Clean Parts on a budget Jack Chesley

Well, I always operate on the principle that a penny saved is a penny available to buy Alfa parts. On the other hand, there are some tools that are really essential to maintaining an old car and need to be purchased when needed: a decent socket set, a set of combination wrenches, a torque wrench, a MIG welder (well, I needed it, so I bought a used one), air compressor (that's another story), a parts cleaner... wait a minute, I'm not going to spend a hundred dollars for a parts cleaner!!!! I can make that for nothing...

Well, almost nothing... I looked in my junky basement (I mean my rare parts storage area) and came up with a parts cleaner!!! Actually, it looked a bit like an old steel Giulietta oil pan with a windage tray. I bolted a scrounged electric fuel pump to one of the pan's mounting holes and added some old fuel line, a fuel filter, some coat-hanger wire and an old sock. I actually bought several gallons of kerosene (even though it cost more than hi-test gas) and hooked the contraption up to my battery charger. And IT WORKED!?!?!? (Well, of course, I knew it would work, I always get excited that way, really).

It looks kind of weird and smells up the basement, but a continuous flow of clean solvent and a small brush was exactly what I needed to clean up some used transmissions to put in the spider and super... total cost?... under $10 for the solvent and a fresh fuel filter... hmmm, it could have been even less with a used filter and some siphoned gas from Dad's car...... naaaah, after all, I don't want to get a reputation for being a cheapskate!... and there is that pilot light on the water heater....

Capital page

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1996