9 old tools almost nobody uses anymore
The nuts and bolts that make up our beloved automobiles have not changed that much over the last 150 years. But the tools needed to maintain them? Those have changed a lot. Software has cemented itself as part of a service technician’s day-to-day regimen, relegating a handful of tools to the history books. (Or, perhaps, to niche shops or private garages that keep many aging cars alive and on the road.)
How many of these now-obsolete tools do you have in your garage? More to the point, which are you still regularly using?
Spark-plug gap tool
Though spark-plug gap tools can still be found in the “impulse buy” section of your favorite parts store, these have been all but eliminated from regular use by the growing popularity of iridium and platinum plugs. These rare-earth metals are extremely resistant to degradation but, when it comes time to set the proper gap between the ground strap and electrode, they are very delicate. That’s why the factory sets the gap when the plug is produced.
These modern plugs often work well in older engines, meaning that gapping plugs is left for luddites—those who like doing things the old way just because. Nothing wrong with that; but don’t be surprised if dedicated plug-gapping tools fade from common usage fairly quickly.
Verdict: Keep. Takes up no real space.
Dwell meter
50 years ago, a tuneup of an engine centered on the ignition system. The breaker points are critical to a properly functioning ignition system, and timing how long those points are closed (the “dwell”) determines how much charge is built up in the ignition coil and thus discharged through the spark plug. Poorly timed ignition discharge is wasted energy, but points-based ignition systems disappeared from factory floors decades ago, and drop-in electronic ignition setups have never been more reliable (or polarizing—but we’ll leave that verdict up to you.)
Setting the point gap properly is usually enough to keep an engine running well, and modern multifunction timing lights can include a dwell meter for those who really need it. A dedicated dwell meter is an outdated tool for a modern mechanic, and thus most of the vintage ones are left to estate sales and online auction sites.
Verdict: Toss once it stops working. Modern versions are affordable and multifunctional.
Distributor wrench
When mechanics did a lot of regular timing adjustments and tuning, a purposely bent distributor wrench made their lives much easier. However, much like ignition points, distributors have all but disappeared. Thanks to coil-on-plug ignition systems and computer-controlled timing, the distributor is little more than a messenger: It simply tells the computer where the engine is at in its rotation.
Timing adjustments have become so uncommon that a job-specific tool is likely a waste of space. If you’ve got room in your tool chest, keep yours around; but know that a standard box-end wrench can usually get the job done and is only fractionally less convenient than the specialized version.
Verdict: Keep if you have them. No need to buy if you don’t.
Pre-OBDII diagnostic scan tools
Prior to the required standardization of on-board diagnostic computers by the U.S. in 1996, a single car could host a wild mix of analog and digital diagnostic methods. OBDII, which stands for On-Board Diagnostic II, wasn’t the first time that a small computer was used to pull information from the vehicle via an electronic connection; it merely standardized the language.
Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s each OEM had its own version of a scan tool. Now those tools can be reverse-engineered and functionally spoofed by a modern computer, allowing access to diagnostic info tools that, at the time, were only available to dealers. Since many pre-OBDII cars are now treated as classics or antiques and driven far less frequently, the need for period-correct diagnostic tools is dropping.
Verdict: Keep. These will only get harder to find with time, and working versions will be even rarer.
Distributor machine
A distributor is simple in concept. Trying to balance the performance and economy of the ignition system, with the distributor attached to a running engine, and achieving proper operation starts to get pretty complicated. That’s where a distributor machine comes in.
A distributor is attached to the apparatus and spun at engine speed by an electric motor. This allows you to literally see how the points are opening and closing. You can also evaluate the function of vacuum or mechanical advance systems. These machines are still great but the frequency that this service is needed these days is few and far between, especially when trying to justify keeping a large tool around and properly calibrated.
Verdict: Keep, if you are a specialty shop or tool collector.
Engine analyzer
Even a casual enthusiast can see there is a lot more information that can be gleaned from a running engine than whatever readouts might be on the dash. Enter the engine analyzer, a rolling cabinet of sensors and processors designed to fill in the data gaps between everything that is happening in a car and what its gauges report.
