a hurry... then shut up and take my money.
an engine lift.
I have seen some really sketchy stuff on the internet. Nope I don't want any of that.
I've done a double VANOS service on an S62 without special tools - but I can tell you that the fender rolling contraption pictured above is a nice step up from the usual tools. Very controllable.
Rod bolt stretch gauge.
Daeldalus wrote: an engine lift.
I usually use a forklift
I guess thats more of a gun at the knife fight than an improvisation.
HappyAndy wrote:Daeldalus wrote: an engine lift.I usually use a forklift I guess thats more of a gun at the knife fight than an improvisation.
I've done that more than a few times. Then I got a proper hoist. It's so much easier than the forklift, even though I'm [bragging] pretty damn good at moving the forks. 
Keith Tanner wrote:Pete Gossett wrote:Useless without pics, as the kids say. I need a tutorial in how to use a bicycle as a spring compressor.The0retical wrote: Also spring compressors, not that I haven't with ratchet straps.I used a bicycle once. Desperate times call for drastic measures and all that.
Cheapie Mongoose MTB, I removed the rear triangle & flipped it upside down, rednecked a pivot using a spare axle through the rear dropouts attached to my workbench, placed the shock assembly upright on the floor(I think I used a spare wheel to help keep it upright, and centered the shock mount between the seat tube, seat stays & brake bridge. I used a pipe or prybar against the bottom bracket & under the axle for leverage.
It's been 10-years ago, but I remember that my spring compressors were too thick to slide out of the coil gap after I installed the springs(Racing Beat springs on AGX shocks). I also remember that the compressed shock assembly was pointed upward toward my chin, and I was quite relieved to get through all-4 of them with myself intact.
Probably stupid in hindsight, but I had no other option at the time, not knowing anyone with a compressor that would have fit, or being able to afford having a shop do it.
Sadly no pics since I was kinda preoccupied.
mazdeuce wrote: Turns out pry bars are better pry bars than screwdrivers. Who knew?
Chisels are better chisels than flathead, for sure.
mazdeuce wrote: Turns out pry bars are just less bendy pry bars than screwdrivers. Who knew?
fixed that for you
I must admit, I never knew there was a dedicated fender roller tool like that. I always used a baseball bat.
I'm going to say welder- although I've heard that with the proper transformer and some jumper cables it is possible 
Trans_Maro wrote:Daeldalus wrote: air impact guns. i have a still perfect working ingersoll rand one that is 30 years old handed down from my grandfather, and a pile of dead cheap ones.Ahh, the Ingersoll 231C tire shop gun. I sold hundreds of those. I own one that looks like it was dragged across the country behind a truck and it still kicks ass.
I think I've bought replacements for my IR231 three times in the thirty plus years I've owned it. Each time I've sent the IR in for an overhaul and when I got it back the new gun never got used again.
Tire spoons. I could easily have bought a decent set with the cost of replacement tubes, from pinching them with big screwdrivers, while working on my dirt bike as a teen.
That fender roller tool has been useless everytime I tried it (3 times). You can't fake a good baseball bat.
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