An engine analyzer is essentially a handful of additional instruments packaged into a small box hanging around the bottom of your tool drawers. It can also house a lot of sensors in a giant cabinet, which was likely wheeled into the corner of the shop in 1989 and left to gather dust. Now engine analyzers can be found listed online for as cheap as $200.
The funny thing is that many of the sensors in these engine analyzers are often the same systems that come built into modern dynamometer tuning systems. In a dyno, the sensors allow the operator to see more than max power; they also show how changes to an engine’s tune affect emissions. Maybe engine analyzers didn’t disappear so much as change clothes.
Verdict: Toss. The opportunity cost of the space these take up can be tough for most home garages. Sensors went out of calibration decades ago so the information you might get from one is dubious at best.
Most pneumatic tools (for home shops)
Air tools hold an odd place in the hearts of many gearheads. For many years the high-pitched zizzzz and chugging hammers of air-driven die grinders and impact drills were the marks of a pro. Or, at least, of someone who decided that plumbing high-pressure air lines around the shop was easier than installing outlets and maintaining corded tools. Air tools are fantastic for heavy use, as they are much easier to maintain and can be rebuilt and serviced.
Those tools can really suffer in lack of use, though, since pneumatic tools rely on seals and valves, neither of which deal well with dry storage. Battery tools have caught up to air tools for most DIY folk. No more air lines or compressors taking up space in the shop—and requiring additional maintenance—and, in return, a similarly sized yet more agile tool.
Verdict: Keep, if you already have the compressor. Don’t have one? Invest in battery tools.
Babbitt bearing molds/machining jigs
Every engine rebuild has to have bearings made for it in some fashion. Today’s cars use insert bearings that are mass-produced to surgical tolerances for a multitude of applications. If you wanted—or more accurately needed—new bearings in your Model T circa 1920, you needed to produce your own … in place … inside the engine. Welcome to Babbitt bearings.
The process is a true art form, from the setup of the jigs to the chemistry of pouring molten metal and machining the resulting orbs to actually fit the crankshaft and connecting rods. Now there are newly cast blocks for your T that replace the Babbitt with insert bearings. Since those antique Ford engines just don’t get abused the way they used to, and lead fairly pampered lives, they need rebuilding far less often than they did in-period. Modern oils also do a better job of protecting these delicate bearings. Since they are less and less in demand, the tooling and knowledge to make Babbitt bearings are difficult to find, and precious when you do.
Verdict: Keep. It’s literally critical to keeping a generation of cars alive.
Split-rim tire tools
Among the realm of scary-looking tools that have earned their infamy, split-rim tools hold court. The concept is simple: The rim is sectioned, allowing it to contort into a slight spiral that can be “screwed” into a tire. (This is almost the reverse of a modern tire machine, which stretches the tire around a solid wheel rim.) When tires needed tubes, both tire and rim were relatively fragile, and the roads were rough, split rims were popular—and for good reason. Now the tooling for drop-center wheels is ubiquitous and shops often won’t take on split-rim work. Success is hard to guarantee, even if techs are familiar with split rims—and they rarely are.
Verdict: Keep. No substitute for the right tools with this job.
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These tools might not make much sense in a dealership technician’s work bay, but that doesn’t mean they should disappear forever. Knowing how to service antiquated technology is as important as ever, whether using old tools or new ones. If you’ve got any of these items, consider it your responsibility to document what the tool does and how to safely use it. Keeping alive the knowledge of where our modern tools came from is powerful.
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Roger on the coil operation description; The coil is a “transformer”… when applied voltage creates a magnetic field in the “primary” winding, THEN is shorted out by the points (or similar), the field “collapses” and induces voltage into the “secondary” (a lot more turns)…. because of the turns ratio, the voltage in the SEC is a lot higher… thus is capable of arcing over, across the plug gap…. and a previous commentator was right – the capacitor (condenser) limits the damage to the point surfaces.
Most of these tools are still useful to me. I can’t help it if the world has become idiot proof and snowflakes don’t even know how to open the hood of a car.
What’s missing? A timing light….
It would seem that any old car that has babbitt bearings that someone could make something to convert them over to a locking insert bearing. I never liked the so-called floating bearings too after our modern oils were developed either. I would think a change over to inserts would be less costly too. I retired a number of years ago & are not up to date on many new things but would love to hear from anyone on this matter.
Interesting that Hagerty, an insurance company specializing in insuring vintage and collector cars, would publish an article encouraging their owners to get rid of a number of the tools required to work on these old machines. Sure, you don’t need a distributor wrench to work on a new car but you might like having it to work on that 1968 Pontiac GTO you have insured with Hagerty. Laughable.
Fine wire (platinum/iridium) plugs may work well in today’s engines. But I find once they do foul, they do not respond to cleaning and re-gapping – throw away and replace. In older low compression engines, or engines with points in their distributor, they can also lead to hard starting and poor off-idle performance. Older massive electrode plugs give a wider, hotter, spark, yielding more reliable ignition at cranking/idle speeds.
You missed one, once important, now obsolete, tool. A valve grinding machine. Before adjustable valve lifters became common, valves were manufactured slightly over-length. With a new valve or after regrinding a valve seat or valve face, it was necessary to grind down the end of the valve stem to obtain the correct valve to lifter clearance. A valve grinding machine was necessary to shorten the valve stem while ensuring that the stem end remained true to the stem axis and was not overheated in the process. The machine also was used to reface the seating face of the valve.
I had a 75 GMC tandam truck i ran for many years . I carried a swell meter and timing light with me at all times . I also carried WD 40 . If the truck ran rough and burnt lots of gas in the 427 . you set the swell and timing and spray the plug wires with WD40 . You could always get another 40 hours out of the points, plugs and wires before stopping at a dealership and purchasing more . It was fun but now i run diesel.
Should be dwell , spellcheck! Eh
I have most of the tools. Definitely need the plug gap tool. I saw a YouTube recently where a mechanic took a brand new plug out of the box and the gap was completely closed! I recently replaced the 16 plugs in my RAM hemi engine. Most were out of spec. They would still work, but why start with them out of spec?
I have a dwell-tach meter. It no longer works. I was going to repair it, and instead opted to use an oscilloscope (non-automotive) instead. It is much more accurate.
I don’t agree on the battery tools. I am now on maybe my fourth generation of cordless drill. I rebuilt the battery packs in one of them, but they still died. I am willing to put up with batteries for a drill, but will never switch out my pneumatic tools that will be functional long after I’m gone.
Kyle Smith doesn’t work on real cars and clearly is the kind of person who needs a computer to tell him what’s wrong with a car.
So many tools I have not seen being used in decades here. One thing on battery tools, the batteries age poorly also. So it’s a choice between seals and noise of the compressor or batteries with unknown lifespan but quiet running.
My vote is to add the timing light to the list. Still have my dwell/tach and an inductive timing light. The timing light before the inductive one was spark from the distributor, through the light, and then to the spark plug. Learned a lot about GM HEI when I attempted to use the old light on a 1974 Chevy. Got the livin crap shocked out of me.
Yes, J.P.K., timing light should be on the list. I bought one in the 60’s that finally died. I thought… no problem. Just buy another. It turns out they are now considered “obsolete”. How would I check the timing on my 1941, and 1960 car. Fortunately I was able to find a used one on eBay that was basically the same as the one I owned, but was in a fancy chrome metal housing.
How about an antifreeze tester? Remember when shops checked your protection when you got an oil change.
Good luck getting it checked today.
I am almost 71 and I still have, and use, many of my dad’s tools! He was a mechanic and had a shop 55+ years ago. Some of my treasured tools are made by Hazet which I use a lot. I even have some Ford-branded hand tools, which were used on Ford T and A models!
Here’s one for you
Hope I spell this right
A Growler
Helps when rebuilding a generator
As it turns out, the distributor wrench is the perfect tool to R & R the clutch from the engine on my 1918 Dort.